T-SQL Where Clause Case Statement Optimization (optional parameters to StoredProc)

Question

I\'ve been battling this one for a while now. I have a stored proc that takes in 3 parameters that are used to filter. If a specific value is passed in, I want to filter on that

Answer 1

I read somewhere that the second way will short circuit and never eval the second part if true. My DBA said it forces a table scan.

You read wrong; it will not short circuit. Your DBA is right; it will not play well with the query optimizer and likely force a table scan.

The first option is about as good as it gets. Your options to improve things are dynamic sql or a long stored procedure with every possible combination of filter columns so you get independent query plans. You might also try using the "WITH RECOMPILE" option, but I don't think it will help you.