Slow workspace open with ACUBENCH

When loading a workspace that has many cobol objects, it is drastically slow on some of our older workspaces and not so slow on more recent.  Is there a method to restructure the index of the workspace so that the slowness is remedied.       daleh@hightouchinc.com

Are the older workspaces and recent workspaces of equivalent size? If the older workspaces are larger (# of source, copybooks and objects) then you could break them up into smaller workspaces. It is likely that you have these sources on a mapped drive. How many different directories do the older workspaces search through compared to the newer workspaces. It may be that if you consolidate where the source files are located, the loading performance could be improved. To my knowledge there isn't a method to restructure the index, if you open the pjt file in an editor, you'll see the resources that the project looks to bring in.

When loading a workspace that has many cobol objects, it is drastically slow on some of our older workspaces and not so slow on more recent.  Is there a method to restructure the index of the workspace so that the slowness is remedied.       daleh@hightouchinc.com

Would be glad to show you this in a turbomeeting. Email me at daleh@hightouchinc.com and I'll setup a meeting. Their is the same number of directories and very similar number of files. Just seems like there is some sort of history in thie project workspace that is annoying the heck out of open workspace for these older workspaces.

When loading a workspace that has many cobol objects, it is drastically slow on some of our older workspaces and not so slow on more recent.  Is there a method to restructure the index of the workspace so that the slowness is remedied.       daleh@hightouchinc.com

There are two related things you can do to speed up opening a workspace. Both are related to the time it takes to load each program's .psf file.

1. In Tools->Options->Environment, under the "On load program" section, UNcheck the box labeled "Force variable check on load". This will drastically reduce the amount of time AcuBench takes to load any given program, especially any programs that have a lot of screens and controls. This setting causes AcuBench to go through every screen and control, and make sure every variable referenced there is correctly defined in Working-Storage (I think it checks both the "generated" variables that get stored in the .wrk file, as well as manually coded ones in the main .cbl file or other copybooks).
2. Before closing AcuBench, always "close" each program by clicking it's "-" sign on the tree-view of the Workspace's "Structure" tab. Why? When you open your workspace, AcuBench remembers what programs you had "opened", meaning what nodes were expanded on the Structure tree-view. It doesn't "load" a program until you've expanded its node. Loading means reading and parsing its .psf file, which can be time-consuming for large complex programs with lots of screens and controls. Let's say you've got 5 programs expanded when you shut down AcuBench. Later, when you re-start AcuBench, it first opens and parses its .pjt file (the main Project/Workspace file), then it will load each of the 5 programs you had expanded when you shut down. And each of these program loads can take a significant amount of time (subject to the "Force variable check" setting described above).

By following these steps, you defer the parsing of the individual .psf files until you actually expand that program's node in the Structure tab. 

Our main workspace has approx. 1100 programs, broken into about 24 projects. Many of these programs have large, complex screens with multiple tabs, grids, etc. Opening our one big program that has the most/busiest screens can take 2 or 3 minutes with the "Force variable check" on, but only 5-10 seconds with it off. And if I keep all my programs closed when I exit, it usually takes about 20 seconds to start AcuBench. If I have 5 or 6 "busy" programs open, and have "Force variable check" on, it can take 6-8 minutes to open AcuBench.

When loading a workspace that has many cobol objects, it is drastically slow on some of our older workspaces and not so slow on more recent.  Is there a method to restructure the index of the workspace so that the slowness is remedied.       daleh@hightouchinc.com

Chuck - thank you for your response. In regards to #1, we do not have it set. In regards to #2, I will sign on and check this out and see how that makes timing improve. Once again, many thanks. -Dale

When loading a workspace that has many cobol objects, it is drastically slow on some of our older workspaces and not so slow on more recent.  Is there a method to restructure the index of the workspace so that the slowness is remedied.       daleh@hightouchinc.com

Chuck - I did step #2 in closing the program sections in the structure view, and it did help reduce the time. Many thanks.