Re-writing Playa tags to disable the Playa extension for better site performance

Question

With the overall goal of reducing page load time (Memory, Execution Time in template debugging), how can I rework my Playa templates so as to “shut off” the Playa Extension?

Template debugging shows that I have 511 lines like so:

Calling Extension Class/Method: Playa_ext/channel_entries_tagdata

(The largest batch of them, 435 at a stretch, adds 3 seconds and 5MB to page execution time. And of course those 511 lines of calls appear on a section of the site that isn't using Playa. I've already gotten rid of similar calls for Matrix and P&T Field Packs by downloading the latest Field Pack off Github)

In this (old) P&T Support discussion thread, Brandon Kelly mentions that it's possible, by adding A Thing Or Two to your Playa tags, to disable the Playa extension. (I've done that with Matrix and, Field Pack, thanks to the latest version of them)

Brandon:

You’d just have to remember to set entry_id="{entry_id}" on any Playa tags inside {exp:channel:entries}, as well as set the var_prefix= param:

{exp:playa:children field="some_field" entry_id="{entry_id}" var_prefix="child"}
  {child:title}
  ...
{/exp:playa:children}

---

How do I apply that in this situation where I have a matrix tag pair and all that image replacement stuff going on?

{exp:channel:entries 
    channel="thankyou" 
    orderby="date" 
    sort="desc" 
    limit="1"
}
<h2>Thank you {title}</h2>
{thanks_body}

{!-- Playa Field tag pair: --}
{thanks_related_entries limit="8"} 

<div class="related blurb">
{exp:lg_replace:haystack needles="{mtrx_images backspace="1"}image_{row_count}|{/mtrx_images}"}

<h4>
{if channel_id=="1"}<a href="/news/view/{url_title}">{/if}
{if channel_id=="4"}<a href="/articles/view/{url_title}">{/if}
{title}</a> </h4>

<p class="excerpt">
    {exp:eehive_hacksaw words="55" append="&#8230;"}
        {exp:smartdown} {summary} {body} {/exp:smartdown}
    {/exp:eehive_hacksaw}

{mtrx_images}    
    {exp:lg_replace:replacement needle="image_{row_count}"}
        <a href="{img}" title="{img-caption}">{exp:ce_img:single src="{img}" width="70" alt="{img-caption}" class="left" title="{img-caption}"}</a>
    {/exp:lg_replace:replacement}   
{/mtrx_images}
</p>
<p class="excerpt smallcaps">{if channel_id=="1"}<a href="/news/view/{url_title}">{/if}{if channel_id=="4"}<a href="/articles/view/{url_title}">{/if}&raquo; Read This</a></p>
{/exp:lg_replace:haystack} 
</div>
{/thanks_related_entries}

Used in a similar manner in another location, I've wrapped the entire playa tags inside an if statement:

{if static_playa_related_posts}
    {static_playa_related_posts limit="15"}
     ...STUFF....
     {/static_playa_related_posts}
{/if}

Answer 1

Here is what worked. Discussion follows below the code.

{exp:playa:children 
    field="static_playa_related_posts"
    entry_id="{entry_id}"
    var_prefix="child"
    limit="8" 
    }
<div class="related blurb">
{exp:lg_replace:haystack needles="{child:mtrx_images backspace="1"}image_{row_count}|{/child:mtrx_images}"}

<h4><a href="{child:comment_url_title_auto_path}">{child:title}</a> </h4>

<p class="excerpt">
    {exp:eehive_hacksaw words="55" append="&#8230;"}
        {exp:smartdown} {child:summary} {child:body} {/exp:smartdown}
    {/exp:eehive_hacksaw}

{child:mtrx_images}    
    {exp:lg_replace:replacement needle="image_{row_count}"}
        <a href="{img}" title="{img-caption}">{exp:ce_img:single src="{img}" width="70" alt="{img-caption}" class="left" title="{img-caption}"}</a>
    {/exp:lg_replace:replacement}   
{/child:mtrx_images}
</p>
<p class="excerpt smallcaps right"><a href="{child:comment_url_title_auto_path}">&raquo; Read This</a></p>

{/exp:lg_replace:haystack} 
</div>

{/exp:playa:children}

The matrix field tag pair {mtrx_images} {/mtrx_images} both got the child: prefix in both places where they were used. {child:mtrx_images} {/child:mtrx_images}

The matrix field's contents did NOT have any prefix applied.

The {if channel_id=="1"} set of statements did not survive this method, tho. Instead, I used {comment_url_title_auto_path} and gave it the prefix. {child:comment_url_title_auto_path}

Finally, for the example where everything was wrapped by a conditional, the IF used the name of the playa field, and the more detailed exp:playa:children markup went inside it:

{if static_playa_related_posts}

{exp:playa:children 
    field="static_playa_related_posts"
    entry_id="{entry_id}"
    var_prefix="child"
    limit="15" 
    }

.......

{/exp:playa:children}
{/if}

---

Then I uninstalled the Playa extension (but kept the Field Type and Module installed)

Memory usage on the original page:

BEFORE 28 MB (30,207,216 bytes)
AFTER 19.5 MB (20,432,320 bytes)