About Caps

The maximum number of records allowed in a collection is restricted to a numerical cap. The maximum number of items in drop-down lists is similarly capped. The default cap on both records and list items is normally 200, but under certain conditions, these caps can be overridden.

Caps are designed to maintain the performance of your local system and of the database server. Because data retrieved from the server resides on your local system in a collection, retrieval of a large number of records or list items can put unnecessary demands on the database server and slow system performance.

Caps and Their Use in Forms

The default caps are suitable for most data-entry tasks and information-search tasks. Still, you should be aware of options for dealing with the size of collections and lists.

Caps When Exporting Collections

When you export a collection of records to an external file, you usually want no limit on the number of records. You need not reset the cap on collections in this case. Instead, select the Unlimited query option when you export a collection.

Caps When Processing Records

When the system processes records (for example, during posting) it ignores any cap you have set and processes all records that meet the criteria. However, if the process returns a result set, a record cap could still affect how many returned records display on the form.

Cap Overrides

The default record cap displays 200 records on a form. This limit can be overridden in several ways:

  • System administrators can use the WinStudio Max Record Cap in the Process Defaults form to set the record cap to a system-wide maximum number.
  • Individual users can use the Data Record Cap option in the User Preferences window to set the record cap to their preferred maximum numbers or to retrieve all available records. This setting overrides the default cap of 200, but cannot exceed the WinStudio Max Record Cap.
    Note:  By default, this User Preferences setting carries over from one session to the next. However, system administrators can set the Save record cap override option on the Process Defaults form to 0 if they do not want the setting to persist. In that case, the User Preference setting lasts only as long as the user's current session.
  • Developers can specify individual record cap overrides at the collection level, including list sources, primary, secondary, and subcollection definitions, and tree components. This cap overrides the default and User Preferences caps, but cannot exceed the WinStudio Max Record Cap.
  • Developers can use application and tree component scripting APIs to specify individual record cap overrides. This cap overrides the default and User Preferences caps, but cannot exceed the WinStudio Max Record Cap.