Seeking Web Gadget Display Speed Improvement

IdeasVacuum · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2020 2:05 pm

I have a number of HTML files, all of which consist only of one table. They are displayed via Web Gadgets on a Panel (tabbed). Although relatively small, the display is slow enough that the User first sees a blank page and then the page builds over 1-2 seconds. It's probably better on a fast Windows 10 machine but if I can I would like to optimise.

Instead of loading the Web Gadgets with HTML files on demand from the hard drive, is it possible to load the files from ram?

Edit: Better Subject Title

BarryG · **Joined:** Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:17 am **Posts:** 1301

If it's only your own HTML files in a table, that aren't loading anything online, then they should display instantly. Got an example HTML table so we can see?

IdeasVacuum · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:36 pm

Hi Barry

They are proprietary. Most are around 3KB, 45 - 50 lines and the largest is only 22KB, 454 lines. The delay is in the fact that they are read from a hard drive - it's well known that small files on large drives take some milliseconds to locate.

Hence the idea of storing them in the exe as binary, but that will only be advantageous if the Web Gadgets can subsequently be populated without having to save anything to the drive.....

IdeasVacuum · **Posted:** Fri Jun 19, 2020 4:57 pm

I have put the content of a whole 4486 byte html file in a DataSection as a single-line string.
However, Restore --> Read --> SetGadgetItemText() takes about the same time as loading a hard drive URL (maybe a tiny tiny bit quicker but not worthwhile).

I recall in the WindowsXP days creating a virtual ram drive and reading files from there, which was instant.

Edit: Just defining the whole content as a string works too, but it still takes about the same time (rather negates the use of a DataSection for strings?)

Edit 2: Tried PokeS() (at App Startup), PeekS() (directly into SetGadgetItemText() at startup), works well, but still no noticeable speed gain :evil:

Also, it's no faster on Windows 10 than on Windows 7. So, I think I have to live with it. Still, storing the files as strings in the exe is definitely preferable to distributing them.

BarryG · **Joined:** Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:17 am **Posts:** 1301

IdeasVacuum wrote:

Hence the idea of storing them in the exe as binary, but that will only be advantageous if the Web Gadgets can subsequently be populated without having to save anything to the drive.....

You can do that (inject a HTML string directly into a WebGadget without hard drive access). I'd be happy to do some tests if you provide me one example HTML table (if not private)? To repay your kind help for my EditorGadget bolding.

IdeasVacuum · **Posted:** Sat Jun 20, 2020 1:38 am

Hi Barry
This is how I have done it, converting each HTML to a single-line string. The difference between streaming a string directly into a Web Gadget and Poking the string is negligible, so this is over-the-top really.

Code:

Global Dim igChars.i(9)                                                                                        
                                                                                                                
Global *MemChart00 = AllocateMemory(2702)  : igChars(00) = 1350                                                 
Global *MemChart01 = AllocateMemory(2376)  : igChars(01) = 1187                                                 
Global *MemChart02 = AllocateMemory(2538)  : igChars(02) = 1203                                                 
Global *MemChart03 = AllocateMemory(4260)  : igChars(03) = 2129                                                 
Global *MemChart04 = AllocateMemory(3064)  : igChars(04) = 1531                                                 
Global *MemChart05 = AllocateMemory(5414)  : igChars(05) = 2706                                                 
Global *MemChart06 = AllocateMemory(4234)  : igChars(06) = 2116                                                 
Global *MemChart07 = AllocateMemory(5744)  : igChars(07) = 2871                                                 
Global *MemChart08 = AllocateMemory(3292)  : igChars(08) = 1645                                                 
Global *MemChart09 = AllocateMemory(4222)  : igChars(09) = 2110                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                
Global sgChart00.s = "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'> <meta name='viewport' content='wid~
Global sgChart01.s = "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'> <meta name='viewport' content='wid~
Global sgChart02.s = "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'> <meta name='viewport' content='wid~
Global sgChart03.s = "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'> <meta name='viewport' content='wid~
Global sgChart04.s = "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'> <meta name='viewport' content='wid~
Global sgChart05.s = "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'> <meta name='viewport' content='wid~
Global sgChart06.s = "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'> <meta name='viewport' content='wid~
Global sgChart07.s = "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'> <meta name='viewport' content='wid~
Global sgChart08.s = "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'> <meta name='viewport' content='wid~
Global sgChart09.s = "<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset='utf-8'> <meta name='viewport' content='wid~
                                                                                                                
PokeS(*MemChart00, sgChart00, igChars(00), #PB_UTF8)                                                            
PokeS(*MemChart01, sgChart01, igChars(01), #PB_UTF8)                                                            
PokeS(*MemChart02, sgChart02, igChars(02), #PB_UTF8)                                                            
PokeS(*MemChart03, sgChart03, igChars(03), #PB_UTF8)                                                            
PokeS(*MemChart04, sgChart04, igChars(04), #PB_UTF8)                                                            
PokeS(*MemChart05, sgChart05, igChars(05), #PB_UTF8)                                                            
PokeS(*MemChart06, sgChart06, igChars(06), #PB_UTF8)                                                            
PokeS(*MemChart07, sgChart07, igChars(07), #PB_UTF8)                                                            
PokeS(*MemChart08, sgChart08, igChars(08), #PB_UTF8)                                                            
PokeS(*MemChart09, sgChart09, igChars(09), #PB_UTF8)                                                                                                                        

Then the Web Gadgets are each populated like so:

Code:

SetGadgetItemText(#WebChart03, #PB_Web_HtmlCode, PeekS(*MemChart03, igChars(03), #PB_UTF8))
SetGadgetItemText(#WebChart04, #PB_Web_HtmlCode, PeekS(*MemChart04, igChars(04), #PB_UTF8))

The only limitation is that this can only be done with small files since literal strings have a limit of 8192 chars (not sure how that is determined because char byte size in UTF8 varies).

BarryG · **Joined:** Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:17 am **Posts:** 1301

Looks normal enough, but can you zip and upload a raw HTML table for me to test? I've got no work this morning so lots of free time to play. Even if it's just to say "it's instant here" so you'll know if your PC is the issue, and not the WebGadget.

IdeasVacuum · **Posted:** Sat Jun 20, 2020 1:52 am

Thanks for the offer Barry but it's already been tested and approved by the Clients.

The issue is effectively the time it takes Windows to render a pre-loaded page. I'm nit picking - the HTML tables are faster (and better looking) than the original List Icon approach and in this case there is no User interactivity.

BarryG · **Joined:** Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:17 am **Posts:** 1301

Okay. It's not a Windows redraw issue, maybe? "SendMessage_(GadgetID(#WebGadget),#WM_SETREDRAW,0,0)" to speed it up?

IdeasVacuum · **Posted:** Sat Jun 20, 2020 2:28 am

... It is a rendering thing, the tiny files take roughly the same time as the larger files. The priority of the App also comes into play.

Edit: The files are preloaded and static.

IdeasVacuum · **Posted:** Sat Jun 20, 2020 2:33 am

For anyone interested in loading larger files that hold more than a table:

Code:

DataSection
LargerFile:
IncludeBinary "C:\Users\~\large.html"
EndDataSection

Code:

SetGadgetItemText(#WebLF, #PB_Web_HtmlCode, PeekS(?LargerFile, 21559, #PB_UTF8))

Paul · **Posted:** Sat Jun 20, 2020 4:12 am

Slightly more convenient way to calculate file length of Included file...

Code:

DataSection
  LargerFile:
  IncludeBinary "C:\Users\~\large.html"
  LargerFileEnd:
EndDataSection

SetGadgetItemText(#WebLF, #PB_Web_HtmlCode, PeekS(?LargerFile, ?LargerFileEnd-?LargerFile, #PB_UTF8))

IdeasVacuum · **Posted:** Sat Jun 20, 2020 11:56 am

Hi Paul

It is indeed. I did not use that method because, given that I coded the HTML, I already know the file sizes and char counts.

I found this morning that the greatest contribution to rendering speed is to give the App higher than normal priority.....

IdeasVacuum · **Posted:** Sat Jun 20, 2020 1:55 pm

For a couple of additional files I used this method (in the seeking of speed

)

Code:

SetGadgetItemText(#WebLF, #PB_Web_HtmlCode, PeekS(?LargerFile, ?LargeFileEnd-?LargeFile, #PB_UTF8))

However, both files were displayed with garbage at the end, whereas if I hard-code the size, the display is perfect.

Bug or just the consequence of UTF8?

Paul · **Posted:** Sat Jun 20, 2020 3:58 pm

IdeasVacuum wrote:

For a couple of additional files I used this method (in the seeking of speed

)
However, both files were displayed with garbage at the end, whereas if I hard-code the size, the display is perfect.
Bug or just the consequence of UTF8?

Maybe change the flag to this?

Code:

#PB_UTF8|#PB_ByteLength

SetGadgetItemText(#WebLF, #PB_Web_HtmlCode, PeekS(?LargerFile, ?LargerFileEnd-?LargerFile, #PB_UTF8|#PB_ByteLength))

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