Reducing memory usage for Base

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#1

I’m trying to convert a FileMaker database to LibreOffice Base. The database consists of ~15000 records, most of which are text. I have constructed a postgresql database containing all of this information and it totals ~5.3 GB, 5 GB of which is images for one of the fields. Without these images Base seems to work fine connecting as a client; but what I want to do is display the associated image when a user opens the relevant record.

To that end I tried creating a form from my table including all fields. I’ve confirmed that this works as expected (the images display) when I have only a small number of records (I tested 100), but if I try this same thing with the full dataset, Base eats up all the RAM on my system (32 GB) and crashes. So my interpretation of this is that Base is loading the entire table into memory when what I would hope would happen is that it would only need to load the current record(s).

I am very much a novice to Base; is this something that is readily addressable?

#2

Hello,

You have a couple of choices.

One is to not embed the images in the database. Instead the images would be saved in a separate directory and the record would contain a link to the image. See → How to insert a link to an odb database to display an image

Another option is for the images to be in a separate table an linked back to the master - a one to one relation. In this way the images are only read when the master record is selected.

#3

Thanks for your response. I am developing this locally but in the future intend to provide access remotely. I assume in this case that inserting a link is just that, a link to a file on the machine hosting the database? As in, no image would appear?

It is an acceptable solution to me to have another table with these images. In the second option are you referring to utilizing a subform? I don’t have familiarity with those yet but can certainly read up on that.

#4

Sub Form - yes.

It is basically keeping the images in a separate table and not read until actually needed.

And for linking, yes link to location of choice.

#5

Thanks again. I’ll look into the subforms then.

#6

@brcopeland,

It appears you may not have a normalized database. If not, consider. There are many articles on this - just search on normalization.

#7

I just created this database and it is normalized, unless by this you mean to imply putting images into a separate table? I’ve created and managed databases before but never with images.

#8

Just a thought many overlook.

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