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Tech Tip: Optimizing Indexed searches
PRODUCT: 4D | VERSION: 2003.2 | PLATFORM: Mac & Win
Published On: January 8, 2004

When creating a database, it is important to decide what fields you will index. The use of indices will decrease the time it takes to search, modify, or delete for a particular record. It may seem that indexing all fields is the best way to improve data querying. However, this is not true and not necessary. When you are designing a database, you should only index those fields most likely to be queried. Every time you enter or import a new record, 4D will automatically update all the indexes. This can be very inefficient if all your fields were indexed. For every index that is created, you are increasing the size of the database, which ultimately will affect its performance. Therefore, choosing a small number of fields to index will still allow for efficient searching while preventing unnecessary performance delays.