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Should I use the FDA or the Web Client to add documents?
A prospective customer asked us about the differences in document loading speeds between using the Web Client interface (via a web browser) and the FileHold Desktop Application (FDA) interface when adding documents to FileHold. A great question!
Russ Beinder, Director of Development at FileHold, replied:
"I would like to comment on the difference in performance between the Web Client and the FDA. On the surface it is slightly paradoxical as the Web Client transfers the file twice and the FDA sends it only once. With the Web Client, the file is sent by the browser to Internet Information Services (IIS). Once it is complete on IIS, the web client sends it to the application server. For the FDA, the file is sent directly to the application server.
The reason we see better performance on the Web Client is how the file is transferred and on what infrastructure. The transfer between the browser and IIS is done over your network using typical HTTP binary transfer. The transfer between the Web Client and the application server is done using the web service protocol SOAP without any network overhead as the Web Client and application server are both running in the same IIS application pool.
With the FDA, the files are transferred directly to the application server, but SOAP is used over your network. Your network is much slower than the direct transfer between the Web Client and application server. The key to the difference is that there is approximately a 3 times data overhead with a SOAP transfer verses a HTTP binary transfer. So, over your network, SOAP is much slower than binary.
The maximum size file that the both Web Client and the FDA can transfer is 2GB."
Since version 16.3, there is no longer a limit to the maximum size of a file that can be saved in FileHold.
However, document loading speeds may not be as big of concern for some users. A factor that may outweigh loading speed is how the documents can be added into FileHold. Some users may prefer the FDA over the Web Client for the Microsoft Office integration feature, or being able to drag and drop documents, or add multiple documents at a time, Print to FileHold integration, FastFind integration, or for desktop scanning integration. Some users may prefer the Web Client over the FDA for the upload speed, or using WebCap, or Automatic Document Importation, or to use with custom applications.
Ultimately, there are several ways to get documents into FileHold as evidenced from the diagram below. Users of FileHold can try all the methods available to them and decide which interface (FDA or Web Client) works best for them.