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Page results using OData

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Use the Prefer: odata.maxpagesize request header to control the number of records returned. If you don't specify a number, up to 5,000 records may be returned for each request. You can't request a page size larger than 5,000.

Note

Dataverse doesn't support the $skip query option, so you can't use the combination of $top and $skip for paging. Learn about using the $top query option to limit the number of rows

The following example returns just the first two contact records:

Request:

GET [Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/contacts?$select=fullname
Accept: application/json
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0
OData-Version: 4.0
Prefer: odata.maxpagesize=2

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
OData-Version: 4.0
Preference-Applied: odata.maxpagesize=2

{
    "@odata.context": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/$metadata#contacts(fullname)",
    "value": [
        {
            "@odata.etag": "W/\"72201545\"",
            "fullname": "Yvonne McKay (sample)",
            "contactid": "49b0be2e-d01c-ed11-b83e-000d3a572421"
        },
        {
            "@odata.etag": "W/\"80648695\"",
            "fullname": "Susanna Stubberod (sample)",
            "contactid": "70bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd"
        }
    ],
    "@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/contacts?$select=fullname&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%222%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25221%2522%253e%253ccontactid%2520last%253d%2522%257bD5026A4D-D01C-ED11-B83E-000D3A572421%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257b49B0BE2E-D01C-ED11-B83E-000D3A572421%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E"
}

When there are more records than requested, the @odata.nextLink annotation provides a URL you can use with GET to return the next page of data, as shown in the following example:

Request:

GET [Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/contacts?$select=fullname&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%222%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25221%2522%253e%253ccontactid%2520last%253d%2522%257bD5026A4D-D01C-ED11-B83E-000D3A572421%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257b49B0BE2E-D01C-ED11-B83E-000D3A572421%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E
Accept: application/json
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0
OData-Version: 4.0
Prefer: odata.maxpagesize=2

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
OData-Version: 4.0
Preference-Applied: odata.maxpagesize=2

{
    "@odata.context": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/$metadata#contacts(fullname)",
    "value": [
        {
            "@odata.etag": "W/\"80648710\"",
            "fullname": "Nancy Anderson (sample)",
            "contactid": "72bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd"
        },
        {
            "@odata.etag": "W/\"80648724\"",
            "fullname": "Maria Campbell (sample)",
            "contactid": "74bf4d48-34cb-ed11-b596-0022481d68cd"
        }
    ],
    "@odata.nextLink": "[Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/contacts?$select=fullname&$skiptoken=%3Ccookie%20pagenumber=%223%22%20pagingcookie=%22%253ccookie%2520page%253d%25222%2522%253e%253ccontactid%2520last%253d%2522%257bF2318099-171F-ED11-B83E-000D3A572421%257d%2522%2520first%253d%2522%257bBB55F942-161F-ED11-B83E-000D3A572421%257d%2522%2520%252f%253e%253c%252fcookie%253e%22%20istracking=%22False%22%20/%3E"
}

You should cache the results returned, or the @odata.nextLink URL value, and use it to return to previous pages.

Don't change the @odata.nextLink URL value or append any query options to it. For every subsequent request for more pages, you should use the same odata.maxpagesize preference value used in the original request. You can continue paging through the data until no @odata.nextLink annotation is included in the results.

In the earlier examples, encoded information was set as the value of the $skiptoken parameter in the @odata.nextLink URL value. The server sets this encoded information to control paging. You shouldn't modify the encoded information or encode it further. Use the URL value provided to retrieve the next page.

Don't use the $top query option while paging records

Use the $top query option to limit the number of results returned. Don't use $top with the Prefer: odata.maxpagesize request header. If you include both, $top is ignored.

The following example returns just the first three account rows:

GET [Organization URI]/api/data/v9.2/accounts?$select=name,revenue&$top=3

Ordering and paging

How a page is ordered makes a big difference when paging data. If the information about how the results are ordered is ambiguous, Dataverse can't consistently or efficiently return paged data.

Specify an order for your query. With FetchXml, if you don't add any order elements to your query, Dataverse adds an order based on the primary key of the table. However QueryExpression does not, and when your query specifies distinct results, no primary key values are returned, so Dataverse can't add this default order. You must specify a paging order. Without any order specified, distinct query results might be returned in random order. OData doesn't provide any option to return distinct results, but you should still apply an order when retrieving paged results.

Paging is dynamic. Each request is evaluated independently as they're received. A paging cookie tells Dataverse the previous page. With this paging cookie data, Dataverse can start with the next record after the last one on the preceding page.

Paging works best going forward. If you go back and retrieve a page you previously retrieved, the results can be different because records could be added, deleted, or modified during since you last retrieved the page. In other words, if your page size is 50 and you go back, you get 50 records, but they might not be the same 50 records. If you keep progressing forward through the pages of a data set, you can expect all the records are returned in a consistent sequence.

Deterministic ordering is important

Deterministic ordering means that there's a way to calculate an order consistently. With a given set of records, the records are always returned in the same order. If you need consistent orders and paging, you must include some unique values or combination of column values that are and specify an order for them to be evaluated.

Nondeterministic example

Let's look at an example that is nondeterministic. This data set contains only State and Status information and is filtered to only return records in an open State. The results are ordered by Status. The first three pages are requested. The results look like this:

State Status Page
Open Active 1 Start
Open Active 1
Open Active 1 End
Open Active
Open Active
Open Inactive
Open Inactive

The paging cookie saves information about the last record on the page. When the next page is requested, the last record from the first page isn't included. However, given the nondeterministic data, there's no guarantee that the other two records on the first page aren't included in the second page.

To achieve deterministic ordering, add orders on columns that contain unique values, or values that are semi-unique.

Deterministic example

This query is like the nondeterministic one, but it includes the Case ID column that includes unique values. It's also ordered by Status, but also ordered using Case ID. The results look like this:

State Status Case ID Page
Open Active Case-0010 1 Start
Open Active Case-0021 1
Open Active Case-0032 1 End
Open Active Case-0034
Open Active Case-0070
Open Inactive Case-0015
Open Inactive Case-0047

In the next page, the cookie will have Case-0032 stored as the last record in the first page, so page two will start with the next record after that record. The results look like this:

State Status Case ID Page
Open Active Case-0010 1 Start
Open Active Case-0021 1
Open Active Case-0032 1 End
Open Active Case-0034 2 Start
Open Active Case-0070 2
Open Inactive Case-0015 2 End
Open Inactive Case-0047

Because this query orders unique column values, the order is consistent.

Best practices for orders when paging data

Note

When possible, queries should order on the primary key for the table because Dataverse is optimized for ordering on the primary key by default. Ordering by non-unique or complex fields cause excess overhead and slower queries.

When you retrieve a limited set of data to display in an application, or if you need to return more than 5,000 rows of data, you need to page the results. The choices you make in determining the order of the results can determine whether the rows in each page of data you retrieve overlaps with other pages. Without proper ordering, the same record can appear in more than one page.

To prevent the same record from appearing in more than one page, apply the following best practices:

It's best to include a column that has a unique identifier. For example:

  • Table primary key columns
  • Autonumber columns
  • User/contact IDs

If you can't include a column with a unique identifier, include multiple fields that will most likely result in unique combinations. For example:

  • First name + last name + email address
  • Full name + email address
  • Email address + company name

Anti-patterns for orders when paging data

The following are ordering choices to avoid:

  • Orders that don't include unique identifiers

  • Orders on calculated fields

  • Orders that have single or multiple fields that aren't likely to provide uniqueness such as:

    • Status and state
    • Choices or Yes/No
    • Name values by themselves. For example name, firstname, lastname
    • Text fields like titles, descriptions, and multi-line text
    • Non unique number fields

Next steps

Learn how to aggregate data.

Aggregate data