Overview

When records are deleted from feed or ration libraries the only change made is a change in the content of the record index key and the key field of the table record. The record itself remains in the table occupying the same space it occupied before it was "deleted". Since all access to table records is accomplished by means of the table index, though it remains in the table it is not recognized and therefore not accessible.

Deleted records are dead space - that is they occupy disk space but are never used. Over time as they accumulate, deleted records can claim a significant amount of hard drive real estate. When the amount hard drive space occupied by deleted records becomes significant it can affect the speed with which Formulate2 executes.

Table compaction allows you to reclaim wasted hard drive space and maintain optimal program performance by reducing table size.

Here's What You Do ...

To back up your data if you are viewing the feed or ration record form, open the Other menu and select "Maintenance & Registration".

From the Maintenance Utilities form shown below, open the Files menu and select and click on Compact Files.

Here's How It Works ...

The compaction process completely rewrites all tables based on the entries in the table index. Because the process can affect all of your formulation data, we strongly recommend that you back up your data before compacting tables.

When you click on the Compact Files menu option, Formulate2 will check its tables to determine if any disk space can be recovered by compacting the tables and report its findings.

Clicking on the OK button will display an option form where you can confirm or cancel the compaction operation.

Formulate2 reports the progress of the process ...

... and informs you when it is completed.