The window-bounded pick joins (4a3b1256) let the optimizer choose, under
understated statistics, a nested-loops RANGE seek over the window with the pick
time as a residual, once per bucket (O(buckets x window rows)); the cached plan
was then reused for wide reads: gate 9 1d@1min 20 s, here 47 s / 3.6M reads.
Each pick join now carries WITH (FORCESEEK (PK_Sample (TagId, SourceTimeUtc))):
an exact-key seek on both columns per bucket under any statistics, and no
hash/merge join over the tag's history can exist (forcing one is error 8622), so
the window bound is dropped from the join. Output identical (EXCEPT both ways,
fwd/rev, incl. a mixed Double/Int64/Boolean/String/DateTime/outage tag).
Measured (6M-row tag + 86k mixed-kinds tag; ms / logical reads), understated
stats: 1d@1min 47,223/3.6M -> 253/25.6k; mixed 1d@1min 20,164/1.66M -> 137/24k;
accurate stats: 1d@1min 121 -> 160 ms, 1d@1h 79 -> 117 ms. Rejected: OUTER
APPLY TOP(1) FORCESEEK (identical), OPTION (RECOMPILE) (still 20 s under the bad
stats, and a compile per read).
StartEndJoinBackTests rewritten: understated statistics + compile-small/reuse-wide
(18,645 reads; the merged query read 1,645,845 / 23 s and failed it), accurate
statistics with 300k history rows either side (22,616), forced HASH/MERGE
refused (8622 — also failed against the merged query).
Docs: perf table + explanation; SDK-parity N2 (*ActualTime Calculated bit) and
N3 (Good String => BadAggregateInvalidInputs, SDK skips it).
Joseph Doherty
ce3369ebca