4D World Tour 2019 Development Day

4D World Tour 2019 Development Day

4D World Tour training day was held 15 May 2019 at Cliftons Venues in Sydney. The SapphireOne development team attended as 4D v17 was introduced with features of ORDA, 4D Write Pro, 4D View Pro and many more.  New improvements were highlighted, providing developers with sophisticated tools and innovative ideas required for business and productivity. 4D is the language of SapphireOne in our client server application.

Some of the key features of the training day include: 

ORDA-

Object Relational Data Access (ORDA) changes the way data is accessed and presented. 

“ORDA is a new way of thinking. It’s not just a language. It about relations, data access, using objects, and much more.” Thomas Maul (VP Strategy, 4D). In ORDA, complex relational structures are mapped internally like that of an object, allowing developers to use the entire database as a single object.

4D Write Pro- full of features

4D Write Pro is a powerful text engine, programmable, and fully integrated into 4D and its database. The integrated text engine allows users to design letters, create invoices, catalogues, reports and many other desktop publishing functions. The personalised menus ensure users only get the features they need. Order processing, logistics, correspondence, marketing and document management are advantages of v17.

4D View Pro- list of features has multiplied

4D View Pro allows the users to take advantage of integrated, powerful spreadsheets. There is an advancement in integration with Microsoft Office and Excel spreadsheets are available for reports when working offline. Simply compute the report using 4D View Pro and export into Excel or save as PDF. 

Other features 4D World Tour– A new modern interface was released to increases customer satisfactionDynamic forms within allow users to build forms that are fully-adaptable to the client’s needs without the need to add or change code. Programmers can easily convert binary forms to dynamic forms to redesign on the fly. 4D also highlighted their new security features that ensure data, websites and server communications are safe and stable. 

Click for more information regarding improvements and features within the latest release of SapphireOne ERP, CRM, DMS and Business Accounting Software Application. Alternatively, contact our office on (02) 8362 4500 or request a demo.

A warning and update from 4D on energy setting and speed

By Wayne Stewart from 4D

Energy setting and speed- 4D is embedded in our SapphireOne client server application so please read the following article from Wayne.

4D warning on energy setting and speed

I was aware that Windows Desktop uses energy saving systems to lower the power need, extend battery live, lower heat, etc.

Surprise was that Windows Server (2008-2016) is also shipped with “balanced” energy saving as default AND that this makes 4D 30-50% slower.

Tested with long running (sequential) search in a text field on 1 million records. After 30 seconds CPU was busy with about 50% and running on 1.7 GHZ and kept this level. Changing to “high performance” energy setting pushed the CPU usage to 100% and 3.4 GHZ.

This was even visible in the progress bar, it moved visible faster.
Long running backup changed from 24 minutes to 14 minutes.

With balanced energy a “not busy” CPU might run with 5% max speed. With high performance setting and speed it is kept at 100% as minimum.

How are your experiences with energy setting and speed?

Some links to read about:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2207548/slow-performance-on-windows-server-when-using-the-balanced-power-plan

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/performance-tuning/hardware/power/power-performance-tuning

Balanced (recommended)

Default setting targets good energy efficiency with minimal performance impact. General computing Matches capacity to demand. Energy-saving features balance power and performance.

High Performance

Increases performance at the cost of high energy consumption. Power and thermal limitations, operating expenses, and reliability considerations apply. Low latency apps and app code that is sensitive to processor performance changes. Processors are always locked at the highest performance state (including “turbo frequencies). All cores are unparked. Thermal output may be significant.

https://blog.sqlauthority.com/2015/04/27/sql-server-using-high-performance-power-plan-for-sql-server/

If a server requires ultra-low latency, invariant CPU frequency, or the very highest performance levels, such as a database servers like SQL Server, it might not be helpful that the processors keep switching to lower-performance states. As such, the High Performance power plan caps the minimum processor performance state at 100 percent.

https://straightpathsql.com/archives/2016/12/power-saving-settings-killing-sql-server-performance-quick-tip/

In essence, the CPUs will run at a lower clock multiplier when demand isn’t deemed high enough, and that clock speed will only increase when demand is high enough for long enough. This results in a slower CPU speed during normal operations. That setting actually works well on my laptop or tablet when I want to conserve battery life and don’t have a workload that is sensitive to CPU speed.

For a SQL Server, though? That is horrible for performance. Windows balanced mode also can cause other components to run slower or behave differently than when the server is running in High Performance mode. For instance, USB ports can be underpowered and network interfaces can be under-powered or even go to sleep. Frankly, for a SQL Server, nothing good comes out of these modes.