Slow processing MathML in author mode

Oxygen general issues.
HVV
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:02 pm

Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by HVV »

Hi,

I'm trying to edit Daisy XML documents with a lot of MathML equations (5000+), and it takes a lot of time to view and edit these files in author mode. Opening in text mode is not a problem and files with much less equations open quicker in author mode. However, files with a lot of equations take about 10-15 minutes to open author mode, and even then scrolling through the document goes sluggish. I've tried both Oxygen 15.2 (licensed) and 18.1 (trial), but it doesn't make a difference. I've also installed the MathFlow plugin, but that seems to make it worse.
I'm running Oxygen on a WMware with Windows 7 x64, with 4 GB RAM and an Intel Xeon CPU with 8 cores. My sysadmin upgraded these resources to 8 GB RAM and 16 cores, but it didn't help. I've also tried to open the files on a dedicated machine, but it didn't make much difference. I'm not quite sure if resources are the problem.
As an alternative, I also tried XXE. This editor opens the same documents really quickly in a visualized mode. However, I would really like to keep using Oxygen.

What is the most probable cause of this problem? Is there maybe a setting or configuration that needs to be changed?

Kind regards,

Hugo
Radu
Posts: 8992
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:18 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by Radu »

Dear Hugo,

When the XML is opened in the Author visual editing mode, Oxygen will need to know the width and height for each image in order to properly compute the scroll height for the entire document. Right now, this operation is blocking and as there are lots of equations, computing the width and height for each one will take quite some time. By default we use the open source JEuclid libraries to create images for each equation.

If you could provide us with a test project via email (support@oxygenxml.com) we could also try to test things on our side, see if we can make some performance improvements.

Regards,
Radu
Radu Coravu
<oXygen/> XML Editor
http://www.oxygenxml.com
HVV
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:02 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by HVV »

Hi Radu,

Thank you for your quick reply. I've sent an email with a test project to the support address.

Regards,

Hugo
Radu
Posts: 8992
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:18 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by Radu »

Hi Hugo,

Thanks for the samples. I cannot reproduce the issue right now, for me the XML opens in the Author visual editing mode in about 17 seconds. But I will add an issue to perform further tests.
Could you unplug or disable our network connection when opening the file? Maybe Oxygen tries to resolve some kind of DTD over the web...so if you disable the network Oxygen will fail with a message showing what DTD it tried to connect to. Usually this should not happen if all XML catalogs are installed in Oxygen.
If you look in your Preferences->"Document Type Association" page, is the MathML document type association enabled?

Regards,
Radu
Radu Coravu
<oXygen/> XML Editor
http://www.oxygenxml.com
HVV
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:02 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by HVV »

Hi Radu,

Thank you for testing the file. I've opened the file on a dedicaded machine (core i5 and 8GB RAM), both with and withour network connection, but unfortunately it didn't make a difference. The document opens without a connection, but still very slowly. The MathML document type association is enabled in the preferences.

Regards,

Hugo
Radu
Posts: 8992
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:18 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by Radu »

Hi Hugo,

Our QA team also tested opening the XML you sent us with a default Oxygen 18.1 installation with default settings and again on their side it took about 15 seconds to open the file.
If you look in the Preferences->Editor / Edit Modes / Author / MathML preferences page did you change any of the default settings? Did you configure Mathflow as an editor because this might imply that Mathflow is also used as a mathml equation renderer and indeed it is slower than the default equation renderer.
Did you customize anything in Oxygen? Any custom frameworks you installed? Any plugins?

Regards,
Radu
Radu Coravu
<oXygen/> XML Editor
http://www.oxygenxml.com
HVV
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:02 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by HVV »

Hi Radu,

I do use custom plugins in Oxygen 15.2, but the performance is still the same when I disabled them and reset all the properties. I also tried an evaluation copy of Oxygen 18 with default settings, but the problem persists. When I add MathFlow, I do notice that it takes even longer to open the file in author mode, but not much longer. I also tried the 32-bit version of Oxygen, but it didn't help either.

Could it yet be a hardware resource problem, if you take my specifications from above into account? Does the rendering of MathML in Oxygen maybe require a more powerful graphics processor?

Kind regards,

Hugo
Radu
Posts: 8992
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:18 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by Radu »

Hi Hugo,

I'm not sure what the problem is.
Have you tried to run Oxygen 18 outside of a virtual machine, directly on the physical machine?
If on the same computer with the 15.2 installation you install the Oxygen 18.1, Oxygen 18.1 will try to import general preferences from a previous version so it may not start with the defaults. You could try to export your global preferences (Options menu->Export Global Options) and then to reset the global options in Oxygen (Options->Reset Global Options).
Could I also know the precise build ID of the Oxygen 18 version you are using? In the Help menu->About next to the version number there should be a build number.

Regards,
Radu
Radu Coravu
<oXygen/> XML Editor
http://www.oxygenxml.com
Radu
Posts: 8992
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:18 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by Radu »

Hi,

One thing you need to make sure of is that you are testing with the latest Oxygen 18.1. Oxygen versions before 18.1 (including 18.0) were indeed very slow when opening the same XML file but in Oxygen 18.1 starting from another similar report we made a speed improvement for opening XML documents with lots of embeddeed MathML equations.

Regards,
Radu
Radu Coravu
<oXygen/> XML Editor
http://www.oxygenxml.com
HVV
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:02 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by HVV »

Hi Radu,

I've installed Oxygen 18.1 build 2016112217 and the problem seems to be solved. I can now open the file in author mode in under 20 seconds. Thanks for your support! Will this problem also be fixed in older versions (I currently have a license for 15.2), or are they dicontinued for updates?

When I add MathFlow 2.1, it takes about 3-6 minutes to open the same document. I've already contacted the MathFlow support team about this. Do you have any suggestions on this matter perhaps?

Kind regards,

Hugo
Radu
Posts: 8992
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:18 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by Radu »

Hi Hugo,

Glad this works for you.
So:
Will this problem also be fixed in older versions (I currently have a license for 15.2), or are they dicontinued for updates?
No, the problem will not get fixed in older version. It is not a major problem (crash, out of memory).
Also officially we no longer provide any kind of support for Oxygen 15.2:

https://www.oxygenxml.com/eol.html
When I add MathFlow 2.1, it takes about 3-6 minutes to open the same document. I've already contacted the MathFlow support team about this. Do you have any suggestions on this matter perhaps?
It's a different library and indeed it may take longer. But I'll also look into this on our side, see if we can do anything to reduce the loading time as well using MathFlow.

Regards,
Radu
Radu Coravu
<oXygen/> XML Editor
http://www.oxygenxml.com
HVV
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:02 pm

Re: Slow processing MathML in author mode

Post by HVV »

Terrific, thank you very much! I'm very glad that we can keep using Oxygen for files with this many MathML equations, and I hope that the performance in combination with MathFlow will also improve.

Kind regards,

Hugo
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