Question

I’d like to know when you should consider using multiple table in your query store.

For example, consider the problem where a product has it’s description changed. This change could potentially have a massive impact on the synchronisation of the read only query store if you had many aggregates that included the product description.

At which point should you consider a slight normalization of the data to avoid lengthy synchronisation issues? Is this a no-no or an acceptable compromise?

Thanks,

Answer 1

CQRS is not about using table-per-view, rather table-per-view is an aspect of a system that CQRS makes easier.

It’s up to you and depends on your specific context and needs. I would look at it this way, what is the cost of the eventual consistency of that query vs. the need for high query performance. You may want to consider the following two characteristics of your system:

1) The avg. consistency of that command, i.e., how long it takes to update all of the read models affected by the command (also consider whether an optimized stored-proc for the change would outperform say using an ORM or other abstraction to update your database in this way).

My guess is unless you are talking millions, upon millions of records the consistency here is sufficient to meet your requirements and user expectations for consistency, maybe a few seconds.

2) The importance of query performance. How many queries are you getting per second? Can you handle doing a SQL join every time?

In most practical scenarios the optimization of either of these things is moot. You can probably do the update, regardless of records, using a good SP in seconds which is more than enough consistency for a UI refresh (keep in mind the UI that issued the command can be consistent as soon as they know the command succeeded).

And you usually don’t need so much query scaling in a system that a single join will hurt you. What you may not want is the added internal complexity of performing these joins in your code and stored procs.

As with all things in CQRS, you don’t need to use and optimize every aspect of it from day one. You can optimize these things incrementally. Use joins today, and fully denormalize tomorrow, or vice-versa.