Performance Issue with Version 6

[size="3"]Key to the performance issues, serious issues, when pages load generated by PHPRunner 6.0 into different popular Browsers are the Javascript and CSS libraries PHPRunner 6 is using.
Build 9948 of PHPRunner 6 , the latest available maintenance release, is generating code for page loading javascript and css styles entirely incorporating the YUI (Yahoo) javascript & css library.
It is this extensive library that has the greatest impact on Cross-Browser performance for our PHPRunner 6 projects.


However, PHPRunner 6 is passing along a javascript and css styling package that is now seriously out of date.
PHPRunner 6 generates all CSS and all of its key Javascript functions that affect Browser performance online by using the YUI 2.81 library.


That YUI library has been updated 8 times since then. The release date for PHPRunner 6 javascript and css stylesheets goes back to May of 2010.


What, ideally, PHPRunner 6 should be loading and running when we output projects online is YUI js & css library 3.4.1 released in September 2011.
This latest library from YUI represents, over the course of the intervening 8 subsequent releases (since PHRunner 6 's library), MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS, BUG FIXES, cross-browser code upgrading, and improvements specifically to enhance SPEED.
As far as issues with Internet Explorer loading ----
the 4th upgrade, YUI 3.1.1, published August 26, 2011, includes this note:

• A patch to eliminate broken synchronous I/O requests in Internet Explorer.
  And, as I say, there were 4 more Upgrades of this library since that date. Serious browser performance issues have been discovered since the YUI js & css version PHPRunner 6 is using.
  At any rate, the latest PHPRunner 6 would undoubtedly clear up a lot of our problems with different browsers if it would upgrade its core javascript and css styling package..
  These are make-it-or-break-it issues for those of us trying to roll out an online product that must work for Every user in all the major Browsers they may be using. PHPRunner 6 projects simply have to equally support all the major Browsers in use by our own clients.
  And it is the YUI library, above everything, that makes or breaks that for PHPRunner 6.
  I would hope that the developers remove this very outdated library and replace it with the cutting edge YUI library. This library IS what loads our pages online. It is this library that makes up the page resizing, the scrolling actions, the Sorting actions, the next page displays, the Search actions, and how FAST PHPRunner 6 pages load in a Browser.
  There has to be more parity in performance between IE 8, IE 9, Firefox, Safari, for instance.
  To state my point further, when a typical PHPRunner 6 project loads into a browser it is relying on at least 18 files in the PHPRunner 6 include and classes folders to make the magic happen that include core YUI code dependencies.
  I hope the next maintenance release of PHPRunner 6 will contain these javascript and css upgrades.[/size]

Hi Vienna,
Thank-you for this great answer! It's an area where I can now focus my research.
Al

Well I spent the day reading up on all this and I don't see a solution other than what has already been suggested by Vienna. I just checked the browser stats of my users. 48% users use Internet Explorer - 31% use Firefox.
Of these:
Firefox 3.6 - 66% (PHPRunner 6 runs slow with this browser)

Firefox 9.0 - 4% (PHPRunner 6 runs fast with this browser)
Firefox 7 & 8 - 24% (untested by myself)
Internet Explorer 8 - 50% (PHPRunner 6 runs slow with this browser)

Internet Explorer 9 - 26% (PHPRunner 6 runs fast with this browser)

Internet Explorer 7 - 19& (PHPRunner 6 runs slow with this browser)
So based on these stats I will be required to go back to using version 5.3.

The solution to obtain correct response times with internet explorer is to install and use Google Chrome Frame plug-in !

http://www.chromium.org/developers/how-tos/chrome-frame-getting-started/chrome-frame-faq
Advantages are JavaScript performance improvements. Apps are faster and more responsive.

My applications runs 10 times faster with this plug-in ! (The response times are the same as firefox...)
To enable this plug-in with your applic., edit the file "page.htm" in the phprunner directory

(C:\Program Files\PHPRunner6.0\templates\layouts\) and replace
<META content=IE=7 http-equiv=X-UA-Compatible> per

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="chrome=1">
Kind regards

Pascal

Hi Pascal,
Thank-you for this information. It works fantastic! IE8 now works as fast as Chrome itself. If I can get users to install the plugin then I'll keep version 6. Hopefully the YUI library gets updated soon.

Thanks again!
Al

Hi Admin,
Does the latest 6.1 address the issues mentioned below ? i.e include the latest release of YUI library.

Because some internet explorer breaks the layout of the list page for 6.0.

I am thus need to provide 5.3 and 6.0 versions to my users.
Thanks

acp

• A patch to eliminate broken synchronous I/O requests in Internet Explorer.
  And, as I say, there were 4 more Upgrades of this library since that date. Serious browser performance issues have been discovered since the YUI js & css version PHPRunner 6 is using.
  At any rate, the latest PHPRunner 6 would undoubtedly clear up a lot of our problems with different browsers if it would upgrade its core javascript and css styling package..
  These are make-it-or-break-it issues for those of us trying to roll out an online product that must work for Every user in all the major Browsers they may be using. PHPRunner 6 projects simply have to equally support all the major Browsers in use by our own clients.
  And it is the YUI library, above everything, that makes or breaks that for PHPRunner 6.
  I would hope that the developers remove this very outdated library and replace it with the cutting edge YUI library. This library IS what loads our pages online. It is this library that makes up the page resizing, the scrolling actions, the Sorting actions, the next page displays, the Search actions, and how FAST PHPRunner 6 pages load in a Browser.
  There has to be more parity in performance between IE 8, IE 9, Firefox, Safari, for instance.
  To state my point further, when a typical PHPRunner 6 project loads into a browser it is relying on at least 18 files in the PHPRunner 6 include and classes folders to make the magic happen that include core YUI code dependencies.
  I hope the next maintenance release of PHPRunner 6 will contain these javascript and css upgrades.[/size]
  

This whole thread is a collection of misunderstandings and assumptions.
If anyone needs help with performance or any other issues - contact support directly. When you need a medical advice you go to the doctor, right? Asking strangers on the street may lead to unpredictable results.
In general, the advise to use the latest available versions of all components is totally valid. This is not the case of performance issues though. YUI is mostly used on Edit/Add pages while performance issues are usually related to the list pages.
PHPRunner 6 development cycle was quite long and we didn't have a chance to upgrade to reasonably fresh version of YUI. In PHPRunner 6.1 we are switching to the latest available YUI 2.x version (2.9.0 I guess). We'll consider switching to YUI 3 in future releases if we see it fit.

I'll be the first person to admit that I know little about the YUI (Yahoo) javascript & css library upgrades. Unfortunately there are only so many hours in the day and I cannot learn everything so somtimes I'm required to go on recomendations.
Sergey, I had opened a ticket on this and because you only test with the latest browsers you found no performance issues on my website. I am required to test with older browser versions as well because I do not control what browser is being used by my customers and I cannot alienate them either. While I won't support IE6, IE7 and IE8 are still being used in high percentages (as well as Firefiox 3.6X). These stats are based on the users who visit my website. Many users only upgrade their browser when they change operating systems and XP is still the most popular at this time.
As you know users have an attention span of about 10 seconds or less. I was getting response times of over 30 seconds and when I added the Google plugin, IE7 and 8 were lightning fast. Foxfire 3.6x was slow but more acceptable.
Al