Information for the user about IMatch

[sinus]

Hi all
Funny, at the same day, when Mario did his post about his idea
https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=8220.0

I begun before to write (for me) an idea.

When I hear about problems or information from other users with IMatch, I often think, hm, how fast IMatch is going?
How many pictures does he/she have, how fast can he find them?

Maybe you know of different programs that, for example, compare the speeds of computers. You can run a script with the same program, which then performs different tests and at the end you have a ranking list and can compare how good your computer still is.
I've always found that interesting.

I often thought, couldn't you make an app/script that checks different aspects of IMatch?
In this case not for Mario  but for the users.
You could put the results online if you want, and if some do the same, you could compare the performance of your system with others.

This might also help improve your settings of IMatch. For example, if I notice that loading IMatch takes twice as long for me as for others, I could try to improve it.

And finally, it would just feel good if I knew my IMatch is about as good as others with similar computers.

And last but not least, it could also be a kind of "chronology" for me how fast my database (number of files) is growing.
And even compare it on several computers, what I own (laptop ...)

I imagine an app where you press a button and you get a result like this (approximately):

Date of checking            2018 Aug 09 / 12.34 h
IMatch-version            2018.7.6
Processor Architecture          9, Number of processors: 8, type: 8664, level: 000006, revision: 15363
Process Memory Info            WSC: 157MB, WSP: 157MB (NEW PEAK), PF: 40882


Database               IMatch-DB-final.imd5
Workspace               sinus-two-monitors

Size                      2,25 GB
Folders                   634
Files                       134'643
Stacked files            78'098
Categories               1'423
Direct assigned            2'788
Keywords               12'231
Data-driven            78'956
Attributes               yes,  in use 
Attributes, how many fields ....   

Info / Searching whole DB:
Loading IMatch                                         4,3 sec
Search only in filenames for "3"               1,2 sec      4'231 files
Only in filenames for "e"                         0,9 sec     66'448 files
Descrip,title headline" for "e"                  13,7 sec   15'712 files
freq. used tags for "e" OR "a"                15,2 sec   56'848 files

So, this is only an idea, if I could write Apps, I would simply write one. 

[Mario]

A lot of this information is already provided by:

a) The Info / Activity Panel
b) The Info App
c) The IMatch log file

IMatch also tags extraordinary slow operations with a #sl in the log file so these are easy to find (Everything that takes more than 5s gets a #sl).
IMatch also logs to the log file when it experiences database locks because of the disk not keeping up with demand or too many things are going on at the same time.
If a category calculation takes very long, this is logged with a slowcat tag in the log file. This allows me to tell a user when he has created formula-based or data-driven categories which cause performance issues.

Collecting all this in a separate app would be possible (after making the data available via IMWS) but I don't think that's worth it. Most users work happily with IMatch for almost all of the time.

[sinus]

Collecting all this in a separate app would be possible (after making the data available via IMWS) but I don't think that's worth it. Most users work happily with IMatch for almost all of the time.

True.
But in the past I have read time and again that users have written things like:

- I think my database is slow.
- IMatch starts slowly (or fast)
- why does a search take so long
- my database is x GB, is that too big?
- I have 5'000 categories, is that too much?
- ...

I think I remember that once there was a survey of a user, how big the databases of others were.

But of course, that's just an idea.
In previous IMatch versions I had made such a VB-script for myself, it was just cool for me to see how fast the DB is growing and I had checked the search times.

As I said, it's just an idea. Nice to have, but not very important.

[Mario]

If a user reports such things, all I need is the log file and maybe a screen shot of the Info App.
That's enough to learn about the database and to see which operations are exceptionally slow.

In most cases, performance problems are caused by:

1. Virus Checkers
2. Slow rotating disks in combination with large databases
3. "Shoot yourself into your foot" issues like overly complex or too many formula-based or data-driven categories, relations, immediate write-back enabled etc.

[Jingo]

Markus - I agree with you but also agree with Mario.  I've championed for a long time having MORE info available to the user about what IM is doing "under the hood" to help me diagnose issues with the map panel and/or slowness or activity with the database.  However, as Mario mentioned, the 1% of users like myself that would make use of the info doesn't support the development time to provide something like this.

[sinus]

Markus - I agree with you but also agree with Mario.  I've championed for a long time having MORE info available to the user about what IM is doing "under the hood" to help me diagnose issues with the map panel and/or slowness or activity with the database.  However, as Mario mentioned, the 1% of users like myself that would make use of the info doesn't support the development time to provide something like this.

Andy, true.

Hm, ok, it was just an idea.
After all, if we had such an app, we could tell users, who want know something or who are unsure, if all is ok "let run the app, copy the results here and we can see".

Unlike the log, this would be much easier. The log is for most users not helpful, too complicated, really. The log is for Mario and tech-people like you 

And finally, I am quite sure, a lot of Apps, what IMatch delivers, does also use only a small fraction of users.

But wait, IF I HAVE THE TIME AND "FUN", I WILL CREATE SUCH AN APP, an it will blast you away  ... but 10 years may well pass before that time ... and then maybe will be another script language state of the art. 

[Mario]

I think we currently have everything we need.
You can of course start an app project which reads the IMatch log file and extracts useful information. I have something like this, but written in Python.
You can use the Info App as a starting point as well.

And finally, I am quite sure, a lot of Apps, what IMatch delivers, does also use only a small fraction of users.

Yes. That's why I want to add some basic telemetry so I can see which apps/features are used and then remove stuff no longer needed.