gc 2.6.4 Accounts Tab Performance/Lag/Slowness

[David Carlson]

On 10/30/2014 7:04 AM, Dave H wrote:
> I'm running Gnucash 2.6.4 built from git rev 79bdcf1+ on 2014-10-11 on both
> Win 7 and Win 8 on 3 different laptops and can't say I've noticed any real
> issues on the accounts tab as opposed to any of the other tabs.
>
> Cheers Dave H.
>
> On 30 October 2014 21:07, Ian K <ik522000 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Interesting your spec includes a decent video card - my i7 machine uses
>> onboard graphics and I was wondering whether a video card might help...
>> In answer to your question I assume people are suffering with it - or am I
>> wrong? Are there Windows users out there using 2.6.x without these issues?
>>
>>
>>
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Pete, 
I find it interesting that you are focused on the performance of GnuCash
at scrolling and window switching.  In my case, these functions are far
overshadowed by many other issues that one might think consume fewer CPU
cycles such as starting the program in the first place, generating
reports, writing transaction edits back into the data file, and
generating intermediate backup files every so often.  Those functions
cause lags measurable in seconds or even minutes for me.  On my
computers, even though I have lots of RAM, I find issues with all
programs that are script intensive, which, these days, seem to be most
of the programs that I use regularly.

That said, I do notice the 'tearing' that you mention while scrolling in
the Accounts window, as opposed to the relatively smooth scrolling in
account register windows.  These two types of windows have very
different underlying code generating them, which I imagine is the cause
of that.  It has never bothered me.  I am bothered by the similar
'tearing' that occurs in the register windows when transaction edits are
accepted with the 'Enter' key, as that sometimes takes several seconds
to resolve.  I think that both of those effects are not really graphic
issues, but rather underlying code issues.

Admittedly, I have not updated beyond release 2.4.13 on either of my two
Windows 7 machines because of other issues with the windows version of
release 2.6.4, but I do not think that there is a huge difference in
overall performance between those versions on the Windows platform.  In
any case, the October 22 weekly build is still in the minutes range for
building reports.

I will take this opportunity to repeat the tired old message to the
developers to ask that they accelerate their efforts to address all
issues that affect program performance.  I know that there are major
roadblocks that need to be cleared before substantial improvement is
seen, so I do not expect near term miracles, but I do sometimes  wonder
if any thought at all is given to code execution speed as another factor
in the design only a little behind numeric accuracy and correct logic. 
I also want to ask them to redouble efforts to improve user friendliness
with code that minimizes the number of user keystrokes and/or mouse
clicks and consistent logical behavior of the various 'wizards',
particularly the import 'wizards' and the scheduled transactions 'wizard'.

I know that there is a monumental amount of work needed to accomplish
those tasks, and there are few developers working on them,so I also ask
users (myself included) to step up and assist wherever possible.

David C