Need help trialing some caching changes on /beta/

[robmueller]

I've just made some updates on our beta server to try and deal better with caching of message counts. Basically it uses a couple of tricks now to keep track of the message counts in folders for longer, and refresh them less often (only when they're needed).

This should hopefully improve responsiveness for users with a large number of folders and/or folders with lots of messages.

So basically I'm hoping that people can try logging in via http://www.fastmail.fm/beta/ and just use it, and report if they notice anything strange or different happening.

Thanks

Rob

[hadaso]

OK

I logged out. Went to FastCheck options. Checked "use beta server", and then used Factcheck to login. All folders showed zero messages.

[robmueller]

Ok, that should hopefully be fixed now. Was doing the get folder list/refresh counts the wrong way round in the SOAP call.

Rob

[hadaso]

Logged out. Relogged in using FastCheck. Now there where some numbers, but the inbox showed 138 and no unread message (despite there being an unread message there in bolds and with preview...)

I went to view one of the read messages and back to inbox and then it showed 139/1. Moved the unread file and now it's back to 138.

[robmueller]

Ah yes, I think I see what happened there. Ok, I think I might have that one figured, should be a bit more reliable now.

Rob

[hadaso]

Now a few hours passed by. I Left FastMail open in FF on Inbox and the poll window open. Returned to the computer and Fascheck shows 5 unread messages (plus 1 acknowledged). The poll window shows 144/6 in the Inbox. The Inbox view in FF of course showed the old message count from several hour ago. I clicked the Inbox on the folder tree and the counts haven't changed. Moving between folders doesn't change the message counts although I can see new message in several other folders where Sieve files. The inbox still shows 139/ 1 like it did several hours ago.

Read one message and deleted. Now counts have been updated and Inbox shows 143/5.

Now lets try a more daring experiment: I go to reading a new message by openning it in another FF tab.
(OT: the subject line does not display correctly. Subjesct is =?windows-1255?B?Rlc6IDog8ezp5+Qg?= but looks like iso-8859-1 and not windows-1255. It reads: ñìéçä). Same with "From" header that displays =?windows-1255?B?4OHpIOXp8e7p7yDk4/E=?= as "àáé åéñîéï äãñ"/
Now that the message is open in one tab I would go back to the message list and try moving to a different folder and back: The message looks as "read" but the count hasn't changed and is still 143/5. In the new tab I go from the message to message list (without deleting) and the count there now is 143/4 (correct). moving in the old message list to a different folder now updates the message count to 143/4. Going into the message view, marking unread and going to the mailbox, and moving between folders in the other mailbox view changes the count in both of them to 143/5.

Now I mark the four unread notifications from EMD and am getting ready to move them to the "Forums" folder. The message count there is 425/59. Message counts updated correctly in both folders (Inbox 139/1, forums 429/63). In the other mailbox screen moving between folders updates the counts correctly.

[eggman]

Things look fast to me.

I found a little refresh issue:

i did the following
1. logged in to beta
2. used thunderbird to make one message in inbox unread
3. pressed refresh.

The count was incorrect. I then did the following and the count was fixed:
4. click folders
5. press OK

that refreshed the count.

Any way to trap Thunderbird doing this?

Not a biggie anyway.

[hadaso]

Now (after FastCheck told me there's a message allert on a new opst here) I went to Inbox and it shows 139/1 but should show 140/2 as it shows after refresh.

[n5bb]

I sent in a FM support request form earlier today, due to problems deleting a folder using the Beta server only (normal server worked fine). I guess this might be related to the caching changes.

[robmueller]

Originally posted by eggman
Things look fast to me.

I found a little refresh issue:

i did the following
1. logged in to beta
2. used thunderbird to make one message in inbox unread
3. pressed refresh.

The count was incorrect. I then did the following and the count was fixed:
4. click folders
5. press OK

that refreshed the count.

Any way to trap Thunderbird doing this?

Not a biggie anyway.

Because of the internal caching in cyrus, read/unread counts may not actually be properly transferred across IMAP sessions unless you unselect the folder and reselect it. So try this:

1. Login to beta
2. Use TB to mark a message as unread
3. In TB, switch to another folder
4. In the web interface, click Refresh.

Rob

[robmueller]

Thanks for the reports. I think basically the main issue is that the "Goto Folder" command wasn't causing any counts to be refreshed.

Since FastCheck generates a URL with the "Goto Folder" command, it would go to the right folder, but no message count update would have been forced, thus it would look inconsistent. I've now made it so that GotoFolder updates the message count of the current folder.

This was the same issue with clicking folder names in the list on the left, it was just moving between the folders, but not updating counts, this should also be fixed.

Rob

[hadaso]

Originally posted by robmueller
... I've now made it so that GotoFolder updates the message count of the current folder.

This morning I clicked Inbox and the count was right (showed the 4 unread messages that were in the inbox) but the count og the other folders was not. Clicking "Refresh" seemed to update all the message counts.

So it seems that I should get used to clicking "refresh" when I want to see if there's anything new in my unmonitored inboxes (I usually glance at folder tree to see if there are changes, but now am not guaranteed that when an operation is finished the folder counts are updated).

[robmueller]

It should update the counts regularly, but I think it may not be.... I'll do some checking tomorrow.

Rob

[robmueller]

Ok, I think this was again due to FastCheck using the GotoFolder method when bringing up a FastMail mailbox. That path wasn't causing a recheck of all folders. I've added that in now, so hopefully you shouldn't need to do "Refresh" when coming to a mailbox from FastCheck.

Rob

[JRobert]

Rob: I was just testing the sieve body extension on the beta server, and saw folder counts not being updated in response to the refresh button. I think I came in via Fastcheck.

I know you're testing both features; is this expected behavior on the beta server?

-jeff-