Conference bulova::decw_jan-89_to_nov-90

608.0. "LISTBOX PERFORMANCE - ALTERNATIVES ?" by OSLIS3::STEIN (Stein A. J. M�llerhaug SWAS/SI District Oslo) Mon Apr 17 1989 06:46

I have a question regarding LISTBOX performance (DEC-windows V1.0 SDC
and the appropriate VMS version, hardware is VS-3200 (MB Local disk, no
cluster, the customer is DnC, the bank that featured with its dealingsystem
in the DECwindows announcement video).

When their dealers make a deal, a list of possible banks/brokers is fetched
via the network from a """"name-server"""" (not in the VMS sence), a
listbox is created (that may later contain up to 250 entries) and each
possible name is inserted into the listbox so that the dealer can point to
the desired name and click it into his dealsheet. However, while the rest
of the application is running at a very good speed indeed, creating the
listbox seems to take almost 2 full seconds, and it takes about 2.5 seconds
before the dealer can start picking his item from the box. This is a bit on
the slow side, so we are looking for ways to speed up things a bit. 

Rewriting parts of the application is NOT out of the question, so I guess
that I am really looking for performance data for the various gadgets and
widgets (relative performance) in order to make educated guesses on how to 
rewrite.

Please note that from our measurements, it is the creation of the listbox 
that takes time, not the insertion of n elements.

Appriciating any feedback,

Stein_M

Check out the VList widget in the ELKTRA::DW_EXAMPLES notes file.
I think it will do just what you want.

-steve-