Batch save in CastleProject ActiveRecord

Question

I need to save thousand of records in a database. I am using CastleProject ActiveRecord. The cycle which stores that amount of objects works too long.

Is it possible to run saving in a batch using ActiveRecord? What is recommended way to improve performance?

Answer 1

ActiveRecord (and most ORM's) are not a good fit for batch operations. With all of the change tracking going on inside an ORM, it can really slow you down.

For maximum performance, I would look to either straight ADO.NET or some kind of SQL bulk import.

Answer 2

It seems I found the solution. There are two main steps:

1. Add a batching to config file: <add key="hibernate.batch_size" value="100" />
2. Use TransactionScope around saving your objects:

---

using (TransactionScope scope = new TransactionScope())
{
  for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
  {
    Contact contact = new Contact();
    contact.Save();
  }
}

Answer 3

I agree with Patrick. Just wanted to mention a middle-ground solution: a stateless session. See:

• http://nhforge.org/blogs/nhibernate/archive/2008/10/30/bulk-data-operations-with-nhibernate-s-stateless-sessions.aspx
• http://github.com/castleproject/Castle.ActiveRecord/blob/master/src/Castle.ActiveRecord.Tests/StatelessSessionScopeTestCase.cs