CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#sql-server
Daniel
Daniel

Reputation: 2295

C# / SQL Efficiency Query

I've got a Winforms application that connects to a SQL database and retrieves data, the application then needs to check if the data exists in another SQL database before performing an action.

I've seen similar queries but most tend to be for SQL, what I'd like to know is which of the two options below, is better in terms of overall performance. I've considered two approaches:

1.Create two lists in C#, populate them and then check if the value from the first list exists in the next list:

List<T> firstList = new List<T>();
List<X> secondList = new List<X>();

firstList = firstList.populate(); // SQL Stored Procedure to populate list
secondList = secondList.populate(); // SQL Stored Procedure to populate list 

foreach(var item in firstList)
{
  if( (x => x.value == item.value) )
  {
     //do some action
  }
}

2.Create a list in C# and a method that executes a Stored Procedure to check if a value passed as a parameter exists in the SQL database. Once the list is populated I would iterate through it and execute the new method returning a boolean value:

List<T> firstList = new List<T>();

firstList = firstList.populate();  // SQL Stored Procedure to populate list

foreach(var item in firstList)
{
  bool exists = false;
  exists = firstList.checkValue(item.value);  // SQL Stored Procedure to check if value exists
  if(exists)
  {
     //do some action
  }
}

I'm not sure whether it's better to perform many SQL queries and reduce memory usage or perform fewer queries and use memory. This application will run on a small application server which should have 32Gb RAM.

I'm also open to using another technique if either of my approaches aren't efficient.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 279

Answers (1)

Neil
Neil

Reputation: 11889

I would suggest it would be more efficient to run the whole query on the SQL server. Retrieving any data from a remote database and doing a comparison locally would never be quicker than doing that comparison where the source of the data is held.

My suggestion would be to write an SPROC that does the comparison and returns only the rows that exist in both databases.

Possibly use something like:

SELECT
    *
FROM
    [SERVER2NAME].[THEDB].[THEOWNER].[THETABLE]

Or have a look at linked tables in Sql Server

Upvotes: 4

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