Improving Performance Using the Dynamic Menus

You can take advantage of the dynamic menu structure in MAC-PAC to help increase your system's performance.  There are several enhancements you can make.  Each will save system I/O.  These enhancements include:

·     Minimizing menu options

·     Creating custom menus

·     Utilizing group authority

You must determine which is most important for your MAC-PAC installation, performance or fully displayed menus.  Custom tailoring you menus will take a little extra work initially, however, it will save you system I/O thereafter.

Minimize Menu Options

The easiest way to cut down on system I/O within the menu structure, is to remove any menu options that you do not use.  For every option on the displayed menu, the Dynamic Menu Display Program (MA050E) accesses two files.  It reads the Options Master File (MA120M) then it chains to the Security Detail File (MA140M).  For each option you remove from your menu, you are saving 2 I/O's.  By trimming menus down to their essential options, you can save dozens of I/O's per session.

Create Custom Menus

If you need every menu option but only use a few most days, you can save system I/O by creating a custom menu for daily options.  This saves I/O because it cuts down on the number of menu options accessed by the Dynamic Menu Display Program (MA050E).

You can also use this technique for users with authority to only a few menu options.  For example, create two versions of DEMENU.  The first menu has all the options.  The second menu has only a few options.  Users with authority to only a few options could access the smaller, second version of the menu.  This will save I/O because the system will not have to read options only to determine the user is not authorized to them.  Users with greater authority can access the first version of the menu.

Utilize Group Authority

If your installation uses primarily group authority rather than user authority, you can save processing time by correctly setting up Reference File category E17.  This category tells the system whether you use user authority or group authority.  If you do not set up this category, the system will assume user authority.

Menu Processing Using User Authority

If you set category E17 to user authority, the system will load MAC-PAC menus as follows.  The system chains to the Security Detail File (MA140M) to check if the user is authorized to each option.  If the user is not authorized to that option and the user has group authority, the system performs a second chain to MA140M to see if the user's group is authorized to each option.  The system does not perform this second chain if the user is authorized on the first chain.

Menu Processing Using Group Authority

If you set category E17 to group authority, the system will chain to MA140M to check if the user's group is authorized to each option.  If your installation uses primarily group authority, this will save you one I/O per authorized menu option.