There are three features that enable improving MApplication startup times:
- The application launcher is the primary alternative for shortening application startup times. It will preload large libraries and instantiate e.g. MApplication and MApplicationWindow objects to so called component cache before the main() of the application is started. The application will then use the already created instances from the component cache. However, there are some limitations to launcher usage. For instance it does not support some MeeGoTouch and Qt command line options.
- Application prestarting is meant for applications that cannot avoid slow initializations before they can be used. Prestarting enables starting up those applications to a state where they do not show UI. From that state they can show a window in no time when requested. This will provide the fastest results, but the drawback is the high memory usage due to prestarted applications as well as some unexpected maintenance tasks that the system may do for prestarted application processes. In Harmattan UI framework prestarting is limited to a small set of critical applications. This feature cannot be used without support from the system configuration.
- Lazy shutdown allows applications to be closed without terminating. This allows an application to show its window very quickly when it is needed next time. Lazy shutdown does not speed up the first startup at all, but it improves the performance of applications that take advantage of prestarting already.
An application can use any combination of the above features.
Documentation links