Charge totals: Ticket Preview Feature Request

[lpopejoy]

Hey, instead of a Greek character that doesn't mean anything to anyone - would there be any harm done in just showing the ACTUAL total of the charges in the hyperlink that says "Charge Totals"? It would make it quick and easy to see the total of a ticket at a glance. And then you can drill down if you need/want to.

[Support Team]

​Charge totals is calculated only on click, namely - the query runs once the user asks to see the charge totals as of the time of clicking the button - so the data is the most fresh. Querying up front has two downsides that we see - first - it might not be accurate several minute later if someone else on your network added a new Charge for this ticket (for example), and - it might slow down ticket navigation as it'll run another query on each record traverse. This might not seem to much but as a whole, when lots of such queries run (for different purposes) it accumulates and might/will slow ticket display, something nobody wants. Thanks for asking and for suggesting this.

[lpopejoy]

None of that screen "may be accurate several minutes later if someone else on your network added anything". That applies to all the data in the system.

Come on. We are all computer professionals. We understand technology. Why do you keep bringing up "another query might slow down the system." That's what databases are for. A well formed database can handle THOUSANDS of queries without breaking a sweat. We all understand that.

Sorry, I'm not trying to tell you guys what to do. I would just rather you say "that's a stupid idea" or "we don't feel like doing that", than tell me another query will slow down the UI.

[Support Team]

We like the idea. We logged it. We explain why it works how it works and that about it.
Having said that - it does matter about the number of queries. When looking at each single query/feature the natural feeling is to include it and that is true, it alone won't make much differences, problem is - things accumulate and from a single query for this and another to that it gets to an amount that does affect performance. Even if it is only 0.5 second it makes a big difference. Most people do not need the Charge total at all time and when they do it's a click away, so we do not fetch it up front. Having said all that it is noted and we appreciate your feedback. Hope this makes sense.