Preview takes a long time ...

[jsavoor]

Bruce

The answer to all your questions is no. Take a look. http://www.xeratus.com/xshop.html.

The site has about 10 products with some components and choices.

There is no external code used in the site at all.

Jay

[Bruce]

Jay,

This is strange. Please raise a support ticket @ http://www.actinic.co.uk/support/register.htm we will need to take a look at a snapshot of the site. If you could run and 'ActDiagnose' from Help | TroubleShooting, it would be useful.

Kind regards,

[simonwar]

Re-installed again and here's what I get ...

OK, I have re-installed my Actinic again, deleting all reference to my existing Site, so as far as I can see its just like opening the box for the first time.

The useual scenario:
1. Back up Site Export, including Copy security keys, Site 1 Copy.
2. Uninstall Actinic,
3. Delete C:\Program Files\Actinic folder... etc.

A clean slate I suggest ...... ?????

4. Then fresh re-install.

I am in the template Retro and thought I would give you some timings for moving around "Preview", in the sample Product Sections that come with the product.
(One of you may wish to replicate this effort to benchmark my timings)

Stopwatch at the ready ......

Starting with "BASIC PRODUCTS" highlighted,

1. Clicking on "PRODUCTS WITH A RANGE OF OPTIONS" took 14.5 secs to refresh,
2. Clicking on "PRODUCTS WITH OPTIONAl EXTRAS" took 14.5 secs to refresh,
3. Clicking on "PRODUCTS BUILD FROM ADD-ONS took 28.5 secs to refresh.

I repeated this twice and the timings fall in line almost to the half second.

Your Actinic may be responding in this way, but I cannot recall this taking this long.

I cannot develop without a continuous preview.

Help needed, S.
(Any suggestions to use Offline Preview.... already doing that ... but forget it its takes just as long, if not even longer)

P.S. Bruce, Preview Refresh Delay is set to Very Fast and ODBC Tracing is set to "START NOW" .

[wjcampbe]

When was the system last defragged - what is the proportion of free space to used space?

[jsavoor]

In my humble opinion here, everyone is looking at everything around discounting the fact that there might actually be a problem with the program code itself.

This has nothing to do with defrag etc. There is a PAUSE before displaying the data. The data is not being displayed slowly - there is a definate pause.

Which means to me one of two things:
1. The SQL queries are really bad or,
2. There could be some debug code present.

If we look at Actinic, what is it really. There is a Access MDB database. There are a bunch of PERL files and a bunch of HTM files that are generated. Nothing more.

I have written SQL based HTM pages that search and display data of thousands of users in the past - there is no pause.

No - there is a bug of some sort in the code and only Actinic engineers will find it and that too will only happen in ernest if there is a business need for them to do so.

Is it a MAJOR bug .. I would say no. I would say this is a annoyance if anything to most, and a real pain in the a** to a few like Simon who really need it.

This is my 2c worth after heading up software engineering and sqa teams for more than 20 years.

Jay

[Duncan Rounding]

Did you raise a support ticket and send a snapshot etc to Actinic as requested? If so what was their response?

[wjcampbe]

I also have problems with preview, but I know what is causing mine. I chose to install IE7 on the machine I am using. My second machine running IE6 previews all my sites instantly. In fact I am currently using a remote connection to the second machine for development work.

I find the concept of an error in the SQL that selectively impacts users much less likely than an individual user environment that impacts Actinic.

[pinbrook]

Is it a MAJOR bug

i would diagree that it is a major bug, major bugs tend to affect alot of people, this it a major problem for one person.

it is far more likely to be an environment issue which can only be resolved when the environment is investigated.

If it is an issue that potentially could affect a lot of people then I am sure Actinic will write it into their code.

we had a problem with Paypal a few months ago when we moved our data centre and subsequently started to use a new firewall. Actinic changed their code to accommodate us, it seems that other hosts are now experiencing the same issue. We just happened to be the first ....

it will be interesting to see if this is a IE7 issue

[Duncan Rounding]

I also have IE7 on one machine and IE6 on an another and find that the Actinic preview takes about three to four times as long to show in IE7, although it's also as slower machine as well. (Not impressed with IE7 - I have a quite a few issues with it - hopefully they will get sorted out in the final release)
It would be nice if Actinic gave a choice of browsers for the preview.

[RuralWeb]

I have never had any problems with preview BUT I have had clients with exactly the same problem following multiple anti virus/spyware instalations.

My solution - give up trying to fix the problem and wipe the hard drive and reinstall XP etc. Something has been eaten and you could spend weeks trying to find it.

[NormanRouxel]

This is so much more likely to be an operating system problem than an Actinic one. You've re-installed Actinic without useful result, no-one else has seen this fault, and your first post told us that you'd let an anti-spyware program delete lots of files. What's left to blame but the O/S?

Even trying System Restore as advised earlier may not help if you've inadvertantly deleted Windows files that aren't part of the Restore.

If you've a spare PC try installing Actinic on that and see if it works fine. Then copy your faulty Site over or use a snapshot. If still fine then it's the O/S for sure.

PS See this hilarious Register article about someone with 22 years in computer systems engineering and operation who tried to sic the FBI on a Linux vendor because he would not believe repeated accurate advice that his server was simply misconfigured. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/24/tuttle_centos/

[simonwar]

Long Thread .... lots to do ....

Hi All,

To clarify a few checks recommended by you guys;

ODBC TRACING
#1 Bruce, ODBC Tracing is a bit of a nightmare, had to turn it off and noticed that my Previews speeded up significantly from the previously quoted 14 seconds down to just 6..... did I say just 6 seconds..... wow this problem is getting to me.

DEFRAG & FILE SPACE
#2 Bill, I am using NTFS, 88 GB Free Space on a 146 GB Single Hard Drive, I haven't defragged for a while... do you think this will help ?

SITE 1 SNAPSHOT SUBMISSION
#3 Bruce/Drounding, do you want me to send my "Site1", to someone at Actinic, how is this done ? Rasing a ticket etc. What needs to be sent ?

XP NEEDS A REBOOT
#4 Norman/RuralWeb, A total system refresh ! Gulp... i am using a Dell and have all the disks but never done this before. Are we talking re-format Hard Drive or just re-install XP over itself and see if it refresh's essential files. Some guidance here would be great

C'EST LA VIE
#5 Bug or local environment issues...... local me thinks. I'm no statistician but not stupid either. Its more likely that I have inadvertently kicked my own bollocks. Call off the Cavelry.

CONCLUSION MULTIPLE CHOICE
a) Do I re-format my Hard Drive?
b) Do I re-install XP over itself?
c) Do I live with it?

Answers on a post-card please, S.

[RuralWeb]

DELL PCs are easy - stickin the restore disc and follow the prompts to wipe the hard drive and reinstal XP. Dont forget to back up ALL your data first.

Have fun.

[NormanRouxel]

If you run Actinic and do File / Snapshot / Export Site you'll end up with a single file that you can take to a spare PC (or a friends if you only have 1 PC) along with your Actinic CD and temporarily install Actinic then File / Snapsot / Import there.

If that works fine then you'll know it's the operating system that's at fault.

It's best to try this before considering what needs done next.

[Duncan Rounding]

SITE 1 SNAPSHOT SUBMISSION
#3 Bruce/Drounding, do you want me to send my "Site1", to someone at Actinic, how is this done ? Rasing a ticket etc. What needs to be sent ?

See Bruce's post above, #17.

But like Norman says - I'd first find another PC and re-install and check the performance with a snapshot on that machine.