Transaction Isolation Level

Question

Could it be possible to set the default transaction isolation level for accessing the SQL database?

In some cases, especially with large tables and lots of transactions going on, it would be beneficial to be able to set this to improve performance / reduce locking.

e.g.

SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED

Obviously in some occasions this would prevent users from updating records (e.g. was part way through an uncommitted transaction in another session, and the changes rolled back), or cause data inconsistency issues, however it would depend on how the user is accessing the data and what they are using dbfront for. (Heavy read systems would benefit, business critical read-write would not).

Answer 1

I understand the need for this feature, it is potentially dangerous but it does have its place. I will consider it depending upon time and resources.

• Stackoverflow - Why Use Read Uncommitted
• Wikipedia - Read Isolation

NOTE: Please vote on or consider funding this Feature Request if it interests you.

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An update thanks to JRevell, you can set the transaction ISOLATION LEVEL at the top of a stored procedure.

SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED;

A significant benefit to this approach is that it reverts to the normal ISOLATION LEVEL as soon as the stored procedure is over so there is very little chance of odd side effects.