Re: Is Forms 4.0 stable?

> Resource hog means that I had a Compaq notebook with a 386SX and 10 MB of
> memory, but it wouldn't run Oracle Windows tools (including Book,
> Business Manager, and Forms) with anything close to acceptable speed. For
> example, applications took multiple minutes to load. I now have a 486
> with 20 MB of memory. THANKS ORACLE :-)

        Ah. well Development versions of the tools are NOT supported on less than 16mb machines. This is in the specs for the tools. I believe if you read the stuff describing forms 4 in the sales literature I'm quite positive - you will find that it says 16Mb.

> Slow response means that a simple helpdesk application that we wrote
> in-house runs slowly and is a source of complaint from our staff. While I
> have no metrics, it is much slower than, say, Excel or Q&E.

        Comparing EXCEL to Forms 4 is like comparing a VW Bug to a Lexus. (grin). generate your in-house application with statistics=yes and send me (via email) the output. I'd be interested in knowing what it says. Also - what platform are you deploying the application on and what is the cpu/memory configuration.

   >Yes, forms4 is big. This we know. There are application designs which    >can exascerbate the problem.

As with any application you have to trade of space for speed. In the case of forms, you are paying in space for speed and for portablity. The portable GUI toolkit and portable subcomponents make forms executables large. It would be nice if we could abstract some of the requirements such that you didn't have to build forms with them (say like no inter-tool communications, or no image support. The tools just aren't packaged that way. We've done a lot of work on how we load pieces from the DLL's and have packaged things up so that stuff loads in the best way we can, for the moment. If you have suggestions on things that you'd be willing to live without for a 'lighter' memory model of say a runform executable, we'd be interested in hearing what you'd like.

> I agree that Forms 4 is looking good, but I also think it has room for
> improvement in the areas I mentioned. By the way, I meant the first
> message as a compliment.
 

> Ed

Oh. Guess I took it the wrong way. We *ARE* very interested in the feedback folks here are giving. Keep it coming. I don't mean to be a) defensive or b) attacking anyone.

Keep those cards and letters coming.

--
Kevin Mallory, Oracle Corporation                 
Development Manager, Quality and Performance Programs, Oracle Forms Development

"QUALITY is never an accident; it is always the result of high
intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful
execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives."