$NET_FMT

Specify the compression or conversion format used to return a hitlist from the server to the client.

$NET_FMT=HIT_DB | HIT_CDB | HIT_META

Arguments

  • HIT_DB—no compression or conversion. This is the default value if the $NET_FMT setting is omitted. It is best used where the network is not a bottleneck and is able to transfer large amounts of data efficiently.
  • HIT_CDB—compresses data. It uses a simple algorithm to remove duplicate bytes. It uses fewer resources on the server than HIT_META. This option is best used where the server and the network are both heavily used, and extra usage of either leads to performance degradation.
  • HIT_META—converts the data to Uniface's internal format, which removes trailing spaces. It may use more CPU time than HIT_CDB. It is best used on powerful servers to enable conversion of platform-specific data types on the server when conversion routines are not available on the client.

Defaults

Assignment file: client assignment files
Section: [SETTINGS]
Default value: HIT_DB

Description

By default, when using a database remotely through a Uniface Server, the data is returned to the client exactly as it was retrieved. If fixed length fields are defined in an entity, they are padded with spaces to the full length of the field. For example, if you have defined a field as C200 and it contains only 4 bytes of data, all 200 bytes are returned over the network.

If there are many such fields defined and they actually contain little data, this can degrade performance. In this case, you can use the $NET_FMT setting to enhance performance by compressing the data returned in the hitlist. It is probably best to experiment which setting produces the better performance in your situation.

It is intended for client applications or Uniface Servers that are acting as clients.

Related Topics