fP executables

[Don Coleman]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Rasmussen [mailto:ras at anzio.com]
> Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 1:28 PM
> To: Don Coleman
> Subject: Re: fP executables
> 
> Don,
> 
> Feel free to call me on this.
> 
> On Fri, 26 Jan 2007, Don Coleman wrote:
> 
> > Win2000 & WinXP clients, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, fP v5.0.13,
> >
> > My pharmacy client this week has experienced a significant slowdown in
> the
> > process where they scan their orders via bar-code.  Up until Wednesday
> there
> > was <1 second delay waiting for my input popup command to return to scan
> the
> > next order.  Beginning Wednesday this time delay has lengthened to 3-5
> > seconds between each input popup, a huge increase.  There have been no
> > changes made to fP since that time.  I did make some Rx label changes
> Monday
> > morning (cosmetic) but the operators insist the scanning speed did not
> > degrade until Wednesday.  I don't feel this is an fP issue but possibly
> > hardware related but I did notice one thing that has me puzzled.  Their
> > executable .BAT (found on the mapped drive to the server) file contains:
> >
> > ECHO OFF
> > SET PFTMP=C:\TEMP
> > SET FILES=100
> > SET PFFILES=100
> > SET PFDSK=E
> > SET PFDATA=E:
> > SET PFPROG=E:\FP_SETUP_FILES\FP5.0.13
> > SET PFDIR=\QS1\TODO
> > SET PFCONFIG=E:\FP_SETUP_FILES\FP5.0.13\CONFIGURATION\4308
> > SET PATH=C:\PRINTWIZ
> > SET PFSHOWWINERROR=ON
> > %PFPROG%\FP\P.EXE SCRIPT
> >
> > For most orders a form (Rx label) is called and printed via a print
> server.
> > fP prints to a file and Bob Rasmussen's Print Wizard then prints the
> label.
> > I noticed that on the scanning work stations the CPU usage spikes to
> 100%
> > during each scan (& subsequent print request) then immediately returns
> to a
> > normal usage (3-6%).  With the above configuration I thought this was
> being
> > run on the server, IOW the server processor was doing all the heavy
> lifting.
> > But when I saw the CPU usage spike to 100% now I'm confused.  With the
> above
> > environmental variables being set (E drive is the mapped drive to the
> > server) who is doing the heavy lifting, the client or the server?
> >
> > Can anyone clear the fog regarding my configuration and make any
> > suggestions.  At this time Windows is my only option.
> >
> > Don Coleman
> > Donald G. Coleman, Consultant
> > 402 Andrew Circle
> > Indiana, PA 15701
> > dcoleman at dgcreact.com
> > (724) 349-6302
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Filepro-list mailing list
> > Filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> > http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/listinfo/filepro-list
> >
> 
> Regards,
> ....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.
> 
> personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
>  company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
>           voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
>             fax: (US) 503-624-0760
>             web: http://www.anzio.com


Additional findings.  The CPU usage spikes to 30-50% while the record is
being written and spikes to 85-100% when the form command is issued (from
*clerk).  What I don't know is if issuing the form command itself is spiking
the processor or if Print Wizard starting up (via PFPOSTPRINT in the
environment) is spiking it.  Bob Rasmussen is assisting with this (thanks
Bob) and asked me to have Print Wizard print the file again from a command
line to check the CPU.  It did spike to 100% for approx. 1 second and then
returned to idle (2-6%).  

But what we noticed is in this table I issue the form command, then do a
quick gosub routine to post some printer statistics and then return.  As
soon as the return is encountered and I return to the same line my gosub is
on the file I printed to is erased (0 bytes).  Bob says there is nothing in
Print Wizard erasing the contents of the file and theorizes perhaps Print
Wizard isn't quite done processing the file and some function of fP is
attempting to erase the file, hence both are fighting for the file and
causing a delay.

Any thoughts?

TYIA,


Don Coleman
Donald G. Coleman, Consultant
402 Andrew Circle
Indiana, PA 15701
dcoleman at dgcreact.com
(724) 349-6302