Mastering Pagination

Don't show your users 1,000 items at once. Use Skip and Take to implement efficient 'Paging' in your applications.

1. Offset-Based Pagination

The standard formula: Skip((pageNumber - 1) * pageSize).Take(pageSize). This tells the database to 'jump over' the first N items and give you the next M items.

2. Performance "Drift"

As you get to higher page numbers (e.g., page 10,000), Skip becomes slower. The database still has to 'Read' those 100,000 items internally just to skip them. **Architect Tip:** For massive datasets, consider **Cursor-Based Pagination** using a 'LastId' instead of Skip.

3. Architect Insight

Q: "Should I always OrderBy before Skip/Take?"

Architect Answer: "YES. Without an OrderBy, the database doesn't guarantee the order of rows. This means a user could see the same item on Page 1 and Page 2. Always provide a deterministic sort (like Id or CreatedDate) before paginating."