CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#entity-frameworkquery-performance
chuckd
chuckd

Reputation: 14550

How to check entity framework performance difference between a join with any and a boolean check?

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what, if any, performance difference there would be between running a EF query like this

var users = _context.Users.Include(p => p.Photos)
   .Where(p => p.Photos.Any())
   .AsQueryable();

and this

var users = _context.Users.Include(p => p.Photos)
    .Where(p => p.HasPhoto == true) 
    .AsQueryable();

Will it be better to check for a boolean 'HasPhoto' on 'User' or will .Any() on a ICollection run fast as well on large data sets? How can I check the speed diff, what tool?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 115

Answers (2)

Dylan Smyth
Dylan Smyth

Reputation: 162

Consider the Performance Considerations of Entity Framework as a whole:

  1. Loading and validating data has a Low¹ Relative Cost.
  2. Executing the query also has a Low¹ Relative Cost

¹[The total cost increases proportional to the number of objects returned by the query].

And considering that both

var users = _context.Users.Include(p => p.Photos)
   .Where(p => p.Photos.Any())
   .AsQueryable();

and

var users = _context.Users.Include(p => p.Photos)
    .Where(p => p.HasPhoto == true) 
    .AsQueryable();

return identical results, the actual return time would be a matter of milliseconds.

However, consider that the result set is relatively large, and consider the .Any() LINQ extension method

public static bool Any<TSource> (this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TSource> source)

and that this method does not return any one element of a collection. Instead, it determines whether the collection contains any elements (hence, decreasing total execution time).

So, ultimately, the Any() extension method will perform better.

Upvotes: 0

PEPEGA
PEPEGA

Reputation: 2283

Why dont try it! You can use a timer to measure the time for booth. try using something like this

var watchOne = System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch.StartNew();
testOne();
watchOne.Stop();
var resOne = watchOne.ElapsedMilliseconds;

var watchTwo = System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch.StartNew();
testTwo();
watchTwo.Stop();
var resTwo= watchTwo.ElapsedMilliseconds;

public void testOne(){
    var users = _context.Users.Include(p => p.Photos)
    .Where(p => p.Photos.Any())
    .AsQueryable();
}

public void testTwo(){
    var users = _context.Users.Include(p => p.Photos)
    .Where(p => p.HasPhoto == true) 
    .AsQueryable();
}

Upvotes: 1

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