Optimize Your Performance: Using Stored Procedures with Entity Framework
Written on
Chapter 1: Introduction to Stored Procedures in Entity Framework
Using Stored Procedures with Entity Framework may seem paradoxical; after all, one of Entity Framework's main goals is to eliminate the need for writing SQL code, while stored procedures are essentially collections of SQL commands. Nonetheless, stored procedures have distinct advantages, particularly for certain types of tasks.
Section 1.1: Complex and Bulk Operations
Consider a scenario involving a CRM application that enables users to manage sales leads, support tickets, and emails. To accurately invoice customers, various calculations must be performed monthly, including the number of leads created, support tickets raised, and emails sent. This requires extensive querying across multiple database tables for each customer, resulting in a heavy computational load.
Video Description: This course covers tuning a stored procedure to identify slow queries using the Query Store.
When attempting complex operations like this with Entity Framework, performance can suffer significantly due to network I/O overhead, as each read/write operation communicates with the SQL Server over TCP/IP. To mitigate this, one could divide the workload into smaller batches, processing a few customers at a time.
For efficient handling of bulk operations, creating a stored procedure that encapsulates all logic is advisable. Stored procedures execute directly within the database, drastically reducing network I/O overhead.
Section 1.2: Best of Both Worlds
Continuing with the previous example, let's say our stored procedure is named ComputeBilling. Here's how you can execute it using Entity Framework:
However, simply executing the procedure isn't enough; we also need to capture a summary of the operation. For instance, we should know how many customers were billed and the total billing amount.
SQL Parameters
When invoking a stored procedure, you may need to pass a value (e.g., the month for billing) or receive output from it. SQL parameters can be categorized into input and output types. Input parameters send values to the stored procedure, whereas output parameters retrieve values from it. In our example, we will pass an input parameter for the month ending February 28, 2022, and expect two output values: the number of billed customers and the total amount invoiced.
After execution, you can read the returned values as follows:
By leveraging the capabilities of stored procedures within Entity Framework, you can efficiently execute complex tasks. Furthermore, stored procedures can return table rows akin to a SELECT query, allowing for additional processing within EF, a topic we can explore in a future discussion.
Chapter 2: Advanced Stored Procedure Optimization Techniques
Video Description: This video provides insights on various techniques for optimizing stored procedures to enhance database performance.
You may also find interest in:
- Best practices for using Entity Framework
- Efficient querying methods in Entity Framework
To explore more of my writings, and those of countless other authors, consider joining Medium as a member.