Narrow vs. Wide Tables - Part 1
Like any good craftsperson, you should know your tools and your methods for accomplishing things in the most efficient and best performing way. This is always most obvious when it comes to that every slowing FileMaker solution which started out innocently as a simple "helper" database. Then... it ended up being used for all kinds of things. Critical things even!
It was thrown together based on how you mentally "see" the data and not how the data should have been structured. This is one of those painful lessons where you have to go in and retrofit the data to a new structure or make plans to migrate to an updated solution.
In this video, I discuss the ever important topic of Narrow vs. Wide tables. It's a common problem in a large number of FileMaker solutions. I know because I've seen tables with field counts within the thousands. This just shouldn't be the case. FileMaker is an all-or-nothing data solution when it comes to records. If you have 1,000 fields, then FileMaker will give you all the data from all 1,000 fields. This is unlike SQL, where you only return the data you specifically ask for. With FileMaker, you have to plan your solution's data management much more carefully! Watch this video for a better understanding of how to make your tables more narrow.
Comments
Great technique. Would you use in list view?
Great technique as always 👍 . Thank you. I started fm developing from version 14 so repeating field is something I'm not accustom to. I have a project I am working on and this technique makes me considering if I should adopt it. However, it is a list view not a form view. You have an unstored calc field gathering related records' data and it being a repeating field. I am presently experimenting by using 45 portals per row (yes, I know it is a large number) in list view. Would you use your technique for my situation? or you may consider other technique but not using this one?
FileMaker Dreamer & Designer
It's all about the data transfer
If you consider what is being transferred from server to the client, then you can mitigate any performance hindering operations like unstored calc rendering. You should always consider the UI presentation in light of what the user needs to see.
If the list view doesn't need to show the calendar on each record while being viewed, then consider using a tab control/slider for all records or a popover for individual records.
Hope that helps!
-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor