Question

We are using the DevArt connector which pretends to be an ADO.NET connector to SFDC. It is super slow (13 minutes for some queries). What approach will return data the quickest?

And by any chance is their an OData API to SFDC that is fast?

Answer 1

There are a few APIs you can use:

1. The SOAP API –
   CRUD operations and query (SOQL) support. Some metadata support. There are Enterprise and Partner variations. Can be added as a Web Service reference in Visual Studio.

2. The REST API

   “Typically, the REST API operates on smaller numbers of records. You
   can GET a single record using its URL and you can also run a query and
   bring back a set of records that match that query.” Salesforce APIs – What They Are & When to Use Them

3. The Bulk API
   REST initiated batch processes that output XML or CSV data)

4. The Metadata API
   Probably not applicable unless you are doing configuration or deployment style tasks
5. The Apex API
   Again, not applicable unless you are working with Apex classes and running test cases.
6. The Streaming API
   Allows you to register a query and get updates pushed to you when the query result changes.

They all have their advantages and disadvantages. There is a good summary in the Bulk API introduction.

At a guess I’d assume the DevArt connector is based on the SOAP API. The SOAP API can be fast, but it isn’t an ideal way to bring back a very large number of records as the results are paged and the SOAP responses can be large. Other factors can also slow it down unnecessarily, such as querying fields that are never used.

The ADO.NET connector must be doing some interpretation of queries into SOQL. There may be joins that are inefficient when translated into SOQL.

I suspect the best solution will depend on what records and fields you are trying to query and how may results you are expecting to work with.