What Is the Recommended Database Changes Banner?
While your company's database is missing changes this version of ABM Service recommends, the system administrator sees a banner across the top of every screen saying how many are waiting, with Review and apply. The first time a new version finds changes waiting, a message in the middle of the screen says so too. Both lead to the Database screen, and the banner disappears as soon as the last change is applied.
What does "recommended database changes are waiting for you" mean?
The banner reading, for example, 3 recommended database changes are waiting for you. means your company's database is missing indexes that make some screens faster, and only the system administrator can apply them. Select Review and apply on the banner, or anywhere on the banner, to go to the Database screen.
After the count, the banner says where you would notice the difference, for example They speed up customer search, customer screens and the Scheduler. The places it can name are the Calls list, customer search, customer screens and the Scheduler.
The banner sits across the top of every screen: Home, Customers, Calls, a call, a customer and the Scheduler, in the browser and in the ABM Service desktop app's windows alike. It is not shown on the Database screen itself, because that screen lists the changes already.
Nothing is wrong while the banner shows. Every screen works; the ones it names are just slower than they could be. Apply the changes at a quiet moment, since each table is locked for a few seconds while its change is made.
ABM Service does not send an e-mail about waiting database changes, to you or to anybody else. The banner, the message after an update and the count beside Database in the menu are the only reminders, and all three are on screen.
How do I get rid of the database changes banner?
The database changes banner goes away by itself the moment the last waiting change is applied on the Database screen. It has no close button, on purpose: it is a reminder that stays until the job is done.
- Select Review and apply on the banner.
- Select Apply on the Database screen, for example Apply 3 changes, at a quiet moment.
- Go back to any screen. The banner has gone.
If some changes could not be made, for example because a table was busy, the banner stays and its count drops to the number still waiting. Optional removals of indexes this version no longer uses are never counted, so leaving those alone does not keep the banner up.
The banner goes at once on the screens of the window you applied the changes in. Another browser tab or window that was already open, or the ABM Service desktop app if you applied them in a browser, goes on showing it until that page is loaded again or the Database screen is opened in it.
What is the message that appeared after ABM Service was updated?
The message in the middle of the screen, headed with a count such as 3 changes are recommended for your database, appears for the system administrator the first time a new version of ABM Service finds database changes waiting. Above the heading it names the version that is installed.
It lists each change with Add or Repair and what it speeds up, and explains: Applying them usually takes a minute or two, and each table is locked briefly while it is done, so pick a quiet moment. Nothing changes until you press Apply on the next page.
- Review the changes — takes you to the Database screen, where you can apply them.
- Not now — closes the message; pressing Escape (Esc) does the same. As the message says, Not now leaves a reminder at the top of every screen until they are applied.
Choosing Review the changes does not apply anything by itself. You still select Apply on the Database screen.
Why don't I see the database message again?
In a browser, the database message is shown once per version in each browser on each computer. When it has been shown there, it is not shown there again for the same version, whether you chose Not now, Review the changes, or simply closed the window. The banner at the top of every screen carries on reminding you instead.
In a browser the message comes back only when a newer version of ABM Service finds changes waiting, or the first time you use ABM Service in a browser or on a computer where it has not been shown yet. The ABM Service desktop app does not keep that memory when it is closed, so while changes are waiting it shows the message once each time the desktop app is started, and not again until it is started the next time. If ABM Service opens straight onto the Database screen, the message is not shown for that version either, because you are already looking at the changes.
In a browser set to block websites from storing anything, ABM Service cannot remember that the message was shown, so it never shows it there rather than showing it on every screen you open. You still get the banner.
Why can't my colleagues see the database banner?
Only the system administrator, ABM user number 1, sees the database banner, the message after an update, and the count beside Database in the menu. Nobody else can apply the changes, so showing them the reminder would only worry them, and ABM Service does not even check the database on their behalf.
If a colleague mentions that a screen such as the Calls list feels slow, the banner on your screens tells you whether a recommended change is waiting that would help. Open the menu and look beside Database under Administration: a number there is how many changes are waiting.