Re: Address book basically locks up.

steve@howsonfamily.com said:
> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I installed Opie a couple of days ago
> = and really=20 like it, but I have a problem with the address book..</
> FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV> <DIV>
> <FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I have about 2300 entries that I =
> transferred over=20 from Outlook and I can open the address book and
> browse the contacts = with no=20 problem, but it won't close.</FONT></
> DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Well I guess it does eventually,
> but = takes a VERY=20 long time (talking 3-5 minutes or more).</FONT></
> DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>This doesn't seem right and I
> was = wondering if=20 there was something I could check on.</FONT></
> DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>

Please don't send HTML mail.

It looks like a known bug in the address book application -- the
AddressbookWindow's closeEvent method unconditionally saves the data file,
and has a comment "shouldn't always save". Basically, it looks like it's
saving your large address book every time you close the window, even if you
haven't changed anything.

Writing such a large file to flash is naturally going to be very slow, and
reduce the life time of your flash if it's done too frequently.

It would be slightly more acceptable if it kept some kind of 'dirty' state
and saved only when you'd actually changed something, but it still wouldn't
be ideal -- every time you change a single entry it writes out a complete
replacement for the original file.

Ideally, the format used by the address book would be one which allows
entries to be edited in place and new entries to be added without
completely rewriting the file.

--
dwmw2