Question

I have this one gigantic complex LINQ to SQL query that I need to optimize somehow, because the background C# compiler completely hogs the CPU and I can’t type or edit my .cs file normally in Visual Studio 2010 (every letter, especially if IntelliSense wants to pop up, lags horribly).

The culprit is this:

var custFVC = 
    (from cfvc in customer.CustomerFrameVariationCategories
    let lastValue = cfvc.CustomerFrameVariationCategoryValueChanges.Where(cfvcvc => cfvcvc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime).OrderByDescending(cfvcvc2 => cfvcvc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new CustomerFrameVariationCategoryValueChange()
    let lastValue2 = cfvc.FrameVariationCategory.FrameVariation.Frame.FrameValueChanges.Where(fvc => fvc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime).OrderByDescending(fvc2 => fvc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new FrameValueChange()
    let lastValue3 = cfvc.FrameVariationCategory.FrameVariationCategoryValueChanges.Where(fvcvc => fvcvc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime).OrderByDescending(fvcvc2 => fvcvc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new FrameVariationCategoryValueChange()
    let lastValue4 = cfvc.FrameVariationCategory.FrameVariation.FrameVariationModules.Any(fvm => (fvm.FrameModule.FrameModuleValueChanges.Where(fmvc => fmvc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime).OrderByDescending(fmvc2 => fmvc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new FrameModuleValueChange()).IsActive == false)
    where lastValue.IsActive == true
    orderby cfvc.FrameVariationCategory.FrameVariation.Frame.Name, cfvc.FrameVariationCategory.Category.Name, cfvc.FrameVariationCategory.FrameVariation.Name
    select new
    {
       cfvc.Id,
       cfvc.FrameVariationCategory,
       lastValue.CoverCoefficient,
       lastValue.NeiserNet,
       PlywoodName = lastValue2.Plywood.Name,
       FrameIsActive = lastValue2.IsActive,
       OwnCost = cfvc.FrameVariationCategory.FrameVariation.FrameVariationModules.Sum(fvm => // sum all frame variation modules
          (lastValue4 ? 0 : fvm.FrameModule.FrameModuleValueChanges.Where(fmvc => fmvc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime) // if module not active then 0
          .OrderByDescending(fmvc2 => fmvc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault().Porolone) + // otherwise get Porolone
           fvm.FrameModule.FrameModuleComponents.Sum(fmc => // add to Porolone sum of all module components
           (fmc.Article.ArticleDetails.Any() ? fmc.Article.ArticleDetails.Sum(ad => // if any article details then use A*L*W*T instead of Amount
           WindowExcel.MultiplyArticleDetailValues(ad.ArticleDetailValueChanges.Where(advc => advc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime)
          .OrderByDescending(advc2 => advc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new ArticleDetailValueChange())) : 
           WindowExcel.GetModuleComponentAmount(fmc.FrameModuleComponentValueChanges.Where(fmcvc => fmcvc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime) // no details = get amount
             .OrderByDescending(fmcvc2 => fmcvc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new FrameModuleComponentValueChange())) * // times article values
           WindowExcel.MultiplyArticleValues(fmc.Article.ArticleValueChanges.Where(avc => avc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime)
           .OrderByDescending(avc2 => avc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new ArticleValueChange()))),
       Cubes = cfvc.FrameVariationCategory.FrameVariation.FrameVariationModules.Sum(fvm => (fvm.FrameModule.FrameModuleValueChanges.Where(fmvc => fmvc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime && fmvc.IsActive == true).OrderByDescending(fmvc2 => fmvc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new FrameModuleValueChange()).Cubes),
       lastValue3.CoverNet,
       lastValue3.CoverGarbage,
       lastValue3.CoverGross,
       lastValue3.CoverPrice,
       lastValue3.BackgroundNet,
       lastValue3.BackgroundGarbage,
       lastValue3.BackgroundGross,
       lastValue3.BackgroundPrice,
       FVCIsActive = lastValue3.IsActive,
       FrameModuleAnyNonActive = lastValue4
    }).ToList();

The biggest problem here is OwnCost, everything up to and after that Visual Studio can handle. I don’t want to turn off background compiling (a feature that checks for compile time errors before actually compiling), I don’t want to create a stored procedure. I can’t off this code into a separate class/method, because the LINQ DataContext can’t be passed around (as far as I know – also take into consideration that the context variable is inside a using statement).

The only vague idea that I have, is some sort of an extension method, or a method that returns a LINQ query or something like that. Because I don’t know what exactly it is that I can do here to rectify the problem, I don’t know how to formulate the wording, thus I can’t google it…

How can I move (or optimize) OwnCost or the entire query out of the current .cs file, or perhaps split it into a method within the same file (might help the background compiler), or “something”…?

Answer 1

My first instinct as that you’re trying to make LINQ to SQL do the work of a stored procedure. But that may be incorrect; it’s pretty difficult to tell if it would even be possible for a stored procedure to do this.

My second instinct is that it should be possible to split the OwnCost calculation into a function, so that this query just contains

OwnCost = cfvc.Select(CalculateOwnCost)

My third instinct, on seeing that the calculation includes a WindowExcel object, is to flee screaming, but I’m going to take a couple of deep breaths and ask, are you in fact interoperating with Excel in the context of this query, and might that possibly be a source of problems?

Edit

To break out the OwnCost calculation into its own function, do something like this:

public decimal CalculateOwnCost(CustomerFrameVariationCategory cvfc)
{
   return cfvc.FrameVariationCategory.FrameVariation.FrameVariationModules.Sum(fvm => // sum all frame variation modules
                 (lastValue4 ? 0 : fvm.FrameModule.FrameModuleValueChanges.Where(fmvc => fmvc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime) // if module not active then 0
                 .OrderByDescending(fmvc2 => fmvc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault().Porolone) + // otherwise get Porolone
                  fvm.FrameModule.FrameModuleComponents.Sum(fmc => // add to Porolone sum of all module components
                  (fmc.Article.ArticleDetails.Any() ? fmc.Article.ArticleDetails.Sum(ad => // if any article details then use A*L*W*T instead of Amount
                  WindowExcel.MultiplyArticleDetailValues(ad.ArticleDetailValueChanges.Where(advc => advc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime)
                 .OrderByDescending(advc2 => advc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new ArticleDetailValueChange())) : 
                  WindowExcel.GetModuleComponentAmount(fmc.FrameModuleComponentValueChanges.Where(fmcvc => fmcvc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime) // no details = get amount
                 .OrderByDescending(fmcvc2 => fmcvc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new FrameModuleComponentValueChange())) * // times article values
                  WindowExcel.MultiplyArticleValues(fmc.Article.ArticleValueChanges.Where(avc => avc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime)
                  .OrderByDescending(avc2 => avc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new ArticleValueChange()))),
              Cubes = cfvc.FrameVariationCategory.FrameVariation.FrameVariationModules.Sum(fvm => (fvm.FrameModule.FrameModuleValueChanges.Where(fmvc => fmvc.ChangeDateTime <= this.SelectedDateTime && fmvc.IsActive == true).OrderByDescending(fmvc2 => fmvc2.ChangeDateTime).FirstOrDefault() ?? new FrameModuleValueChange()).Cubes)
}

That assumes that CustomerFrameVariationCategories is a colleciton of CustomerFrameVariationCategory objects, and that OwnCost is a decimal.

Once you do this, your original query can just include the Select that I showed above – you can also write it as

OwnCost = cfvc.Select(x => CalculateOwnCost(x))

if it makes you more comfortable (me, I’ve gotten scolded by Resharper enough on this point that I’ve come to accept it, but it’s a matter of taste).

There’s no reason you can’t further decompose some of the intermediate expressions in that query into their own functions. A lambda function is just a function, after all.