>PMFJI. There's interesting information about CDX bloat at http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~CDXBloat~VFP.

PMFJI? Sorry, I still don't know that one. :)
I've read that information beforehand indeed. However, it's not bloat that I'm interested in. I'm interested in the speed and correctness issues. And restricted to vfp7sp1 and newer. Let me repeat what I said in other messages in this thread:

The original statement of DavidF was that "bloat is something that affects performance" and that therefore "routine reindexing is prudent [...]". I have serious doubts about this position, well okay, under 'normal' circumstances. By the way, let not this thread become another discussion about bloat itself please. For that's not the issue I'm interested in, for now. Although bloat certainly is an issue if very large cdx-files are about to fill up an entire disk, in my case I'm only interested in the performance (=speed) and 'correctness' issues of (re)indexing.
My view is: Under normal circumstances, REINDEX, or its drastic equivalent, will NOT improve performance. Therefore there's no need to advice superusers to regularly start the menu-option that will reindex all tables. The only time such an advice is ok, is when the SUPERuser has the feeling that an index has become outdated or corrupt. But even then it's often an even better advice to make a call to the helpdesk or developer.
Let me also explain more clearly what I mean with 'correctness'. It's another word for 'correct indexes'. If you offer superusers the option to reindex, then these superusers will regularly fear that indexes may become incorrect, thus causing incorrect retrieval of data. For example, they may assume that certain records are no longer displayed due to incorrect indexes and they think that a reindex will let the missing record reappear. I think this is too often a false perception and a reindex gives false hope. If an incorrect index is really at stake, then a call to the developer/helpdesk is a better reaction to the situation than a reindex.
In other words, a reindex menu-option gives the user a false feeling of control over speed and correctness. Furthermore, while the superuser reindexes, other users cannot use the application. Sometimes that'll take minutes, in other applications it may take an hour or so. Precious time ... for nothing but false expectations.

Agree?


>>Hi David,
>>
>>In an old thread you say:
>>
>>"CDX bloat is something that affects performance. Routine reindexing is prudent for tables that undergo lots of adds and deletes."
>>
>>Are you suggesting that a reindexing routine (or a 'delete tag all' followed by various 'index on' commands) should be part of any application that handles tables that have a lot of records added and deleted?
>>
>>My hunch is that there's no gain at all. I'm talking now about vfp7sp1. Addition of records will not over-inflate the cdx. And deletion of records will neither inflate nor shrink the cdx. Purging the deleted records with PACK also implies a REINDEX.