Need guidance on column orders in form views and performance impact of slices

[Jamie]

I am using SQL Server for my database. I understand that right now there is no way other than creating a slice to manipulate column order in a form view. Before I go and create slices for my many key tables with this sole purpose, I would like to understand 3 things:

1. Is this a fundamental limitation that cannot / will not ever be overcome within the platform? I have to guess that it is or it would seem to me that it would have been addressed long ago…

2. What are the performance implications both within the editor and within my app of creating many, many slices? Based on prior exchanges with @praveen I understand that my app is way outside the typical bounds in terms of table count. I know it probably should/could be broken into “applets” to address this fact, but assuming I don’t do that is creating tens of slices going to negatively impact performance?

3. If the answer to #2 is “Yes you numbskull, performance will likely degrade with lots and lots of slices!” then would creating Views in SQL be a better alternative, and what unforeseen challenges might that then present?

I welcome any and all wisdom the community can provide on this matter.

[Steve]

Jamie:

Is this a fundamental limitation that cannot / will not ever be overcome within the platform?

It is fundamental. I’m not aware of any plans to change it.

Jamie:

What are the performance implications both within the editor and within my app of creating many, many slices?

It’s nearly impossible to predict, especially given the apparent complexity and size of your data set. Your best bet is performance testing.

Jamie:

would creating Views in SQL be a better alternative

I would think not, since these would be seen as separate tables by AppSheet, so there would be no opportunity to optimize anything between them. SQL views would likely drastically increase your app’s memory footprint. You’d also have to be very careful to keep the app column definitions consistent between overlapping views and their underlying tables. Yikes!

[Jamie]

Thank you, Steve. Glad I’m not the only one working on a Saturday!

Sounds like I should not hold my breath for an easy out and I definitely don’t want to go down the SQL Views route!

Steve:

It’s nearly impossible to predict, especially given the apparent complexity and size of your data set. Your best bet is performance testing.

Before I dive in and start cranking out slices and forms, has anyone out there in the community or on the AppSheet team done any such testing on a large app?

[Bellave_Jayaram]

If you have a huge table (say over 10000 rows) and you are going to have separate self standing apps (say 5 or more) and an app launcher, it’s not a bad idea to use SQL views.