Synchronisation speed

Please post all questions on Help+Manual 8 here

Moderators: Alexander Halser, Tim Green

Post Reply
John Johann
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 7:35 pm

Synchronisation speed

Unread post by John Johann »

Hi,
I've just branched a help project, edited some topics and started a synchronisation to language siblings.
I know it is a reasonably sized project (~3200 topics) but the very first synch after branching is painfully slow -- like ca. 3 hours for one language. Any way to speed this up?
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23157
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Synchronisation speed

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi John,

Three hours is strange. Where are the main project and its siblings located in relation to one another? I would only expect performance like that if you're trying to do this across a network or on a network drive. It would also be catastrophic if you were trying to do it in a managed cloud folder like OneDrive, Google Drive, DropBox or iCloud drive.

Also: Have you got yourself into the beta program of the new Help+Manual Translation Assistant? Recommended:

https://www.helpandmanual.com/news/2022 ... beta-test/
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
John Johann
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 7:35 pm

Re: Synchronisation speed

Unread post by John Johann »

Hi Tim,
It is all very much local under [en]\Project\**.hmxp.
The project is still in DevOps (haven't got to git yet) but Studio isn't running.
I synch from en to de and then from en to fr, etc.
I only Compare -- Do not overwrite; Highlight changed topics.
It is only that first synch to de that is so slow -- the others aren't fast, but tolerable given the amount of topics.
I've signed up for the Beta which sounds great, but haven't had time to test yet.
User avatar
Alexander Halser
EC-Software Support
Posts: 4098
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 7:24 pm
Location: Salzburg, Austria
Contact:

Re: Synchronisation speed

Unread post by Alexander Halser »

Hi John,

Three hours is really strange, but it's hard to say what exactly causes this. I'd also recommend to try the Translation Assistant Beta, because the sync function there is very transparent. The TA could actually be even slower than the sync in H&M, because it performs a lot of visual updates on the screen. But you can clearly see what's happening and where the lag occurs.

I suspect that the sync itself does not take that long, but saving the project at the end. Is that the case, does the save operation at the end cost time? Or is the lag evenly distributed over the sync process?

H&M (TA as well) do not save changes directly to disk. They accumulate changes in a hidden "shadow copy" project. When you hit the save button, these changes are flushed and saved to disk. We've had some cases in the past where this part took relatively long.
Alexander Halser
Senior Software Architect, EC Software GmbH
John Johann
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 7:35 pm

Re: Synchronisation speed

Unread post by John Johann »

Hi Alexander,
It seems to be less the save and more the comparison of the files.
The progress bar shows the name of the topic and the percentage and just creeps along. The save at the end isn't actually too bad.
I'm seeng "changes" in topics I didn't touch, e.g. from >>modified="2022-03-03T12:00:30.869+01:00"<< to >>modified="2022-03-03T12:00:30.869+02:00"<< or bullet settings (font-size, color) -- but the template hasn't changed from the main branch which is synched regularly so it s strange that this shows up.

The pixel width and height of draft comments also likes to change, variables sometimes like to get a >>translate="false"<< added; spaces sometimes like to become &#32;

This also happens in the projects that I synch after the very first one -- but it isn't as slow.
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23157
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Synchronisation speed

Unread post by Tim Green »

John Johann wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 10:46 am m seeng "changes" in topics I didn't touch, e.g. from >
Is your project under version control and are you synching the repository version instead of the local version? If it is, it's possible that the VCS is writing the timestamps for everything every time it touches it.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
John Johann
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 7:35 pm

Re: Synchronisation speed

Unread post by John Johann »

Hi Tim,
We use Azure DevOps and manually check-in changes with Visual Studio.
There is only one local version in the local folder synched with DevOps.
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23157
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Synchronisation speed

Unread post by Tim Green »

John Johann wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 6:29 am We use Azure DevOps and manually check-in changes with Visual Studio.
There is only one local version in the local folder synched with DevOps.
OK, but even so, I'd recommend checking whether your VCS is changing the timestamps.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
Post Reply