Question

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I’ve got several queries that act differently in SSMS versus when run inside my .Net application. The SSMS executes fine in under a second. The .Net call times out after 120 seconds (connection default timeout).

I did a SQL Trace (and collected everything) I’ve seen that the connection options are the same (and match the SQL Server’s defaults). The SHOWPLAN All, however, show a huge difference in the row estimates and thus the working version does an aggressive Table Spool, where-as the failing call does not.

In the SSMS, the datatypes of the temp variables are based on the generated SQL Parameters in the .Net, so they are the same.

The failure executes under Cassini in a VS2008 debug session. The success is under SSMS 2008 . Both are running against the same destination server form the same network on the same machine.

Query in SSMS:

DECLARE @ContentTableID0 TINYINT
DECLARE @EntryTag1 INT
DECLARE @ContentTableID2 TINYINT
DECLARE @FieldCheckId3 INT
DECLARE @FieldCheckValue3 VARCHAR(128)
DECLARE @FieldCheckId5 INT
DECLARE @FieldCheckValue5 VARCHAR(128)
DECLARE @FieldCheckId7 INT 
DECLARE @FieldCheckValue7 VARCHAR(128)
SET @ContentTableID0= 3
SET @EntryTag1= 8
SET @ContentTableID2= 2
SET @FieldCheckId3= 14
SET @FieldCheckValue3= 'igor'
SET @FieldCheckId5= 33
SET @FieldCheckValue5= 'a'
SET @FieldCheckId7= 34
SET @FieldCheckValue7= 'a'

SELECT COUNT_BIG(*)
FROM dbo.ContentEntry AS mainCE
WHERE GetUTCDate() BETWEEN mainCE.CreatedOn AND mainCE.ExpiredOn
AND (mainCE.ContentTableID=@ContentTableID0)
AND ( EXISTS (SELECT *
              FROM dbo.ContentEntryLabel
              WHERE ContentEntryID = mainCE.ID
              AND GetUTCDate() BETWEEN CreatedOn AND ExpiredOn
              AND LabelFacetID = @EntryTag1))
      AND (mainCE.OwnerGUID IN (SELECT TOP 1 Name
                                FROM dbo.ContentEntry AS innerCE1
                                WHERE GetUTCDate() BETWEEN innerCE1.CreatedOn AND innerCE1.ExpiredOn
                                AND (innerCE1.ContentTableID=@ContentTableID2
                                     AND EXISTS (SELECT *
                                                 FROM dbo.ContentEntryField
                                                 WHERE ContentEntryID = innerCE1.ID
                                                 AND (ContentTableFieldID = @FieldCheckId3
                                                      AND DictionaryValueID IN (SELECT dv.ID
                                                                                FROM dbo.DictionaryValue AS dv
                                                                                WHERE dv.Word LIKE '%' + @FieldCheckValue3 + '%'))
                                                )
                                    )
                               )
           OR EXISTS (SELECT *
                      FROM dbo.ContentEntryField
                      WHERE ContentEntryID = mainCE.ID
                      AND (   (ContentTableFieldID = @FieldCheckId5
                               AND DictionaryValueID IN (SELECT dv.ID
                                                         FROM dbo.DictionaryValue AS dv
                                                         WHERE dv.Word LIKE '%' + @FieldCheckValue5 + '%')
                              )
                           OR (ContentTableFieldID = @FieldCheckId7
                               AND DictionaryValueID IN (SELECT dv.ID
                                                         FROM dbo.DictionaryValue AS dv
                                                         WHERE dv.Word LIKE '%' + @FieldCheckValue7 + '%')
                               )
                          )
                     )
          )

Trace’s version of .Net call (some formatting added):

exec sp_executesql N'SELECT COUNT_BIG(*) ...'
,N'@ContentTableID0 tinyint
,@EntryTag1 int
,@ContentTableID2 tinyint
,@FieldCheckId3 int
,@FieldCheckValue3 varchar(128)
,@FieldCheckId5 int
,@FieldCheckValue5 varchar(128)
,@FieldCheckId7 int
,@FieldCheckValue7 varchar(128)'
,@ContentTableID0=3
,@EntryTag1=8
,@ContentTableID2=2
,@FieldCheckId3=14
,@FieldCheckValue3='igor'
,@FieldCheckId5=33
,@FieldCheckValue5='a'
,@FieldCheckId7=34
,@FieldCheckValue7='a'

Answer 1

Checked and this server, a development server, was not running SQL Server 2005 SP3. Tried to install that (with necessary reboot), but it didn’t install. Oddly now both code and SSMS return in subsecond time.

Woot this is a HEISENBUG.