Question

We are currently developing an application that generates upwards of 5-10,000 rows of data in a particular table for each user session. Currently we are using sql text commands to insert each row of data at a time so a save operation could take up to a minute. We are playing around with the use of SqlBulkInserts and have seen the time go down to less than 500ms. Does anyone have any objection with the use of SqlBulkInserts in a production application where many users will be using the system?

Answer 1

I have never ran into an issue with SqlBulkCopy with the tableLock option set and another user being blocked due to it. The TableLock option increases the efficiency of the insert from what many people have talked about and just plain using it have shown me.

My typical method:

public void Bulk(String connectionString, DataTable data, String destinationTable)
{
    using (SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString))
    {
        using (SqlBulkCopy bulkCopy =
            new SqlBulkCopy
            (
            connection,
            SqlBulkCopyOptions.TableLock |
            SqlBulkCopyOptions.FireTriggers |
            SqlBulkCopyOptions.UseInternalTransaction,
            null
            ))
        {
            bulkCopy.BatchSize = data.Rows.Count;
            bulkCopy.DestinationTableName = String.Format("[{0}]", destinationTable);
            connection.Open();
            bulkCopy.WriteToServer(data);
        }
    }
}