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Steve wrote:
> Regarding FindFirst, use of indexes and performance relative to Seek, a very
> old tech paper by Microsoft stated:
>
> "If you select a table-type recordset with an index, you can use the Seek
> method to position the cursor against any criteria that are stored in that
> index. This will always be the fastest possible way to find a particular
> piece of data. Even though Find will use indexes where possible, because it
> is based on a dynaset or snapshot, the overhead of that mechanism will
> always be somewhat greater than the equivalent Seek."
>
> See "43 Ways to Speed Up DAO Code"
>
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/d...keDAOFaster.asp
>
> As I have stated, I use Seek when it is the most appropriate. But most of
> the time, I use SQL Select statements for returning information; rarely do I
> need to return information from only one table. I rarely use FindFirst (or
> related methods).
>
> Finally, I have found that small performance differences seem to get
> magnified as the database grows, is moved to a server, and/or more users
> start to access it. So, if I have an option to either use FindFirst or
> Seek, and I know that pushing the system to SQL Server is not in the cards,
> I would go with the better performing option. Microsoft states Seek is
> faster than Find methods (see the Access 97 help FindFirst .... Methods),
> your tests show that Seek is faster, and my tests have shown that Seek is
> faster.
>
> But, to each their own.
>
> Your tests have confirmed the performance difference.
I agree that Seek, while being blazingly fast, is not often the
appropriate method to use. It is so restrictive in how/where it can be
used that it is rarely practical to even consider it.
If you refer to my earlier post to David, you will see that I tested a
number of alternate situations. I saw relatively little difference in
the timings of Seek and the Query in the different scenarios, but the
FindFirst varied a lot. These results led me to conclude that FindFirst
does not use the index at all.
--
Bri
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