/tmp usage by Forms3, HELP!

We have a particular Forms3 application with a very complicated query. When this query is run, as forms fetches the records, the freespace in /tmp reduces gradually, and finally, when /tmp is full, we get the error 'Unable to allocate record buffer', and the form dies with Segmentation Violation.

The table being queried has 23,000 rows (row size: ~240 bytes), and the query does not even fetch all of them. The problem occurs on the machine running the form, and the database seems fine. /tmp was 20 MB. What does not make sense is why is Forms using up so much space - is it buffering, or something else? We played around with the 'Records buffered' and other Forms variables but it did not make any difference.

Database is 6.0.36.7.1 on RS6000.
Forms also on RS6000 (problem occurs on AIX 3.2.3 and 3.2.5)

Oracle support has been of no help. They suggested increasing the /tmp, and I tried with 50 MB. The query did fetch the last record, and used up 30MB from /tmp. But when I tried to a few 'Previous Record's, the machine went into thrashing. There was a lot of paging, and the form just sat there for hours.

I tried it on a Sun, and it used up 25+ MB in /var/tmp and failed to fetch the 'Last Record'.

As far as Oracle Support is concerned, this seems to be normal behaviour, and the only bug they have is that we cannot redirect the buffering to any place other than /tmp! They invited to do my own triggers to open cursors, fetch data etc. if wanted something better!

Has anyone seen these kind of problems? I would be really glad to hear your comments also. It seems to me that FOrms just fetches all the data and puts it in a file in /tmp. Then how does it work with REAALLY LARGE tables ?? Waiting to hear from fellow victims and anyone else... THANKS

KRISHNA PANYAM (ou90196_at_deere.com) (309-765-5955) Received on Tue Dec 14 1993 - 20:25:34 CET