We are running filemaker professional 5.1 and it is running slow. I
suggested to put the database on a separate harddrive because our
server is running IDE raid 1 and it is a little bet slow. Some of our
tables have more than a 100 fields and i figured this is part of the
problem too. Some in our office believe that upgrading to filemaker 7
or upgradint from filemaker professional to filemaker server will
improve performace. also We are planning to use the webbased
filemaker. Do we need to upgrade to filemaker 7 to do this? thanks

Upgrading to 7 might help with your speed issues.  But to say so 
definitively really depends on what is causing your speed problems in 
the first place.  Chances are pretty good -- excellent really -- that 
your speed problems can be resolved right there in 5.1 with no upgrade 
required.

What are the symptoms of your slowness?  Are you getting a lot of 
squiggly lines when switching layouts or clicking buttons?  Or are your 
searches just going very slowly?  Slow initial opening of files?  Short 
pauses when entering or exiting fields?  Slow screen redraws?

I can say with 100% confidence that your problems have absolutely 
nothing to do with having more than 100 fields in any tables.  That is 
not an issue.  If you can be more specific, we might be able to help you 
nail down some resolutions to your speed issues.

Joseph wrote:
> We are running filemaker professional 5.1 and it is running slow. I
> suggested to put the database on a separate harddrive because our
> server is running IDE raid 1 and it is a little bet slow. Some of our
> tables have more than a 100 fields and i figured this is part of the
> problem too. Some in our office believe that upgrading to filemaker 7
> or upgradint from filemaker professional to filemaker server will
> improve performace. also We are planning to use the webbased
> filemaker. Do we need to upgrade to filemaker 7 to do this? thanks

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Schlossberg              (818) 883-2846
FM Pro Solutions       Los Angeles, California

FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance

thanks for your reply. the slownes ocurres when opening a pulldown with 
more than 5000 entries. it also occurrs when updating a field by pushing a 
button. we have filemaker 5 and i believe the server is running filemaker 6 
professional, some workstations are also running 6. i was told the odbc 
driver that we bought runs extremely slow too.

I can't think of a good reason to have a pulldown with over 5000 
entries.  Perhaps there is a better way for you to serve the same 
purpose -- maybe using a separate window and a filtered portal?  The 
dropdown menus and lists in FM7 -- at least in the current version -- 
are no faster then in 5 or 6.  You might find some good tips and 
examples on this at <http://www.databasepros.com>.

As far as the slow button that updates a field, perhaps you can provide 
us with a copy of the script behind the button.  That should give us 
some clues as to the slowness there.

As for ODBC drivers: yes, SQL is very slow in FM5 and 6.  It's faster in 7.

joe wrote:
> thanks for your reply. the slownes ocurres when opening a pulldown with 
> more than 5000 entries. it also occurrs when updating a field by pushing a 
> button. we have filemaker 5 and i believe the server is running filemaker 6 
> professional, some workstations are also running 6. i was told the odbc 
> driver that we bought runs extremely slow too.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Schlossberg              (818) 883-2846
FM Pro Solutions       Los Angeles, California

FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance