Question

nested function calls slowing stored procedure causing it to time out - how to use a function in a select stmt to populate a variable

Asked by: bigbillydotcom

i have a select statement that gives me a customerID - and i have some functions in that select statement that use the customerID for various calculations - problem is that each of the functions needs a variable that is provided by 1 function (like LastOrderID), and the nesting of these functions make the stored procedure so slow it eventually times out
What I would like to know is how - in the body of the select statement - how can i run that 1 function 1 time and set the value to a variable so the other functions dont have to run off and keep getting the LastOrderID?

Here is a psuedo-code example of what I am talking about
in the example below:
dbo.fxGetLastOrderAmount uses the OrderID (which is obtained by running dbo.fxGetLastOrderID) to get the Amount of the Last Order
dbo.fxGetLastOrderDate uses the OrderID (which is obtained by running dbo.fxGetLastOrderID) to get the Date of the Last Order
dbo.fxGetLastOrderShipDate uses the OrderID (which is obtained by running dbo.fxGetLastOrderID) to get the ShipDate of the Last Order

Select CustomerID, CustLastName, CustFirstname, dbo.fxGetLastOrderAmount(dbo.fxGetLastOrderID(CustomerID)), dbo.fxGetLastOrderDate(dbo.fxGetLastOrderID(CustomerID)), dbo.fxGetLastOrderShipDate(dbo.fxGetLastOrderID(CustomerID)) from Customers

I would like to make the call to dbo.fxGetLastOrderID(CustomerID) only one time instead of each time for each function - I am not sure when i go get it how i can store it so the other functions can use it

That is a simplistic rendition of what I am trying to do - In reality, there are over 40 columns - 30 of which need the LastOrderID to run the functions - and the functions are much more complicated that what described - I know it is the process of running that function cause when I hard code LastOrderID instead of looking it up each time - the query runs just fine

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Asked On
2007-05-19 at 16:04:25ID22582881
Tags

nested

,

procedure

,

function

,

stored

,

call

Topic

MS SQL Server

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
3

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Answers

 

by: geodan7Posted on 2007-05-19 at 17:30:44ID: 19121788

It sounds like you should use nested Select statements instead of using some of the functions.

Inside your WHERE clause of your SQL query, instead of using the result of a function...use the result of an SQL query.

SELECT blah
FROM myTable
WHERE theID IS (Select MAX(id) From otherTable)

or something like that.

 

by: bigbillydotcomPosted on 2007-05-19 at 18:07:25ID: 19121891

thanks dan
but that's what the functions are doing - i tried nesting like that and it is just as slow
what I am trying to do is to get away from repetitively getting the LAstOrderID in a nested select or function call

wish I could just get it once and set it to a variable and then call of the other functions by passing the vairable
some thing like this (doesn't work - I know - just what i'd like to do!!)

Declare @LastOrderID int

Select CustomerID, CustLastName, CustFirstname, @LastOrderID = dbo.fxGetLastOrderID(CustomerID),dbo.fxGetLastOrderAmount(@LastOrderID ), dbo.fxGetLastOrderDate(@LastOrderID ), dbo.fxGetLastOrderShipDate(@LastOrderID ) from Customers

 

by: James0628Posted on 2007-05-20 at 19:21:34ID: 19124836

How about creating a temp table or table variable and filling it with LastOrderID for each CustomerID that will be found in the main SELECT (as opposed to every single customer)?  Then you could JOIN with that table in the main SELECT to get LastOrderID.

 If you're going to do that, you might also see if there are any other values you can add to that table, for example, to eliminate other repeated function calls.

 James

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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