Optimising LINQ-to-SQL queries

Question

I have a very heavy LINQ-to-SQL query, which does a number of joins onto different tables to return an anonymous type. The problem is, if the amount of rows returned is fairly large (> 200), then the query becomes awfully slow and ends up timing out. I know I can increase the data context timeout setting, but that's a last resort.

I'm just wondering if my query would work better if I split it up, and do my comparisons as LINQ-to-Objects queries so I can possibly even use PLINQ to maximise the the processing power. But I'm that's a foreign concept to me, and I can't get my head around on how I would split it up. Can anyone offer any advice? I'm not asking for the code to be written for me, just some general guidance on how I could improve this would be great.

Note I've ensured the database has all the correct keys that I'm joining on, and I've ensured these keys are up to date.

The query is below:

var cons = (from c in dc.Consignments
            join p in dc.PODs on c.IntConNo equals p.Consignment into pg
            join d in dc.Depots on c.DeliveryDepot equals d.Letter
            join sl in dc.Accounts on c.Customer equals sl.LegacyID
            join ss in dc.Accounts on sl.InvoiceAccount equals ss.LegacyID
            join su in dc.Accounts on c.Subcontractor equals su.Name into sug
            join sub in dc.Accountsubbies on ss.ID equals sub.AccountID into subg
            where (sug.FirstOrDefault() == null
                || sug.FirstOrDefault().Customer == false)
            select new
            {
                 ID = c.ID,
                 IntConNo = c.IntConNo,
                 LegacyID = c.LegacyID,
                 PODs = pg.DefaultIfEmpty(),
                 TripNumber = c.TripNumber,
                 DropSequence = c.DropSequence,
                 TripDate = c.TripDate,
                 Depot = d.Name,
                 CustomerName = c.Customer,
                 CustomerReference = c.CustomerReference,
                 DeliveryName = c.DeliveryName,
                 DeliveryTown = c.DeliveryTown,
                 DeliveryPostcode = c.DeliveryPostcode,
                 VehicleText = c.VehicleReg + c.Subcontractor,
                 SubbieID = sug.DefaultIfEmpty().FirstOrDefault().ID.ToString(),
                 SubbieList = subg.DefaultIfEmpty(),
                 ScanType = ss.PODScanning == null ? 0 : ss.PODScanning
            });

Here's the generated SQL as requested:

    {SELECT [t0].[ID], [t0].[IntConNo], [t0].[LegacyID], [t6].[test], [t6].[ID] AS [ID2], [t6].[Consignment], [t6].[Status], [t6].[NTConsignment], [t6].[CustomerRef], [t6].[Timestamp], [t6].[SignedBy], [t6].[Clause], [t6].[BarcodeNumber], [t6].[MainRef], [t6].[Notes], [t6].[ConsignmentRef], [t6].[PODedBy], (
    SELECT COUNT(*)
    FROM (
        SELECT NULL AS [EMPTY]
        ) AS [t10]
    LEFT OUTER JOIN (
        SELECT NULL AS [EMPTY]
        FROM [dbo].[PODs] AS [t11]
        WHERE [t0].[IntConNo] = [t11].[Consignment]
        ) AS [t12] ON 1=1 
    ) AS [value], [t0].[TripNumber], [t0].[DropSequence], [t0].[TripDate], [t1].[Name] AS [Depot], [t0].[Customer] AS [CustomerName], [t0].[CustomerReference], [t0].[DeliveryName], [t0].[DeliveryTown], [t0].[DeliveryPostcode], [t0].[VehicleReg] + [t0].[Subcontractor] AS [VehicleText], CONVERT(NVarChar,(
    SELECT [t16].[ID]
    FROM (
        SELECT TOP (1) [t15].[ID]
        FROM (
            SELECT NULL AS [EMPTY]
            ) AS [t13]
        LEFT OUTER JOIN (
            SELECT [t14].[ID]
            FROM [dbo].[Account] AS [t14]
            WHERE [t0].[Subcontractor] = [t14].[Name]
            ) AS [t15] ON 1=1 
        ORDER BY [t15].[ID]
        ) AS [t16]
    )) AS [SubbieID], 
    (CASE 
        WHEN [t3].[PODScanning] IS NULL THEN @p0
        ELSE [t3].[PODScanning]
     END) AS [ScanType], [t3].[ID] AS [ID3]
FROM [dbo].[Consignments] AS [t0]
INNER JOIN [dbo].[Depots] AS [t1] ON [t0].[DeliveryDepot] = [t1].[Letter]
INNER JOIN [dbo].[Account] AS [t2] ON [t0].[Customer] = [t2].[LegacyID]
INNER JOIN [dbo].[Account] AS [t3] ON [t2].[InvoiceAccount] = [t3].[LegacyID]
LEFT OUTER JOIN ((
        SELECT NULL AS [EMPTY]
        ) AS [t4]
    LEFT OUTER JOIN (
        SELECT 1 AS [test], [t5].[ID], [t5].[Consignment], [t5].[Status], [t5].[NTConsignment], [t5].[CustomerRef], [t5].[Timestamp], [t5].[SignedBy], [t5].[Clause], [t5].[BarcodeNumber], [t5].[MainRef], [t5].[Notes], [t5].[ConsignmentRef], [t5].[PODedBy]
        FROM [dbo].[PODs] AS [t5]
        ) AS [t6] ON 1=1 ) ON [t0].[IntConNo] = [t6].[Consignment]
WHERE ((NOT (EXISTS(
    SELECT TOP (1) NULL AS [EMPTY]
    FROM [dbo].[Account] AS [t7]
    WHERE [t0].[Subcontractor] = [t7].[Name]
    ORDER BY [t7].[ID]
    ))) OR (NOT (((
    SELECT [t9].[Customer]
    FROM (
        SELECT TOP (1) [t8].[Customer]
        FROM [dbo].[Account] AS [t8]
        WHERE [t0].[Subcontractor] = [t8].[Name]
        ORDER BY [t8].[ID]
        ) AS [t9]
    )) = 1))) AND ([t2].[Customer] = 1) AND ([t3].[Customer] = 1)
ORDER BY [t0].[ID], [t1].[ID], [t2].[ID], [t3].[ID], [t6].[ID]
}

Answer 1

Try moving the subcontractor join up higher and push the where clause along with it. That way you're not unnecessarily making joins which would fail at the end. I would also modify the select for the subcontractor id, so you don't get the Id of a potentially null value.

var cons = (from c in dc.Consignments
            join su in dc.Accounts on c.Subcontractor equals su.Name into sug
            where (sug.FirstOrDefault() == null || sug.FirstOrDefault().Customer == false)
            join p in dc.PODs on c.IntConNo equals p.Consignment into pg
            join d in dc.Depots on c.DeliveryDepot equals d.Letter
            join sl in dc.Accounts on c.Customer equals sl.LegacyID
            join ss in dc.Accounts on sl.InvoiceAccount equals ss.LegacyID                   
            join sub in dc.Accountsubbies on ss.ID equals sub.AccountID into subg
            let firstSubContractor = sug.DefaultIfEmpty().FirstOrDefault()
            select new
            {
                           ID = c.ID,
                           IntConNo = c.IntConNo,
                           LegacyID = c.LegacyID,
                           PODs = pg.DefaultIfEmpty(),
                           TripNumber = c.TripNumber,
                           DropSequence = c.DropSequence,
                           TripDate = c.TripDate,
                           Depot = d.Name,
                           CustomerName = c.Customer,
                           CustomerReference = c.CustomerReference,
                           DeliveryName = c.DeliveryName,
                           DeliveryTown = c.DeliveryTown,
                           DeliveryPostcode = c.DeliveryPostcode,
                           VehicleText = c.VehicleReg + c.Subcontractor,
                           SubbieID = firstSubContractor == null ? "" : firstSubContractor.ID.ToString(),
                           SubbieList = subg.DefaultIfEmpty(),
                           ScanType = ss.PODScanning == null ? 0 : ss.PODScanning
              });