Perl TK performance issue

[perltux]

Hi,
I'm trying to build a relatively complex window with a grid of 50x17 widgets. It works fine but it takes about 6 seconds to open up on my AMD Phenom II x4 2.6GHz running Linux (this is a child window spawned by the main program window when the user presses a button).
I do realise Perl TK is an interpreted language and that therefore performance is often lower than if it was written in C or C++, but I would much appreciate it if you could have a look at the code and tell me if there is any way to optimise it so to speed up the creation of this window.

Here is the code:

sub KitEditWin {

    $rywin=$mw->Toplevel;
    $rywin->geometry("930x600");
    $rywin->title('RM50 Rhythm Kit Editor');

    my $ryw=$rywin->Scrolled('Frame', -scrollbars=>'e'
    )->pack(-side=>'top', -anchor=>'n', -fill=>'both', -expand=>1);

    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Bank'       )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>1);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Voice 1'    )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>2);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Attenuation')->grid(-row=>0, -column=>3);

    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Bank'       )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>5);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Voice 2'    )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>6);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Attenuation')->grid(-row=>0, -column=>7);

    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Mod'        )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>9);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Bal'        )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>10);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Flt'        )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>11);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Pan'        )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>12);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Dcy'        )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>13);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Vol'        )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>14);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'P.b'        )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>15);
    $ryw->Label( -text=>'Key'        )->grid(-row=>0, -column=>16);

    for (my $a=1; $a<=49; $a++) {
        my $end;
        if ($a<=24) { $end=1; } else { $end=0; }
        for (my $v=0; $v<=$end; $v++) {
            my $aa=$a; my $vv=$v;
            # bank selection
            $ry_bank_sel[$a][$v]=$ryw->BrowseEntry(%BEntry_defaults,
                -variable     => \$ry_bank[$a][$v],
                -choices      => \@banks_array,
                -font         => 'Sans 9',
                -width        => 6,
                -listheight   => 10,
                -browsecmd    => sub{ RefreshVceList($aa, $vv);}
            )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>1+($v*4), -padx=>4);
            $ry_bank_sel[$a][$v]->Subwidget("choices")->configure(%cho
+ices_defaults);
            $ry_bank_sel[$a][$v]->Subwidget("arrow")->configure(%arrow
+_defaults);
            # voice selection
            $ry_voice_sel[$a][$v]=$ryw->BrowseEntry(%BEntry_defaults,
                -variable     => \$ry_voice[$a][$v],
                -choices      => $voiceshash{$ry_bank[$a][$v]},
                -font         => 'Sans 9',
                -width        => 12,
                -listheight   => 10
            )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>2+($v*4), -padx=>4);
            $ry_voice_sel[$a][$v]->Subwidget("choices")->configure(%ch
+oices_defaults);
            $ry_voice_sel[$a][$v]->Subwidget("arrow")->configure(%arro
+w_defaults);
            # Attenuation
            $ryw->Scale(%Scale_defaults,
                -variable     => \$ry_att[$a][$v],
                -to           =>  15,
                -from         =>   0,
                -tickinterval =>   3,
                -length       => 100,
                -command      => sub{ }
            )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>3+($v*4), -padx=>4);
            $ryw->Label(%Scale_label_defaults,
                -textvariable => \$ry_att[$a][$v], -width=>2
            )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>4+($v*4), -padx=>4);
        }
        # Modulation
        $ryw->Checkbutton(
            -variable     => \$ry_mod[$a]
        )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>9);
        # Balance
        $ryw->Checkbutton(
            -variable     => \$ry_bal[$a]
        )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>10);
        # Filter
        $ryw->Checkbutton(
            -variable     => \$ry_flt[$a]
        )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>11);
        # Pan
        $ryw->Checkbutton(
            -variable     => \$ry_pan[$a]
        )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>12);
        # Decay
        $ryw->Checkbutton(
            -variable     => \$ry_dcy[$a]
        )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>13);
        # Volume
        $ryw->Checkbutton(
            -variable     => \$ry_vol[$a]
        )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>14);
        # Pitch bend
        $ryw->Checkbutton(
            -variable     => \$ry_pbd[$a]
        )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>15);
        # Key off
        $ryw->Checkbutton(
            -variable     => \$ry_kyo[$a]
        )->grid(-row=>$a, -column=>16);
    }
}

Just to give you an idea this is how the window looks like:
http://www.linuxtech.net/files/rm_manager_ryed.png

Thanks a lot in advance for any suggestions!

[Anonymous Monk]

use Devel::NYTProf, try
perl -d:NYTProf some_perl.pl
nytprofhtml --open

[perltux]

Ok, just an update, I have narrowed down the performance issue to the BrowseEntry widgets, if I comment out the BrowseEntry widgets then the window shows up almost instantly.

So it looks like BrowseEntry widgets (or at least the way I'm using them) are very cpu intensive.

What could be functionally equivalent but more efficient substitute widgets for the BrowseEntry widget?

[Anonymous Monk]

plain listbox/combobox?

FWIW, it takes about 2 seconds for the sub to run for me, plus a few more (I guesstimate 4) for Tk to actually draw it

OTOH, wxPerl pops up an equal amount of widgets in 1 sec, and it takes 1 sec to destroy them all

Both take up about the same amount of RAM

Its fairly similar to Tk (snippet of code generated by wxglade)

$self->{label_A} = Wx::StaticText->new($self, -1, "A", wxDefaultPositi
+on, wxDefaultSize, );
$self->{bank1_sizer2_combo1} = Wx::ComboBox->new($self, -1, "", wxDefa
+ultPosition, wxDefaultSize, [], wxCB_DROPDOWN);
$self->{bank1_sizer2_combo2} = Wx::ComboBox->new($self, -1, "", wxDefa
+ultPosition, wxDefaultSize, [], wxCB_DROPDOWN);
$self->{bank1_sizer2_slider} = Wx::Slider->new($self, -1, 0, 0, 10, wx
+DefaultPosition, wxDefaultSize, wxSL_VERTICAL|wxSL_AUTOTICKS|wxSL_LAB
+ELS|wxSL_TOP);
$self->{bank2_sizer2_combo1} = Wx::ComboBox->new($self, -1, "", wxDefa
+ultPosition, wxDefaultSize, [], wxCB_DROPDOWN);
$self->{bank2_sizer2_combo2} = Wx::ComboBox->new($self, -1, "", wxDefa
+ultPosition, wxDefaultSize, [], wxCB_DROPDOWN);
$self->{bank2_sizer2_slider} = Wx::Slider->new($self, -1, 0, 0, 10, wx
+DefaultPosition, wxDefaultSize, wxSL_VERTICAL|wxSL_AUTOTICKS|wxSL_LAB
+ELS|wxSL_TOP);
$self->{bank3__ck_sizer2_a} = Wx::CheckBox->new($self, -1, "", wxDefau
+ltPosition, wxDefaultSize, );

$self->{bank1_sizer2_combo1}->SetMinSize(Wx::Size->new(30, 21));
$self->{bank1_sizer2_combo1}->SetSelection(-1);

$self->{grid_sizer_1} = Wx::GridSizer->new(49, 3, 0, 0);

$self->{bank1_sizer2} = Wx::BoxSizer->new(wxHORIZONTAL);
$self->{bank2_sizer2} = Wx::BoxSizer->new(wxHORIZONTAL);
$self->{bank3__ck_sizer2} = Wx::BoxSizer->new(wxHORIZONTAL);

$self->{grid_sizer_1}->Add($self->{bank1_sizer2}, 1, wxEXPAND, 0);
$self->{grid_sizer_1}->Add($self->{bank2_sizer2}, 1, wxEXPAND, 0);

Distribution is easy with http://www.citrusperl.com//http://www.cavapackager.com/ for many platforms

There is even my wxWidgets / wxPerl / wxGlade tutorial

[zentara]

My only suggestion is to try another widget, like Tk::JComboBox. Also at the end of JComboBox's perldoc, is a list of alternative modules which can give the same functionality. I would look for the simplest and smallest module.