Extremely Slow Base Report Builder

> Le 24/05/12 00:01, Girvin R. Herr a écrit :
>
> Hi Girvin,
>
>  
>>    MySQL 5.0.67
>>    MySQL-connector-java-5.0.7-bin.jar
>>    Sun Java  1.6.0u11
>>    
>
> Oooh, very old and potentially highly exploitable version of Java there.
>
>
>  
>> Is my current Report Builder problem caused by this Java problem again?
>>    
>
> Yes.
>
>
>  
>> Unlike OOo 3.3, will LO 3.5.3 work with the later Java versions and
>> should I try updating my Java again?
>>    
>
> I have whatever version of Java Apple have grudgingly agreed to give me
> (u31, apparently), and apart from the usual flakiness of the whole ORB
> reporter extension, it works, but I won't even bother for large datasets
> because on the Mac it regularly crashes. However, it does seem to be
> more stable on other OSes. I would try upgrading the Java version to
> something more recent first though.
>
> It has been said, and I certainly found on Linux that u22 was still
> pretty fast, although it too, had some nasty security issues. Much has
> been written on this list in the past about how to keep several versions
> of the JDK on your system at the same time, and then use only the one
> you need with the best performance for LO.
>
> Alex
>
>  

> Am 24.05.2012 21:01, Girvin R. Herr wrote:
>> I will certainly take your experience to heart and your recommendation
>> to update my Java.
>> Thanks again.
>> Girvin
>>
>>
>
> If you are running Java 1.7 downgrading to some recent 1.6 version may
> be even more helpful. Until now I could not test RB with Java 1.7 and
> LibO. I disabled that extension several versions ago. Now I can not
> recall how to enable it again.
>
>

> Hi :)
> I have just done a bit of digging around.
>
> Looking back through Andreas' answers
> http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=user_nodes&user=254826&i=80
>
> I found this but i'm not sure it's much help for you
> http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/database-td3926217i20.html#a3928210
>
> This one seems to expand on the useful line at the end there
> http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Base-3-5-2-2-hangs-td3910280.html#a3911654
>
> This one is a bit of an overview with nothing specific but might be useful to skim through for ideas
> http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Address-Books-td3829696.html#a3832514
>
> This one looks brilliant to me
> http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Base-and-new-Report-Builder-in-3-5-td3817159.html#a3819387
>
> There is some documentation at
> https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Publications#LibreOffice_Base_Guide
> and an FAQ (translated from the French team's) at
> https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq
>
> Sadly most of the people that know a lot about the ins-and-outs of Base are unwilling to help write the Base guide so it's down to 1 person who is desperately busy with a lot of other projects.  
>
> Regards from
> Tom :)
>
>  
>

>
> Tom Davies wrote:
> > Hi :)
> > I have just done a bit of digging around.
> >
> > Looking back through Andreas' answers
> > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=user_nodes&user=254826&i=80
> >
> > I found this but i'm not sure it's much help for you
> > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/database-td3926217i20.html#a3928210
> >
> > This one seems to expand on the useful line at the end there
> > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Base-3-5-2-2-hangs-td3910280.html#a3911654
> >
> > This one is a bit of an overview with nothing specific but might be useful to skim through for ideas
> > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Address-Books-td3829696.html#a3832514
> >
> > This one looks brilliant to me
> > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Base-and-new-Report-Builder-in-3-5-td3817159.html#a3819387
> >
> > There is some documentation at
> > https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Publications#LibreOffice_Base_Guide
> > and an FAQ (translated from the French team's) at
> > https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq
> >
> > Sadly most of the people that know a lot about the ins-and-outs of Base are unwilling to help write the Base guide so it's down to 1 person who is desperately busy with a lot of other projects.  
> >
> > Regards from
> > Tom :)
> >
> >  
> >
> Tom,
> Your "brilliant" link looks interesting.  I knew Calc and Base have some
> similarities internally, but I wasn't aware that my data could be
> imported into Calc from my MySQL server.  All of my reports are tabular
> in format anyway, so Calc could be an option, if it could get my data.  
> One limit to using Calc would be Calc's row limit.  I think I read that
> LO just raised the maximum rows, but if there are more database records
> than available Calc rows, then...
> Can Calc be linked to a Base query to get its data?
> If so, then all my sorting can be done in the query.  I do not do any
> grouping in my reports at this time.
>
> As an update to my problem with Report Builder, my 1500+ record database
> takes 94 pages of a Report Builder / Writer document.  I put on my
> patience hat and timed how long it takes to format the report, ready for
> printing.  As a baseline, it takes about 49 minutes to create the
> original document.  I cleared my preferences and re-entered them, using
> mostly defaults and timed it again: 49 minutes.  So it is not preference
> corruption from previous versions.  I then updated my java to 1.6u30 and
> timed it again: 49 minutes.  So, it doesn't look like Java is the
> problem.  I then went back to my original use of SQL from when I created
> the report with the wizard, rather than using a query for the data and
> timed it: 49 minutes!  No matter what I do, it takes about the same
> excruciatingly long time to build my report.  What is really frustrating
> is that there is no status popup to inform me of what it is doing.  It
> just goes out to lunch.  Actually, it seems to initially create 128
> pages with header and footer, but no data, at the end of the first
> "sleep".  When the page status at the bottom of the writer window drops
> to 94 pages, I know it is done.  Every so many pages, it does come back
> alive for a second or two and then goes out to lunch again for several
> minutes.  Each time it returns, a few more pages are populated with data.
> Girvin

>
> Tom Davies wrote:
> > Hi :)
> > I have just done a bit of digging around.
> >
> > Looking back through Andreas' answers
> > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=user_nodes&user=254826&i=80
> >
> > I found this but i'm not sure it's much help for you
> > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/database-td3926217i20.html#a3928210
> >
> > This one seems to expand on the useful line at the end there
> > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Base-3-5-2-2-hangs-td3910280.html#a3911654
> >
> > This one is a bit of an overview with nothing specific but might be useful to skim through for ideas
> > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Address-Books-td3829696.html#a3832514
> >
> > This one looks brilliant to me
> > http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Base-and-new-Report-Builder-in-3-5-td3817159.html#a3819387
> >
> > There is some documentation at
> > https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Publications#LibreOffice_Base_Guide
> > and an FAQ (translated from the French team's) at
> > https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq
> >
> > Sadly most of the people that know a lot about the ins-and-outs of Base are unwilling to help write the Base guide so it's down to 1 person who is desperately busy with a lot of other projects.  
> >

> >
> >  
> >
> Tom,
> Your "brilliant" link looks interesting.  I knew Calc and Base have some
> similarities internally, but I wasn't aware that my data could be
> imported into Calc from my MySQL server.  All of my reports are tabular
> in format anyway, so Calc could be an option, if it could get my data.  
> One limit to using Calc would be Calc's row limit.  I think I read that
> LO just raised the maximum rows, but if there are more database records
> than available Calc rows, then...
> Can Calc be linked to a Base query to get its data?
> If so, then all my sorting can be done in the query.  I do not do any
> grouping in my reports at this time.
>
> As an update to my problem with Report Builder, my 1500+ record database
> takes 94 pages of a Report Builder / Writer document.  I put on my
> patience hat and timed how long it takes to format the report, ready for
> printing.  As a baseline, it takes about 49 minutes to create the
> original document.  I cleared my preferences and re-entered them, using
> mostly defaults and timed it again: 49 minutes.  So it is not preference
> corruption from previous versions.  I then updated my java to 1.6u30 and
> timed it again: 49 minutes.  So, it doesn't look like Java is the
> problem.  I then went back to my original use of SQL from when I created
> the report with the wizard, rather than using a query for the data and
> timed it: 49 minutes!  No matter what I do, it takes about the same
> excruciatingly long time to build my report.  What is really frustrating
> is that there is no status popup to inform me of what it is doing.  It
> just goes out to lunch.  Actually, it seems to initially create 128
> pages with header and footer, but no data, at the end of the first
> "sleep".  When the page status at the bottom of the writer window drops
> to 94 pages, I know it is done.  Every so many pages, it does come back
> alive for a second or two and then goes out to lunch again for several
> minutes.  Each time it returns, a few more pages are populated with data.
> Girvin
>
>
>

>
>
>      Yes, you can link to a Base query with Calc. With Cal open, use the
> F4 key to open the Data Source window. (You will have to register the
> database before it will appear in this window.) The left side is the
> name of the registered databases. Click the arrow in front of the
> database to see that you can get data from from a table or query. When
> you select one of these, its data appears in table form on the right
> side.
>
> --Dan
>
>
>
>  

>
> Hi Tom
>
> Really - you seem to know a lot, are you writing a manual?
>
> @Girvin - there is no place that I've seen the report builder be that
> slow and not have an installation problem - not saying it is impossible
> but sounds really odd. 1500 records in a tabular report, 49 seconds is a
> long time for that actually. There is one exception to that, graphics -
> is your report including graphics stored in data fields?
>
> On the other hand Calc, as has been pointed out, might be your preferred
> path.
>
> Best,
>
> //drew
>
>  

>
> drew jensen wrote:
> 8><...
> >
> > Hi Tom
> >
> > Really - you seem to know a lot, are you writing a manual?
> >
> > @Girvin - there is no place that I've seen the report builder be that
> > slow and not have an installation problem - not saying it is impossible
> > but sounds really odd. 1500 records in a tabular report, 49 seconds is a
> > long time for that actually. There is one exception to that, graphics -
> > is your report including graphics stored in data fields?
> >
> > On the other hand Calc, as has been pointed out, might be your preferred
> > path.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > //drew
> >
> >  
> 8><...
>
> Hello Drew,
> I understand what you are saying, but I installed the LO 3.5.2 binary
> (RPM) packages from the LO website.  I repackaged them for Slackware,
> but that does not change the 1s and 0s, just unpacks the RPMs and
> re-packages the files into a Slackware package for installation.  
> Therefore, if there is an installation problem, it seems to be in the LO
> packages.  Note that I am using the Report Builder bundled into LO, not
> the version from the extensions website.  I do believe the newest is
> 1.2.1 rev 2, and the one in LO is still 1.0-something.  I have not tried
> to replace the bundled version with the 1.2 version.
>
> I could live with 49 _"seconds"_.  However, it is taking 49 _minutes_
> for my report.  My database is nothing special, just text and integer
> values.  Nine elements plus the key per record.  No graphics.  So, yes,
> this problem does sound unusual.  However, I have not been able to pin
> down the problem yet.  In the meantime, I am looking into using Calc to
> print my data.  It looks good and will do until I can get RB working.
>
> BTW: The report is a simple text page header, Detail, and page footer,
> no graphics there either.  I do have the date and time fields in the
> header, but that shouldn't bring it down.  Actually, I do have some
> separator lines inserted at the bottom of the header and the bottom of
> each Detail line.  Page number at the bottom of the footer.  That's it.
> Thanks for the help.

>
>
> Andreas Säger wrote:
>> With LibO 3.5 under Linux I can use any recent Java version without
>> any issues. I tested 1.6.22, 1.6.31 and 1.7. Any of these simply work
>> with my Java databases.
>> I avoid the report builder like illness. If you feel the need to
>> dance with this software diva then you should do all calculations,
>> filtering, grouping and sorting in SQL leaving the only good looking
>> stuff up to the beast.
>>
>>
> Andreas,
> Thanks for your reply.  Report Builder (RB) has always been a "beast"
> to me too, but it is the only option I know of for printing my
> database data in a human readable form.  So, I have to live with it,
> at least until I find something better.  Before Base, I was using
> Rekall, which had some nice features.  But that Open Source version is
> no longer supported, so that option is dead.
> I am using a SQL query to sort and provide all the data to Report
> Builder.  I am not using any RB grouping or filtering either.  It is
> just a "flat" data set for RB to pretty up for printing.  That is why
> I don't see why it is so slow.  All the real time consumers, such as
> sorting, are being done by MySQL.  Also, after writer displays my
> first page or two, it goes out to lunch again, as if it is
> recalculating everything all over again.  That is frustrating, since
> it locks up and I have to wait several more minutes for another
> couple-second window where I can scroll or kill it before it goes off
> again.
> I will certainly take your experience to heart and your recommendation
> to update my Java.
> Thanks again.
> Girvin
>
>

> Dan,
> Wow! That worked fine. Thanks.
> However, I had to copy and paste the database data from the Data Source
> window into the Calc spreadsheet. Is there a way to dynamically get the
> current data to the spreadsheet so I don't have to cut and paste every
> time I have new data?
> If so, it would be a lot less error-prone (and easier). However, I can
> see that not being able to do so, is not a show-stopper for using Calc
> to do my reports.
> Note that the data copy, although it took a little time, was *much*
> faster than Report Builder! :-)
> I am going to have to play with this some more...
> Thanks very much.
> Girvin
>
>
>