Use views instead of query in FormHandler

Though FormHandler supports SQL queries, using them often is a bad idea. It pulls the entire query from the database and renders it.

Instead, you’re better of creating a Database View. A view runs a query and stores it in a table. It auto-updates. It can be queried.

Now, you can filter parameters from the view instead. This is VERY efficient compared to putting in a query.

For example, this is a bad idea:

handler: FormHandler
kwargs:
  url: mysql://server/db
  table: sales
  query: SELECT city, SUM(sales) FROM table GROUP BY city WHERE state="{state}"

Instead use:

handler: FormHandler
kwargs:
  url: mysql://server/db
  table: sales_by_city

… where sales_by_city is a view created using SELECT state, city, SUM(sales) FROM table GROUP BY state, city.

This way, FormHandler only fetches the relevant data for a selected state.