How to handle numbers of prowin32.exe - progress-4gl

Question

I've been doing an OS-COMMAND that execute the -p "procedure.p" with -param that are inside a loop.
My question is how can I handle the number of prowin32.exe that will not spawn too much so it won't consume all my processor and also not less to make it fast?
Note: Version 8.3c
Sample Code
DEFINE VARIABLE Filter AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO.
For Each Item No-lock:
Assign Filter = "Item.Item = " + Item.Item NO-ERROR.
OS-COMMAND NO-WAIT
VALUE("C:\dlcs\83c\bin\prowin32 " +
"-p C:\nanox\syte_server5\ATMS-CONFIGURED-ICONS\LIVE\Nanox_utility\procedure.p " +
"-pf C:\nanox\syte_server5\ATMS-CONFIGURED-ICONS\LIVE\Nanox_utility\Conf\pilot.pf " +
"-param " + Filter).
END.
QUIT.

Answer 1

I would do it a bit differently. Decide ahead of time how many threads and then divvy up the work like so:
/* worker.p
*
* i.e.:
* mbpro dbName -p worker.p -param "0,5"
* mbpro dbName -p worker.p -param "1,5"
* mbpro dbName -p worker.p -param "2,5"
* mbpro dbName -p worker.p -param "3,5"
* mbpro dbName -p worker.p -param "4,5"
*
* in this sample the threadNum starts at 0 -- so end it at numThreads - 1
*
*/
define variable threadNum as integer no-undo.
define variable numThreads as integer no-undo.
assign
threadNum = integer( entry( 1, session:parameter ))
numThreads = integer( entry( 2, session:parameter ))
.
for each item no-lock where (( item.item modulo numThreads ) = threadnum ):
/* whatever */
end.
return.
For starters I suggest that numThreads be roughly the number of cores available in the server.
Also, headless batch processes shouldn't be using prowin32.exe. They should use _progres.exe.
8.3 is unspeakably ancient, obsolete and unsupported. Is this system running on a single core Pentium with Windows 3.11? That's relevant because the 8.3 "workgroup edition" will not behave very well if this is a multi-core system. If it is "enterprise" it won't be so bad. But even so you'd be very well advised to upgrade to a current release (11.3 as of this writing) if performance is at all important to you.

Answer 2

I do not work with version8.3, but it must pass (possibly replace the temp-table by a work-table).
Here I what I certainly do but it must improve:
DEFINE TEMP-TABLE ttpid NO-UNDO
FIELD pid AS CHARACTER
FIELD SIZE AS CHARACTER
INDEX i1 IS UNIQUE PRIMARY pid.
DEFINE VARIABLE wline AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO.
DEFINE VARIABLE wfile AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO.
wfile = "c:/tmp/list_tasklis.txt".
OS-COMMAND SILENT VALUE("tasklist > " + wfile).
INPUT FROM VALUE(wfile).
REPEAT:
IMPORT UNFORMATTED wline.
IF wline BEGINS "prowin32.exe"
THEN DO:
DO WHILE wline MATCHES "* *":
wline = REPLACE(wline, " ", " ").
END.
FIND FIRST ttpid
WHERE ttpid.pid = ENTRY(2, wline, " ")
NO-LOCK NO-ERROR.
IF NOT AVAILABLE ttpid
THEN DO:
CREATE ttpid.
ASSIGN ttpid.pid = ENTRY(2, wline, " ")
ttpid.SIZE = ENTRY(5, wline, " ").
END.
END.
END.
INPUT CLOSE.
FOR EACH ttpid
NO-LOCK:
MESSAGE "PID =" ttpid.pid SKIP
"SIZE =" ttpid.SIZE
VIEW-AS ALERT-BOX INFO BUTTONS OK.
END.
OS-DELETE VALUE (wfile) NO-ERROR.