Slow down on workflows with many route nodes

[JavierM-Xerox]

Understood... as always please enure you have a proper backup before any upgrades.

[RyanCa]

I am on an older version of freeflow core (4.0.3.4). I can try upgrading to the newest version to see if there's any improvement. I'll let you know how it goes.

[JavierM-Xerox]

I did receive one workflow via private message and was able to edit it using v5.0.0.2.

Have you tried to edit the workflows using the latest version of FFCore?

[RyanCa]

I never sent you my workflow, I wonder if you got it mixed up with someone else?

Right now I'm using about 30 MAX variables which are saved through a special GUI program I wrote. Two of the variables are sheet width and height already. I have other things like gutters, creep, etc with their type set to number so I dont need to use route nodes. I use variable in every place that made sense for my workflow, and yes even the filename and job folder is variable. I have route nodes in areas usually where I'm not able to use variable input like alignment or page margins. I have condensed it as much as I can, and even gotten rid of some things. My goal was initally to have one workflow to handle every type of digital job we send through it using variables and various route nodes, but it stopped working when it got too large. I had to split it into about 9 slightly smaller workflows just to be able to edit.

[JavierM-Xerox]

One other thing... if you select a node in teh workflow graph then it will become the insertion point. If you double click on a component or on a preset it will be added to the workflow at the insertion point. That may make some workflow editing a little more efficient.

[JavierM-Xerox]

I was looking at your workflow... 

I was wondering if you knew two things:

You can use a variable for filenames (and even for the whole path to a file) in nodes like Insert Pages.

If you put the name of the file to insert in the manifest you submit to FFCore you should be able to replace all the Insert Pages nodes in the workflow with a single node.

You can use MAX variables (as long as the type is set to Number) for the press sheet size dimensions.

If you can add different data to the manifest it seems there would be opportunity for simplifying the workflows which would make them not only faster but also simpler to maintain over time.

[JavierM-Xerox]

This is a known issue that was recently addressed. Please submit an escalation to the support hotline

[RyanCa]

I currently have a workflow with several route nodes, about 8. As you know, when you mouseover the route lines it calculates all possible routes and then highlights the lines. I found a bug where the more routes you add, the slower it calculates it, to the point where you cannot edit the workflow because it sits and thinks forever. I cannot add any more routes to my workflow because of this, and I need to add several more, but doing so will essential break it.

You can test the bug simply by adding several route nodes to an empty workflow and connecting them all together, then mouseover the route lines at the end of the workflow.

Is this a known bug? And if so is there a temporary workaround, maybe a way to disable the route line highlight when I mouseover them?

If I carefully move my mouse between the lines, I can edit the nodes fine. But it's not very easy to edit my workflow that way. And if I accidently hit a line, I have to wait for it to finish thinking. If you can look into this for me it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks