Is it possible to asynchronously query DocumentDB for all documents (i.e no paging)?

Question

Is it possible, using the DocumentDB .NET SDK, to make run an asynchronous query against the DB that returns all matching documents?

The answer answer to this StackOverflow question: Querying Azure DocumentDB with ExecuteNextAsync returns fewer than MaxItemCount indicates that:

There are limits for how long a query will execute on DocumentDB.
...
If these limits are hit, then a partial set of results may be returned.

I know that it's possible to overcome the above mentioned limit by iterating over paged results like so: (source)

List<Family> families = new List<Family>();

FeedOptions options = new FeedOptions { MaxItemCount = 1 };

var query = client.CreateDocumentQuery<Family>(collectionLink, options).AsDocumentQuery();

while (query.HasMoreResults)
{
    foreach (Family family in await query.ExecuteNextAsync())
    {
        families.Add(family);
    }
}

My question is - Is this loop necessary? Might there be a more elegant way to tell the SDK to return all results available (without paging)?

I never use it because I manage my own paging with a lazy interface but I thought the toArray() method did what are asking for. — Larry Maccherone
Can you try that using CreateStoredProcedureQueryy. Like client.CreateStoredProcedureQuery(collectionLink,"Select * from myColleciton");. — vikscool

Shireesh Thota Shireesh Thota · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-01T23:05:23

The loop you have is the best way to perform enumerating across multiple requests since there is a bounded time execution on each request in DocumentDB.

You could wrap this code in an extension method to make it handy.

This is a good suggestion for DocumentDB team to add this support - https://github.com/Azure/azure-documentdb-dotnet/issues

Is it possible to asynchronously query DocumentDB for all documents (i.e no paging)?

1 Answers