How bad is opening and closing a SQL connection for several times? What is the exact effect?

Question

For example, I need to fill lots of DataTables with SQLDataAdapter\'s Fill() method:

DataAdapter1.Fill(DataTable1);
DataAdapter2.Fill(DataTable2);
DataAdapte         


        

Answer 1

Key Point:

• Why open, keep and reuse connections?

  Performance

There are many reasons that you may want to open and close connections. You have to decide where the best trade-off is for your use. You can do both: use an open connection for a period of time and/or a set number of transactions, then close it and open a new one.

Opening and closing SQL connections is expensive when compared to other simple tasks in the database. But, if your actual task is already time consuming, the extra overhead may not be noticed (if you are already hiding the wait period of the actual task - so the user does not start randomly clicking things - like retry).

Test Case:

You can measure your difference by writing two versions of a test query. Select any simple SQL task (needs to be the same in each version).

In version one, do it with a single constant open connection outside the loop, looping thru your simple task X number of times.

In the second, do it with the opening and closing of the connection inside the loop.

Change the X number of times to match your usage and expectations. That should give you a real good feel for the impact on your system.

Hope that helps you understand the basics... Jack.