How to optimize SELECT DISTINCT when using multiple Joins? - tsql

Question

I have read that using cte's you can speed up a select distinct up to 100 times. Link to the website . They have this following example:
USE tempdb;
GO
DROP TABLE dbo.Test;
GO
CREATE TABLE
dbo.Test
(
data INTEGER NOT NULL,
);
GO
CREATE CLUSTERED INDEX c ON dbo.Test (data);
GO
-- Lots of duplicated values
INSERT dbo.Test WITH (TABLOCK)
(data)
SELECT TOP (5000000)
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT 0)) / 117329
FROM master.sys.columns C1,
master.sys.columns C2,
master.sys.columns C3;
GO
WITH RecursiveCTE
AS (
SELECT data = MIN(T.data)
FROM dbo.Test T
UNION ALL
SELECT R.data
FROM (
-- A cunning way to use TOP in the recursive part of a CTE :)
SELECT T.data,
rn = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY T.data)
FROM dbo.Test T
JOIN RecursiveCTE R
ON R.data < T.data
) R
WHERE R.rn = 1
)
SELECT *
FROM RecursiveCTE
OPTION (MAXRECURSION 0);
How would one apply this to a query that has multiple joins? For example i am trying to run this query found below, however it takes roughly two and a half minutes. How would I optimize this accordingly?
SELECT DISTINCT x.code
From jpa
INNER JOIN jp ON jpa.ID=jp.ID
INNER JOIN jd ON (jd.ID=jp.ID And jd.JID=3)
INNER JOIN l ON jpa.ID=l.ID AND l.CID=3
INNER JOIN fa ON fa.ID=jpa.ID
INNER JOIN x ON fa.ID=x.ID

Answer 1

1) GROUP BY on every column worked faster for me.
2) If you have duplicates in some of the tables then you can also pre select that and join from that as an inner query.
3) Generally you can nest join if you expect that this join will limit data.
SQL join format - nested inner joins