You can avoid the "speed at all cost" methodology if you want... but I'd suggest that you haven't and you won't. Considering all that you've written about speed testing...

You have two options. You can build your SQL string with @top as a parameter and execute it using sp_executesql, or you can use SET ROWCOUNT, which does allow...

Are you using SQL Server 2000 or 2005? I think 2000 doesn't support TOP with a variable.

John

I don't think so. But you can use a single SELECT statement to generate the SQL that you can use to delete the tables.

John

If your C# code is generating syntactically invalid SQL and you can't change that, then I'd say there's nothing you can do.

John

Karthik

The easiest way is to have the application to give you the table name. It must have used something like "SELECT COLUMN_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_NAME IN 'Table1', 'Table2'"...

Maybe SQL Server is using an out-of-date execution plan. You can use Profiler to capture the execution plan and duration of a stored procedure. If it increases as...

In which case the application logic that generates the list will also have the name of the table. It will therefore be fairly simple to generate the select statement...

I don't know whether it's possible to do it the way you describe. But one alternative would be to remove the MasterId column from the Group table and add...

OK, but beware of last names like O'Higgins and McDonald and van Gogh and first names like Anne Marie and Jean-Christophe.

John

Karthik

It looks to me as if it would be quicker and easier to do this with views. But if you insist on doing it like this, please tell us...

Have a look at the CONVERT topic in Books Online. This gives you all sorts of date formats.

John

Steve

Anything that changes your database in any way will cause your log to grow: DML statements, DDL statements, reindexing, TRUNCATE TABLE, bcp, BULK INSERT....

John

There could be a Windows or third-party scheduler running stuff on your SQL Server. Try setting Profiler to start at 3:09 in the morning and capture what happens.

John

You'll need to speak to whoever wrote the asp.net C# code in order to get the dynamic SQL generated in the way you expect it.

John