2 Fast 2 Furious (JSON Support)

[yv989c]

Summary

QueryableValues achieves high performance by using parameterized T-SQL queries, which rely on the XML data type support in SQL Server. However, SQL Server 2016 introduced support for JSON, which can provide even better query performance than XML.

This new version of QueryableValues includes support for JSON as an alternative to XML. When JSON support is available, certain scenarios may see a significant performance boost, as evidenced by the benchmarks below.

💡 To take advantage of JSON support, you need to make sure that your SQL Server instance is version 2016 or higher, and that the database's compatibility level is set to 130 or higher.

Configuration

By default, this version of QueryableValues automatically detects whether JSON can be used, and falls back to XML if necessary. However, you can configure this behavior by using the options parameter when calling UseQueryableValues during configuration:

...
builder.UseQueryableValues(options =>
{
    options.Serialization(SqlServerSerialization.UseJson);
})
...

💡 If your environment supports JSON, use SqlServerSerialization.UseJson. Otherwise, use SqlServerSerialization.UseXml. You can avoid the initial roundtrip that QueryableValues makes to detect JSON support by not using SqlServerSerialization.Auto (default). This roundtrip only happens once per connection string and for the life of the process.

Benchmarks

The following benchmarks consist of simple EF Core queries that have a dependency on a random sequence of Int32, Guid, and String values via the Contains LINQ method. It shows the performance differences between not using and using QueryableValues. In practice, the benefits of using QueryableValues are more dramatic on complex EF Core queries and busy environments.

BenchmarkDotNet System Specs and Configuration

BenchmarkDotNet=v0.13.5, OS=Windows 11 (10.0.22621.1413/22H2/2022Update/SunValley2)
AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS Creator Edition, 1 CPU, 16 logical and 8 physical cores
.NET SDK=7.0.202
  [Host]     : .NET 6.0.15 (6.0.1523.11507), X64 RyuJIT AVX2
  Job-OFVMJD : .NET 6.0.15 (6.0.1523.11507), X64 RyuJIT AVX2

Server=True  InvocationCount=200  IterationCount=25
RunStrategy=Monitoring  UnrollFactor=1  WarmupCount=1

SQL Server Instance Specs

Microsoft SQL Server 2022 (RTM) - 16.0.1000.6 (X64)
Oct  8 2022 05:58:25
Copyright (C) 2022 Microsoft Corporation
Express Edition (64-bit) on Windows 10 Pro 10.0 <X64> (Build 22621: ) (Hypervisor)

• The SQL Server instance was running in the same system where the benchmarks were executed.
• Shared Memory is the only network protocol that's enabled on this instance.

Query Duration - Without vs. With (XML) vs. With (JSON)

Legend:

• Without: Plain EF.
• With (XML): EF with QueryableValues using the XML serializer.
• With (JSON): EF with QueryableValues using the JSON serializer.
  

Method	Type	NumberOfValues	Mean	Error	StdDev	Median	Ratio	RatioSD	Gen0	Gen1	Gen2	Allocated	Alloc Ratio
Without	Int32	2	824.3 us	26.03 us	34.75 us	808.9 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	20.26 KB	1.00
WithXml	Int32	2	508.7 us	32.46 us	43.34 us	504.3 us	0.62	0.04	-	-	-	41.37 KB	2.04
WithJson	Int32	2	431.7 us	35.52 us	47.41 us	446.8 us	0.52	0.05	-	-	-	41.5 KB	2.05
Without	Int32	8	964.8 us	25.05 us	33.44 us	954.6 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	21.17 KB	1.00
WithXml	Int32	8	548.2 us	34.29 us	45.78 us	537.0 us	0.57	0.04	-	-	-	41.33 KB	1.95
WithJson	Int32	8	445.1 us	34.28 us	45.76 us	453.6 us	0.46	0.04	-	-	-	41.56 KB	1.96
Without	Int32	32	1,519.3 us	34.23 us	45.69 us	1,494.4 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	25.45 KB	1.00
WithXml	Int32	32	687.5 us	32.29 us	43.10 us	664.9 us	0.45	0.03	-	-	-	41.52 KB	1.63
WithJson	Int32	32	448.1 us	38.22 us	51.03 us	425.9 us	0.30	0.04	-	-	-	41.61 KB	1.63
Without	Int32	128	5,470.2 us	25.34 us	33.83 us	5,473.2 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	41.18 KB	1.00
WithXml	Int32	128	1,334.4 us	37.80 us	50.47 us	1,316.5 us	0.24	0.01	-	-	-	44.02 KB	1.07
WithJson	Int32	128	498.9 us	33.69 us	44.97 us	498.1 us	0.09	0.01	-	-	-	42.53 KB	1.03
Without	Int32	512	17,572.2 us	68.50 us	91.45 us	17,566.4 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	105.67 KB	1.00
WithXml	Int32	512	4,016.2 us	30.74 us	41.04 us	4,014.4 us	0.23	0.00	-	-	-	52.18 KB	0.49
WithJson	Int32	512	685.0 us	30.40 us	40.59 us	661.9 us	0.04	0.00	-	-	-	46.37 KB	0.44
Without	Int32	2048	71,616.8 us	677.00 us	903.77 us	71,227.6 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	363.17 KB	1.00
WithXml	Int32	2048	14,045.8 us	50.55 us	67.48 us	14,029.9 us	0.20	0.00	-	-	-	84.85 KB	0.23
WithJson	Int32	2048	1,577.1 us	32.17 us	42.95 us	1,564.8 us	0.02	0.00	-	-	-	61.07 KB	0.17
Without	Guid	2	788.9 us	20.31 us	27.11 us	778.1 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	20.74 KB	1.00
WithXml	Guid	2	487.6 us	30.51 us	40.74 us	487.7 us	0.62	0.04	-	-	-	41.23 KB	1.99
WithJson	Guid	2	434.7 us	33.42 us	44.61 us	443.3 us	0.55	0.04	-	-	-	41.19 KB	1.99
Without	Guid	8	939.1 us	29.24 us	39.04 us	921.1 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	23.49 KB	1.00
WithXml	Guid	8	515.1 us	32.95 us	43.99 us	509.2 us	0.55	0.04	-	-	-	42.23 KB	1.80
WithJson	Guid	8	450.0 us	33.55 us	44.79 us	461.4 us	0.48	0.04	-	-	-	41.98 KB	1.79
Without	Guid	32	1,566.2 us	43.12 us	57.56 us	1,551.3 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	33.24 KB	1.00
WithXml	Guid	32	607.3 us	33.01 us	44.07 us	587.0 us	0.39	0.03	-	-	-	43.58 KB	1.31
WithJson	Guid	32	488.4 us	32.86 us	43.87 us	487.3 us	0.31	0.03	-	-	-	43.48 KB	1.31
Without	Guid	128	5,140.0 us	52.22 us	69.71 us	5,138.2 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	74.11 KB	1.00
WithXml	Guid	128	987.8 us	37.30 us	49.79 us	965.0 us	0.19	0.01	-	-	-	51.97 KB	0.70
WithJson	Guid	128	665.9 us	38.37 us	51.23 us	636.8 us	0.13	0.01	-	-	-	51.12 KB	0.69
Without	Guid	512	16,031.0 us	74.08 us	98.89 us	16,023.7 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	219.5 KB	1.00
WithXml	Guid	512	2,528.8 us	38.80 us	51.79 us	2,517.7 us	0.16	0.00	-	-	-	84.36 KB	0.38
WithJson	Guid	512	1,368.8 us	22.42 us	29.93 us	1,355.1 us	0.09	0.00	-	-	-	80.08 KB	0.36
Without	Guid	2048	71,956.6 us	688.35 us	918.93 us	72,148.6 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	801.13 KB	1.00
WithXml	Guid	2048	9,399.9 us	76.33 us	101.90 us	9,359.8 us	0.13	0.00	5.0000	5.0000	5.0000	213.42 KB	0.27
WithJson	Guid	2048	4,463.6 us	36.90 us	49.26 us	4,442.6 us	0.06	0.00	-	-	-	197.4 KB	0.25
Without	String	2	858.7 us	23.34 us	31.16 us	846.2 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	21.44 KB	1.00
WithXml	String	2	637.4 us	35.57 us	47.48 us	626.0 us	0.74	0.04	-	-	-	55.52 KB	2.59
WithJson	String	2	534.5 us	30.81 us	41.13 us	528.7 us	0.62	0.03	-	-	-	42.83 KB	2.00
Without	String	8	1,028.9 us	24.07 us	32.13 us	1,015.2 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	25.55 KB	1.00
WithXml	String	8	737.8 us	44.23 us	59.05 us	727.5 us	0.72	0.04	-	-	-	56.98 KB	2.23
WithJson	String	8	641.8 us	34.63 us	46.23 us	640.1 us	0.62	0.04	-	-	-	43.64 KB	1.71
Without	String	32	1,692.5 us	23.43 us	31.27 us	1,684.7 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	41.84 KB	1.00
WithXml	String	32	1,016.7 us	56.75 us	75.76 us	976.6 us	0.60	0.04	-	-	-	60.35 KB	1.44
WithJson	String	32	871.5 us	39.02 us	52.10 us	843.8 us	0.51	0.03	-	-	-	47.29 KB	1.13
Without	String	128	7,665.5 us	28.53 us	38.09 us	7,662.0 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	103.65 KB	1.00
WithXml	String	128	2,392.2 us	35.64 us	47.57 us	2,379.7 us	0.31	0.01	-	-	-	74.85 KB	0.72
WithJson	String	128	2,063.6 us	26.61 us	35.53 us	2,063.5 us	0.27	0.01	-	-	-	61.2 KB	0.59
Without	String	512	26,444.7 us	102.44 us	136.75 us	26,421.0 us	1.00	0.00	-	-	-	343.51 KB	1.00
WithXml	String	512	8,134.2 us	32.51 us	43.41 us	8,125.8 us	0.31	0.00	-	-	-	132.34 KB	0.39
WithJson	String	512	7,210.9 us	33.10 us	44.18 us	7,199.6 us	0.27	0.00	-	-	-	116.42 KB	0.34
Without	String	2048	112,512.8 us	443.78 us	592.43 us	112,461.1 us	1.00	0.00	5.0000	-	-	1310.32 KB	1.00
WithXml	String	2048	32,080.3 us	138.18 us	184.47 us	32,075.1 us	0.29	0.00	-	-	-	361.05 KB	0.28
WithJson	String	2048	28,929.1 us	84.67 us	113.03 us	28,917.8 us	0.26	0.00	-	-	-	336.47 KB	0.26

Closes #19 ✌️