Pagination in a .NET with EF Core

Introduction

Pagination allows you to retrieve a large number of records split into pages instead of returning all the results at once. This is especially useful in scenarios where you need to retrieve a large number of records. In this article, I present how to implement OffSet and Keyset pagination in a .NET 8 Web API using Entity Framework Core.

What is Pagination in .NET?

Pagination is the process of splitting data into pages, and it can be used in scenarios where instead of retrieving all the data at once, you split them into small bunks and retrieve them per page. This makes the performance of your app better, as it’s not necessary to retrieve all the data at once, and it also allows the client to navigate between the data.

There are two ways to implement pagination: the Offset pagination and the Keyset pagination. Each approach has pros and cons and can be used in different scenarios. I’m going to present both approaches and also demonstrate how to implement them.

Offset Pagination

The Offset pagination requires two values as input: the page number and the page size, and it will use this information to query the data. It uses the Skip method (FETCH NEXT/OFFSET in SQL) to return the data. This approach supports random access pagination, which means the user can jump to any page he wants.

Behind the scenes, the OFFSET specifies the first record position, and the LIMIT / FETCH NEXT specifies the number of records you want to fetch. For example, if your database contains 500 records, and you request the records for page number 4 and page size 100, the records from position 301 up to 400 will be returned.

Introduction

Pagination allows you to retrieve a large number of records split into pages instead of returning all the results at once. This is especially useful in scenarios where you need to retrieve a large number of records. In this article, I present how to implement OffSet and Keyset pagination in a .NET 8 Web API using Entity Framework Core.

What is Pagination in .NET?

Pagination is the process of splitting data into pages, and it can be used in scenarios where instead of retrieving all the data at once, you split them into small bunks and retrieve them per page. This makes the performance of your app better, as it’s not necessary to retrieve all the data at once, and it also allows the client to navigate between the data.

There are two ways to implement pagination: the Offset pagination and the Keyset pagination. Each approach has pros and cons and can be used in different scenarios. I’m going to present both approaches and also demonstrate how to implement them.

Offset Pagination

The Offset pagination requires two values as input: the page number and the page size, and it will use this information to query the data. It uses the Skip method (FETCH NEXT/OFFSET in SQL) to return the data. This approach supports random access pagination, which means the user can jump to any page he wants.

Behind the scenes, the OFFSET specifies the first record position, and the LIMIT / FETCH NEXT specifies the number of records you want to fetch. For example, if your database contains 500 records, and you request the records for page number 4 and page size 100, the records from position 301 up to 400 will be returned.

Introduction

Pagination allows you to retrieve a large number of records split into pages instead of returning all the results at once. This is especially useful in scenarios where you need to retrieve a large number of records. In this article, I present how to implement OffSet and Keyset pagination in a .NET 8 Web API using Entity Framework Core.

What is Pagination in .NET?

Pagination is the process of splitting data into pages, and it can be used in scenarios where instead of retrieving all the data at once, you split them into small bunks and retrieve them per page. This makes the performance of your app better, as it’s not necessary to retrieve all the data at once, and it also allows the client to navigate between the data.

There are two ways to implement pagination: the Offset pagination and the Keyset pagination. Each approach has pros and cons and can be used in different scenarios. I’m going to present both approaches and also demonstrate how to implement them.

Offset Pagination

The Offset pagination requires two values as input: the page number and the page size, and it will use this information to query the data. It uses the Skip method (FETCH NEXT/OFFSET in SQL) to return the data. This approach supports random access pagination, which means the user can jump to any page he wants.

Behind the scenes, the OFFSET specifies the first record position, and the LIMIT / FETCH NEXT specifies the number of records you want to fetch. For example, if your database contains 500 records, and you request the records for page number 4 and page size 100, the records from position 301 up to 400 will be returned.

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