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Performance benefits of SetLoadFields in a slow network
Introduction of the SetLoadFields function in AL language that allowed to limit the number of fields returned to the Business Central...
Sep 3
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JIT loads vs Full record load
Since the time when I came across this post by Waldo (or actually, he mentioned his test results in one online discussion) I was curious...
May 31
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To sort, or not to sort, that is the question
Back in the old Navision days, when clients' data were stored in the Navision native database instead of Azure SQL Server, and functions...
May 30
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Filtering on FlowFields
It has been said so many times that filtering on FlowFields is bad for performance that we are used to avoiding this kind of filters in...
Feb 6
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Another alternative to SIFT: Columnstore indexes
According to this article on Microsoft Learn portal , non-clustered columnstore indexes (or NCCI) are seen as a possible replacement for...
Nov 10, 2024
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Hidden SQL queries in AL you (probably) want to avoid
Development of Business Central extensions is very much about the database communication, and as AL developers, we always control the...
Oct 28, 2024
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Covering indexes as an alternative to SIFT
In two of my previous blog posts I reviewed some pros and cons of the SumIndexField Technology (or SIFT) in Business Central. On the one...
Oct 20, 2024
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if not IsEmpty then FindSet... Or not?
This post is a result of one very fruitful discussion with many knowledgeable Business Central enthusiasts in a long LinkedIn thread. Now...
Aug 25, 2024
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The dark side of SumIndexFields. Concurrency.
My previous post was dedicated to an overview of Business Central's SumIndexField Technology, or simply SIFT, which helps us collect...
Aug 9, 2024
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SIFT
SIFT, which stands for Sum Index Flow Technology, used to be a know-how in the Navision database, a data structure that stored...
Aug 5, 2024
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Select with partially matching index: can we make it faster?
Let's assume we want to select a set of customer ledger entries based on two values: salesperson code and the payment reference. Or any...
Jun 20, 2024
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if not IsEmpty() then DeleteAll()
My previous post on good and bad coding practices in terms of the performance touched upon one particularly contradictory coding pattern...
Nov 14, 2023
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Top 5 AL mistakes that undermine performance
This post is my shortlist of the most common beginners' mistakes in AL that affect application performance. These are not necessarily the...
Nov 10, 2023
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How scary are table extensions?
Business Central table extension object, when compiled and deployed, translates to a new SQL table with the same primary key as its base...
Aug 1, 2023
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When partial records and indexes reach synergy
Continuing performance testing of queries on extended Business Central tables, today I want to look at the same dataset from a slightly...
Jul 13, 2023
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Who benefits from partial records: The true magic of SetLoadFields
Server-side perspective One of the key characteristics of the C/AL language and its more modern ancestor, AL, that makes it so attractive...
Jul 6, 2023
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Locking Scope: Differences between LockTable and ReadIsolation
Today, once again, I am returning to the topic of table locking, lock escalation, and the way Business Central interacts with SQL Server...
Jul 1, 2023
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Introduction to Business Central Caching - Part 2
The effects of SetLoadFields and AutoCalcFields on caching This post continues the topic of query caching in Business Central which I...
Jun 29, 2023
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Introduction to Business Central caching
A few days ago, I had a chat with a friend who asked me where his BC data access queries could be hiding from the SQL Server Profiler. He...
Jun 23, 2023
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ReadCommitted isolation in Azure SQL
In my previous post Transaction Isolation in Business Central, I introduced a rather long and detailed review of transaction isolation...
Mar 22, 2023
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