Editor: Pressing ctrl-G takes 20-30% CPU and 2-4 seconds to

[samjones6]

Editor: Pressing ctrl-G takes 20-30% CPU and 2-4 seconds to pop up the Insert Picture dialog

Total drag.

[Andrew]

Takes near-zero CPU and a second or so for me. If you'd like help, could you provide some more details?

[samjones6]

Takes near-zero CPU and a second or so for me. If you'd like help, could you provide some more details?

Sure!

What details would you like?

[Andrew]

How large is the topic? Does it contain a lot of conditions? How large is the project? Does it happen every single time you do it (for example, if you insert one image, and then immediately insert another, is it a lot faster the second time? does it happen in every topic?)? Can you reproduce the issue in an "empty" project (i.e., a new project)?

[samjones6]

How large is the topic?

2-5 kb, it does not seem related to topic size. Super shot topics suffer this also.

Does it contain a lot of conditions?

Most of my topics have conditions, yes.

How large is the project?

Few hundred topics, about 1200 files total (topics and images). Images in their own dir.

Does it happen every single time you do it (for example, if you insert one image, and then immediately insert another, is it a lot faster the second time? does it happen in every topic?)?

Yes, happens every time. It is not faster second time.

Yes, every topic

Can you reproduce the issue in an "empty" project (i.e., a new project)?

Not sure, haven't tried yet.


Thanks!

[Andrew]

Hmm. What OS are you using?

I'd be interested to see how it worked on an empty project. One thing I've noticed from time-to-time is that Flare can be slow opening dialogs like that when it has a lot of files to go through (e.g., a project with hundreds or thousands of images).

(For comparison, here is a video of the speed I see -- is that substantially faster than you are seeing?)

[Andrew]

Also, is your project on a local or a network drive? Is it bound to source control?

[samjones6]

Also, is your project on a local or a network drive? Is it bound to source control?

%100 local.

Project is in source control, but is not bound in any way. Flare is not aware source control is in use.

[LTinker68]

It's weird that you're having so much trouble when most people don't. Did you send your computer's complete specs to MadCap so they could look into it? I remember here we ran into a problem with a batch of Dell computers that had a bad chipset or video card, can't remember which, but it caused a processor-intensive CAD program lots of problems until they narrowed down the problem. Although given that you're having problems on three different computers, that almost makes me think it could be something more like an IT group policy or corporate software program that doesn't play well with Flare -- something those computers would have in common but not something other users on the forums would have, or not have in the same combination.

[Andrew]

Also, is your project on a local or a network drive? Is it bound to source control?

%100 local.

Project is in source control, but is not bound in any way. Flare is not aware source control is in use.

Can you disable your malware protection software (I mean disable completely -- especially "on access" scans)? If so, I'd give it a shot with that off.

Would still like to know what OS you are using (so I can try to duplicate), and if you can reproduce the issue on a "blank" project.

[samjones6]

Can you disable your malware protection software (I mean disable completely -- especially "on access" scans)?

I have tried that. It makes no difference.
When I use Flare, all AV stuff is turned completely off.

Would still like to know what OS you are using (so I can try to duplicate), and if you can reproduce the issue on a "blank" project.

Sorry I missed that.

OS is XP

Just did a blank project (used one of the Flare 7 samples, the "sample book" template): Yes, the problem is present. 3+ seconds when pressing ctrl-G for the dialog to pop up.

[LTinker68]

Just did a blank project (used one of the Flare 7 samples, the "sample book" template): Yes, the problem is present. 3+ seconds when pressing ctrl-G for the dialog to pop up.

I tried this keyboard shortcut in three different projects, each one containing more images than the previous one. It only took about a second for each of them. However, none of those projects have .props files created by Capture. Are you using Capture with Flare?

Did you say you were using Flare v7? I can't remember if I read that somewhere or not. Earlier versions of Flare had some problems with the built-in Analyzer function slowing down operations because anything you did in Flare seemed to trigger another scan. Are you using an older version of Flare? Do you see in the status bar anything happening when you're trying to do these things, like a scan notice being displayed?

If you're using v7, what options do you have enabled in the Tools > Options screen on the Analyzer tab?

EDIT: Oops, just saw you said you used one of the v7 templates, so I guess you're using v7. So ignore the second paragraph -- just answer the first and third ones.

[Andrew]

OS is XP

Just did a blank project (used one of the Flare 7 samples, the "sample book" template): Yes, the problem is present. 3+ seconds when pressing ctrl-G for the dialog to pop up.

Hmm. The only situation under which I can reproduce this issue is if I let Flare go "inactive" for a while, wait for it to page out of memory, and then switch to it and press Ctrl - G, which takes 4-6 seconds to come up (presumably because it has to reload the dialog from paged memory). I've been using XP to test, with a Core 2 Duo (2.4 GHz), a fairly standard 3-year-old 160GB 7200 RPM hard drive, and 3.4 GB of memory.

What are your hardware specs?

[samjones6]

Just did a blank project (used one of the Flare 7 samples, the "sample book" template): Yes, the problem is present. 3+ seconds when pressing ctrl-G for the dialog to pop up.

I tried this keyboard shortcut in three different projects, each one containing more images than the previous one. It only took about a second for each of them. However, none of those projects have .props files created by Capture. Are you using Capture with Flare?

I do not use Capture, but I have TONS of .props files, because Flare (@#$@#$) requires them.

(I don't want .props files on my graphics, but Flare includes ALL the graphics in chm files, even when they are not used! My chms got HUUUUGE! Robohelp automatically excludes image files that are not actually referenced in the project, but Flare automatically INCLUDES them, so I have to set conditions on ALL of em (~500 graphics, 401 .props files).)

You think mebbe all those .props files are the issue?

[Andrew]

I doubt it's the .props files, or your blank project would not have exhibited the same delay. I have a project with about 600 images (and nearly as many .props files), and it still opens in about 1 second for me. (Side note: Flare doesn't require .props files that I am aware of; only Capture does. If you are using Flare to capture your images, you are actually using Capture. If you are not, and you are using some other tool, I'm not sure where the .props files come from -- I have many images in Flare with no .props files.)

I agree regarding unused image files. They really shouldn't be included in the output, and we shouldn't have to condition them to prevent that.

[samjones6]

Side note: Flare doesn't require .props files that I am aware of

The way Flare stores conditions on an image file is by creating a .props file.

You can try it and see. The content of the .props is the condition you set (that is set on the image itself, not in the topic).

If you do not set this condition, the image WILL be included in chm outputs, whether it is used or not.

[Andrew]

Interesting...for some reason, I thought it did that at the folder level, and not the file level, but I must have confused it with Subversion (or maybe I'm remembering the old RoboHelp functionality -- we don't condition pictures much). For what it's worth, the .props files won't be included in your output; they are purely for Flare's internal use.

[samjones6]

For what it's worth, the .props files won't be included in your output; they are purely for Flare's internal use.

I know.

I know every file that is in that chm.... (After migrating to Flare, I had to start dumping my chms out to disk to see what was getting in there and making em so big. On Robohelp, it was automatically perfect and I never had to bother with this.)

[samjones6]

It's weird that you're having so much trouble when most people don't. Did you send your computer's complete specs to MadCap so they could look into it?

Sure. A few times.

Madcap support signed off on my computer.

[samjones6]

I doubt it's the .props files,

FWIW, it would appear that the props files ARE referenced when inserting an image....

flare-slow-insert-pic.png

[LTinker68]

I tend to put conditions at the folder level, too, not the graphics file. Guess it makes sense to create the props file since conditioning a topic adds a bit of code to the topic and you can't do that to the graphic.

I was suggesting the props in case it had to look at a bunch of them, but it sounds like Andrew doesn't have that problem.

The other thing that popped into my head as I was heading to lunch was perhaps there was a conflict with the keyboard shortcut you're using, Ctrl + G. Do you have the same delay if you click on the Insert Picture icon in the toolbar or go to Insert > Picture or whatever the menu option is? If you don't have the delay getting to the screen from the toolbar or menu option, then perhaps there's another program on the computer that uses the same keystroke combination for something similar and it's causing a conflict with Flare. Kind of like if you have SnagIt and Capture on the same computer -- when you run Capture, it'll tell you that another region is using Ctrl + A, I think it is, and you have to reassign that action to avoid that message.

[samjones6]

The other thing that popped into my head as I was heading to lunch was perhaps there was a conflict with the keyboard shortcut you're using, Ctrl + G.

Interesting thought.

Everything in Flare is slow, not just ctrl G.

Ctrl G stands out, because it is in my face a lot, and drives me crazy.

Flare, in general, is just a dog.

Everything else (Visual Studio, dreamweaver, SQL Management Studio, Perforce, etc etc) on my machine flies.

[Andrew]

I doubt it's the .props files,

FWIW, it would appear that the props files ARE referenced when inserting an image....

flare-slow-insert-pic.png

They are, but if you are seeing the same slowness problem with a blank project, that's not the cause of your problem, I would think.

The more I think about it, the more it seems this has to have some environmental element to it. Could be a bug in Flare (or .NET, or whatever) that only shows up because of something else you have installed, or some hardware or driver conflict, a slow hard drive, etc. You and I are getting reasonably different performance using a blank project. That pretty much rules out most variables (aside from Flare options settings).

One more possibility -- reset your window layout to the default and try it. I doubt it's the issue, but worth a shot. (If you have made a lot of changes to your layout, I'd recommend saving the layout as a specific name, so you can restore it).

[samjones6]

Well, the Madcap guys opened a bug on this.... current bug number is 44371.

[Andrew]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.