WOW: Tips and Tricks

.: Improve SQL query performance by using GROUP BY instead of DISTINCT
Using GROUP BY instead of DISTINCT can sometimes improve SQL query performance. In general, these clauses will return the same result but often complex queries will perform up to 10 times faster using GROUP BY instead of DISTINCT. Using GROUP BY also allows your query to be more explicit about which field's define what is unique in your result set.

For example,

   SELECT DISTINCT firstname, lastname FROM pjdata.employee

would become

   SELECT firstname, lastname FROM pjdata.employee GROUP BY firstname, lastname

For more information on SQL's GROUP BY visit:
http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_groupby.asp

.: Add a horizontal graph formatter to a field
Within WOW there are numerous field classes to represent intelligent fields (e.g. SSN, password, date) as well as field formatters (e.g. currency, inches, feet) that format the field’s value before it showing to user. For example, setting the currency formatter on a numeric field would append a "$" to the beginning of each number.

But what if you want to represent a numeric value as a graphic rather than text? Then, you could just use the horizontal graph formatter to render your numeric value into a nice

horizontal bar chart that already sized relative to other values in that field. To setup the formatter, follow these simple steps:

1. Edit the Field Descriptor on the relavent numeric field. Scroll down to “Advanced Settings” and set Formatter Class to "Graph – Horizontal (Gray)"

2. Update the Field Descriptor and run the application.