The new 8.8 "Resolve Shortcuts" feature...

Jaymer

I wanted to share a clarification from Vlad that he sent me via email.

I still haven't seen huge results from this, but I def. like this feature.
When exploring some of my Queries, I focused on a BO_Group that contains 9 BOs.
Across all 9 BOs, the Group has 4 shortcuts in common. (But there are many more shortcuts that are unique to any individual BO in that group, but since they are not needed in all 8 BOs, I only added them to a BO where necc.)

OK, so this particular grid has an option to add only 4 shortcuts.
BUT "Resolve Shortcuts" lists 37 shortcuts.

So I asked Vlad this:

IS IT NECCESSARY to exclude all these shortcuts?
… when only 4 are common?

Is Aware REALLY resolving all of these behind the scenes, or is this list incorrect?

Here's an awesome, clear answer thats makes total sense:
You need to turn off all of them, not just common. Yes, Aware IM is resolving all of them, but it also depends on whether specific instances of the object that is a member of the group, is returned by a specific query. If, for example, a query just returns one instance of an object, it will only be resolving ALL shortcuts of this particular instance.

Thats some cool and complex logic he's got going on there under the hood at Aware!!!

tford

Wow, that is remarkable logic "under the hood" logic indeed.

Vlad is a genius.

BLOMASKY

So, here is MY question, Why can't aware examine the query and automatically NOT resolve any shortcuts that are not used in the filtering or display?

Bruce

btw, I tested this and have NOT found the speed increase that I had hoped for.

customaware

Please include a Checkbox to turn them ALL off in one go.

Usually, more often than not we want to display only a few Shortcuts in a Query rather than most.
Clearly, it would be dangerous to default them ALL to off.

But would make sense to be able to turn all off with one click and then only enable the Shortcuts that are needed.

BLOMASKY

But Mark, How about if the "turn off all" option skipped over any columns that are displayed OR used in the WHERE clause? That would be safe and fast. (Safe and fast, just how I like my devleopment tools!)

Bruce

aware_support

So, here is MY question, Why can't aware examine the query and automatically NOT resolve any shortcuts that are not used in the filtering or display?

You are right - it should do it automatically in theory. However, it's not that easy and quite error-prone, as the system has to consider LOTS and LOTS of places where these shortcuts may be necessary - presentation rules, item rules, applicability conditions and a lot of other properties. It's not just about which columns the query should display.

Jaymer

Somehow I lost a reply about this topic.

After initially seeing it, I had several observations:
1) It def. needs a check/uncheck all button
2) Upon opening, at a minimum, offer a button to "Check Shortcuts" which will analyze the Query and add a "not used" text message alongside the shortcut to indicate which ones can be turned off. If it doesn't take to long, then just do this automatically when opening the dialog.
3) I understand what Vlad says about "there's a lot of places to check".
Well, thats still easier for the Config tool to check, than each of us to check.
In addition to whats been stated, there is 1 more place you have to look... At the Query itself (I found I had a shortcut in a WHERE clause, but not in the grid).

4) Not mentioned as of yet, its possible to "turn off" some shortcuts today. And then a user wants a shortcut added to the grid. Should get a warning message, OR the Config Tool just re-activates the shortcut for you as it will do no good to have it bypassed if its in the grid.

5) And I wrote before that this was a good start, but needs to be extended to a "Grid" control on a form. Shortcuts have just a big of a need to be turned off in there, albeit there are usually fewer records being shown inside a form's grid.

6) I think one reason Bruce hasn't seen a "huge" difference is this: I'm pretty sure (from long ago checking SQL logs) that if there are 10 shortcuts to the same file, there IS ONLY 1 physical read to that file. Yes, 10 fields are retrieved, but the physical read happens even if there is 1 needed shortcut and 9 are turned off. So unless you are turning off ALL shortcuts from a referenced table, its not making that much of a diff. But I may be wrong.