Faster alternative to count(*) for a single table in a database?

  • Currently we have multiple applications that archive data to the same database (and possibly the same table in the database). Every once and a while we will have one the applications create archive databases when our first archive isn't full, it doesn't happen when we only have one application archiving. Right now the stored procedure we use to get the record count of the db is

    USE [DBNAME]

    GO

    /****** Object: StoredProcedure [dbo].[usp_CountRecords] Script Date: 09/03/2009 15:54:34 ******/

    SET ANSI_NULLS ON

    GO

    SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON

    GO

    alter PROCEDURE [dbo].[usp_CountRecords]

    -- Add the parameters for the stored procedure here

    (

    @databaseName nvarchar(100),

    @tablename nvarchar(100),

    @result int OUTPUT

    )

    AS

    BEGIN

    DECLARE @sql nvarchar(300)

    SET @sql = N'SELECT @result = Count(*) FROM ' + @databaseName + N'.dbo.' + @tablename

    EXEC sp_executesql @sql,

    N'@result int OUTPUT',

    @result OUTPUT

    RETURN 0

    END

    I tried to modify the code found at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/67624/ to work for our needs and succeded in getting just the result returned when I ran it from a query. I then dropped in in the stored procedure

    USE [GeoComm]

    GO

    /****** Object: StoredProcedure [dbo].[usp_CountRecords] Script Date: 09/03/2009 15:54:34 ******/

    SET ANSI_NULLS ON

    GO

    SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON

    GO

    alter PROCEDURE [dbo].[usp_CountRecordsTest]

    -- Add the parameters for the stored procedure here

    (

    @databaseName nvarchar(100),

    @tablename nvarchar(100),

    @result int OUTPUT

    )

    AS

    BEGIN

    DECLARE @sql nvarchar(max)

    --SET @sql = N'SELECT @result = Count(*) FROM ' + @databaseName + N'.dbo.' + @tablename

    SET @sql = N'SELECT @result = ddps.row_count

    FROM sys.indexes AS i

    INNER JOIN sys.objects AS o ON i.OBJECT_ID = o.OBJECT_ID

    INNER JOIN sys.dm_db_partition_stats AS ddps ON i.OBJECT_ID = ddps.OBJECT_ID

    AND i.index_id = ddps.index_id

    WHERE i.index_id < 2
    AND o.is_ms_shipped = 0
    AND o.NAME = ' + @tablename
    EXEC sp_executesql @sql,

    N'@result int OUTPUT',

    @result OUTPUT

    RETURN 0

    END

    and I'm told that @tablename is not a valid table name, it doesn't matter what I pass to the variable when I execute the stored procedure. I want to make sure that count(*) being slow is not the cause of why we create multiple archive databases when we don't need to since I know selecting the count of up to 300,000 records can be very slow. I'm also aware sp_spaceused will return the number of rows used, but I'm not sure how to tell it to return just that and nothing else.

    The SQL creation script the the stored procedure is being run against as this is the only one causing us issues.

    USE [ArchiveDB1]

    GO

    /****** Object: Table [dbo].[ArchiveTable1] Script Date: 09/03/2009 16:52:34 ******/

    SET ANSI_NULLS ON

    GO

    SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON

    GO

    SET ANSI_PADDING ON

    GO

    CREATE TABLE [dbo].[ArchiveTable1](

    [UNIT_ID] [varchar](20) NOT NULL,

    [UNIT_NAME] [varchar](50) NULL,

    [UNIT_TYPE] [varchar](50) NULL,

    [X] [float] NULL,

    [Y] [float] NULL,

    [LONGITUDE] [float] NULL,

    [LATITUDE] [float] NULL,

    [SPEED] [float] NULL,

    [HEADING] [float] NULL,

    [DIRECTION] [varchar](50) NULL,

    [STREET_ADDRESS] [varchar](50) NULL,

    [ESN] [varchar](50) NULL,

    [COMMUNITY] [varchar](50) NULL,

    [TIME_STAMP] [datetime] NOT NULL,

    [STATUS] [varchar](50) NULL,

    [STATUS_DESCRIPTION] [varchar](50) NULL,

    [SYMBOL_ID] [varchar](50) NULL,

    [AVL_MESSAGE] [text] NULL,

    [OFFICER_ID] [varchar](50) NULL,

    PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED

    (

    [UNIT_ID] ASC,

    [TIME_STAMP] ASC

    )WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]

    ) ON [PRIMARY] TEXTIMAGE_ON [PRIMARY]

    GO

    SET ANSI_PADDING OFF

    GO

  • I think you're missing some quotes.

    Try AND o.NAME = ''' + @tablename + ''''

  • dsdeming (9/4/2009)


    I think you're missing some quotes.

    Try AND o.NAME = ''' + @tablename + ''''

    Thank you, that fixed it. Always a good idea to have another set of eyes look at something 🙂

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