How to COUNT rows within EntityFramework without loading contents?

Question

I'm trying to determine how to count the matching rows on a table using the EntityFramework.

The problem is that each row might have many megabytes of data (in a Binary field). Of course the SQL would be something like this:

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM [MyTable] WHERE [fkID] = '1';

I could load all of the rows and then find the Count with:

var owner = context.MyContainer.Where(t => t.ID == '1');
owner.MyTable.Load();
var count = owner.MyTable.Count();

But that is grossly inefficient. Is there a simpler way?

---

EDIT: Thanks, all. I've moved the DB from a private attached so I can run profiling; this helps but causes confusions I didn't expect.

And my real data is a bit deeper, I'll use Trucks carrying Pallets of Cases of Items -- and I don't want the Truck to leave unless there is at least one Item in it.

My attempts are shown below. The part I don't get is that CASE_2 never access the DB server (MSSQL).

var truck = context.Truck.FirstOrDefault(t => (t.ID == truckID));
if (truck == null)
    return "Invalid Truck ID: " + truckID;
var dlist = from t in ve.Truck
    where t.ID == truckID
    select t.Driver;
if (dlist.Count() == 0)
    return "No Driver for this Truck";

var plist = from t in ve.Truck where t.ID == truckID
    from r in t.Pallet select r;
if (plist.Count() == 0)
    return "No Pallets are in this Truck";
#if CASE_1
/// This works fine (using 'plist'):
var list1 = from r in plist
    from c in r.Case
    from i in c.Item
    select i;
if (list1.Count() == 0)
    return "No Items are in the Truck";
#endif

#if CASE_2
/// This never executes any SQL on the server.
var list2 = from r in truck.Pallet
        from c in r.Case
        from i in c.Item
        select i;
bool ok = (list.Count() > 0);
if (!ok)
    return "No Items are in the Truck";
#endif

#if CASE_3
/// Forced loading also works, as stated in the OP...
bool ok = false;
foreach (var pallet in truck.Pallet) {
    pallet.Case.Load();
    foreach (var kase in pallet.Case) {
        kase.Item.Load();
        var item = kase.Item.FirstOrDefault();
        if (item != null) {
            ok = true;
            break;
        }
    }
    if (ok) break;
}
if (!ok)
    return "No Items are in the Truck";
#endif

And the SQL resulting from CASE_1 is piped through sp_executesql, but:

SELECT [Project1].[C1] AS [C1]
FROM   ( SELECT cast(1 as bit) AS X ) AS [SingleRowTable1]
LEFT OUTER JOIN  (SELECT 
    [GroupBy1].[A1] AS [C1]
    FROM ( SELECT 
        COUNT(cast(1 as bit)) AS [A1]
        FROM   [dbo].[PalletTruckMap] AS [Extent1]
        INNER JOIN [dbo].[PalletCaseMap] AS [Extent2] ON [Extent1].[PalletID] = [Extent2].[PalletID]
        INNER JOIN [dbo].[Item] AS [Extent3] ON [Extent2].[CaseID] = [Extent3].[CaseID]
        WHERE [Extent1].[TruckID] = '....'
    )  AS [GroupBy1] ) AS [Project1] ON 1 = 1

[I don't really have Trucks, Drivers, Pallets, Cases or Items; as you can see from the SQL the Truck-Pallet and Pallet-Case relationships are many-to-many -- although I don't think that matters. My real objects are intangibles and harder to describe, so I changed the names.]

Answer 1

I think you want something like

var count = context.MyTable.Count(t => t.MyContainer.ID == '1');

(edited to reflect comments)

Answer 2

I think this should work...

var query = from m in context.MyTable
            where m.MyContainerId == '1' // or what ever the foreign key name is...
            select m;

var count = query.Count();

Answer 3

var count = (from o in context.MyContainer
             where o.ID == '1'
             from t in o.MyTable
             select t).Count();

Answer 4

Well, even the SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Table will be fairly inefficient, especially on large tables, since SQL Server really can't do anything but do a full table scan (clustered index scan).

Sometimes, it's good enough to know an approximate number of rows from the database, and in such a case, a statement like this might suffice:

SELECT 
    SUM(used_page_count) * 8 AS SizeKB,
    SUM(row_count) AS [RowCount], 
    OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) AS TableName
FROM 
    sys.dm_db_partition_stats
WHERE 
    OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID('YourTableNameHere')
    AND (index_id = 0 OR index_id = 1)
GROUP BY 
    OBJECT_ID

This will inspect the dynamic management view and extract the number of rows and the table size from it, given a specific table. It does so by summing up the entries for the heap (index_id = 0) or the clustered index (index_id = 1).

It's quick, it's easy to use, but it's not guaranteed to be 100% accurate or up to date. But in many cases, this is "good enough" (and put much less burden on the server).

Maybe that would work for you, too? Of course, to use it in EF, you'd have to wrap this up in a stored proc or use a straight "Execute SQL query" call.

Marc