Hi,

I have written a VB program to run as a service on server. It seems to work well except for it slows down the server significantly.

This program needs to run all the time when the server is on. When I did is putting the main loop in the Form_Load() function so that it runs automatically when the program is started (without any event). I also disable the form so that it doesn't show an icon(or window) on the destop. I think this might be a very silly way to accomplish this, but this was the only way I came up when I first started. And now, I think it might be the Form_load() that's taking all the memory. Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks,
Teresa

A VB Program can be just a module. And since no UI is visible, a form isn't needed anyway.

If you remove the forms you could also check the "Unattended execution" in the properties (not required though - just suppresses any error messages from being displayed to written to an event log), also you have to change the startup to Sub Main() and have a Private Sub Main() in a module.

[also]
(I have seen some problems with VB and Client Access (IBM) for AS400's, so there may be a conflict with another program, test it on a non-server if possible to see if there's the same problem, compare software, etc)

[Edited by JLRodgers on 28-05-2003 at 03:21 PM GMT]

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and on the topic of slowness...

whever i stop my program during debug, it flashed back to the coding screen and one by one loads up ALL the forms and modules. is there a way to disable these animations?

Thanks, JLRodgers.

Teresa

Well, I changed my form_load() to sub main(). It's still using up 100% CPU on the server. Now, what else can I do?

Thanks,

Teresa

well... what else is running on the server? and, what is the program doing, if you don't mind telling us all..  

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To help you to help me, here's some psudocode to demonstrate my algrithm. Maybe you can tell the problem from my psudocode.

sub main()

do while RunProgram
    if datediff("n", t1, now)>=1 then
         'do in a one-minute interval
         Go to DB1 get Values
         Process Values
         Store results into DB2
         t1=now
    end if
    Check RunProgram
loop
end sub

This seems to be a very simple program, but takes a lot a process. I need to find a way to make it less memory-consuming and less CPU-consuming.

Thanks,
Teresa

There are IIS, a couple OPC servers, SQL server, and a couple OPC data collectors. If it's not running the vb program, everything seems to be fine (0-2% CPU usage). When this VB program starts, CPU usage jumps to 100%, and everything seems to be very slow.

I think I will give it a few more tries if I hear some other suggestions from you. Otherwise, I may have to change the entire program into PERL or C++, which are not favorable in the company.

Thanks,
Teresa

quote:

---

Teresa wrote:
To help you to help me, here's some psudocode to demonstrate my algrithm. Maybe you can tell the problem from my psudocode.

sub main()

do while RunProgram
    if datediff("n", t1, now)>=1 then
         'do in a one-minute interval
         Go to DB1 get Values
         'how are you getting these values? through a dsn?
         Process Values
         'what kind of processing?
         Store results into DB2
         'Perhaps your connection may be the problem
         t1=now
    end if
    Check RunProgram
loop
end sub

This seems to be a very simple program, but takes a lot a process. I need to find a way to make it less memory-consuming and less CPU-consuming.

Thanks,
Teresa

---

Two things:
Both of the below can get a program to go from 100% usage to under 5%. Your code runs without giving the system control. This should fix it.

1) Put in DoEvents
2) Use the Sleep API

As a general tip, I always have a

Do     DoEvents     'Stuff Loop

whenever I have a do loop.

The below code is overkill... but if a routine does sometime that's outside your program, you can't control the processor usage.

'Declarations Private Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) 'EX: Do While RunProgram     DoEvents     If datediff("n", t1, now)>=1 then          DoEvents          Sleep 1          'do in a one-minute interval          Go to DB1 get Values          DoEvents          Sleep 1          'how are you getting these values? through a dsn?          Process Values          DoEvents          Sleep 1          'what kind of processing?          Store results into DB2          DoEvents          Sleep 1          'Perhaps your connection may be the problem          t1=now     end if     DoEvents     Sleep 1     Check RunProgram Loop End Sub

[Edited by JLRodgers on 29-05-2003 at 12:47 PM GMT]

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WONDERFUL!!!

It worked! Thanks a lot! I really appreciate all your help!

THANKS!

Teresa

And for anyone who wonders... the DoEvents/Sleep API does make the VB program run a bit slower - normally not noticable, or if it is, the user won't care since they can actually do other things on the PC at the same time.

But that's to be expected since you're telling the program to wait until the system processes other things before continuing.

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Great! JLRodgers! Thanks for the information. I did a little research on DoEvents and Sleep API just now. Here's a very helpful web site you can go to get more tips.
http://www.vb-helper.com/tips10.htm

Thanks again!
Teresa

*bump*

;) can anyone answer me ?

thx.
]

[Edited by Shock on 29-05-2003 at 11:59 PM GMT]

Only have code windows (not forms) visible and it goes a lot quicker. Just have the code of recently modified code open and it's quicker still.

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