If Javascript is an ok requirement, you'll want to play with AJAX probably.
There is a lot of hype around it. At least give it a look.

Jason

Daniel L. Miller wrote:

> This may not be a completely Firebird question - but since I just
> browsed through some of the Firebird performance-related threads on the
> list I thought I'd ask here first.
>
> I'm developing a web-based project management/accounting system for
> internal use, using the core trio of Apache, PHP, and Firebird. Quite
> often, there will be times when the user will need to enter/select a
> value from an existing table, e.g. selecting from the customer list when
> entering a new project. Assume a decently configured table, with
> generator-based numeric primary keys, ascending/descending indexes,
> etc. As the customer table grows . . . both the selection time in the
> database as well as the simple page loading time is going to increase as
> well.
>
> Does anyone have suggestions on how I can speed this up? I've been
> considering something using Javascript, where the user would first pick
> from the starting letter(s), and then re-fill the list with the
> appropriate subgrouping. Any comments?
>
> Daniel
>