Improvement proposal for virtual columns

[Joseph_Seddik]

Dear Experts,

Just a thought. For the benefit of the source database in terms of size and normalization, wouldn’t be helpful to have such options in VCs?

• Calculate once, at row creation
• Calculate only when the row is edited
• Calculate always

I think this would be the optimal solution, instead of currently sacrificing database health and size for performance, which is a pity ironically because database size will also have its own impact on performance, though less.

[WillowMobileSys]

You are correct. there have been a number of Feature Requests surrounding these ideas.

Virtual Column - Calculation Toggle for Display/Calcs Feature Requests

I think it would be neat, and valuable for very large apps, if we could could have a toggle on Virtual Columns that basically say’s “For display only” can not be used in other expressions. Then this will reduce the initial calc time, calculating it on the fly as needed for display purposes.

Virtual Columns - Calculate Server Side Only Toggle Feature Requests

It would be so cool to have a simple toggle for virtual columns “Used only server side.” So that it only calculates server side, and isn’t shown to users… I currently mostly get this accomplished for heavy virtual lists by dropping in the following Show =FALSE AppFormula: IF( CONTEXT(“Host”)<>“Server”, LIST(""), INSERT CRAZY LIST EXPRESSION HERE )

Device-Only Columns (Moon shot request) Feature Requests

So True, What about being able to do this in virtual columns? Enum list displayed as buttons. Virtual column values would not be saved. I think this would be the quickest easier solution for Devs.

[Joseph_Seddik]

Thanks much! Though I didn’t find an exact similar request, I upvoted the last one by @MultiTech_Visions

[WillowMobileSys]

KJS:

Though I didn’t find an exact similar request,

I just wanted to highlight for you and anyone reading, that there are similar requests so maybe a solution that satisfies ALL wishes can be achieved - the first time!

[Joseph_Seddik]

I fully understand and I do much appreciate your reply Sorry for not making this clear

I was thinking the exact same thing, maybe we could have a solution to the satisfaction of all of us. I actually mentioned MultiTech to see whether he’d be interested in incorporating my request into his.