anyway to estimate number of rows in a query?

We have a search screen that is used all the time. We are supposed to include a count of total records(since we will only be returning 25 at a time). I want to get rid of this. Its very costly. I know I can use the explain plan for this(i would use a global temp table, to get rid of locking issues), but Im concerned about unnecessary queries on the data dictionary causing contention.

any other suggestions? How do you handle search screens of this sort when users really want a total count of records found? also, how do i turn on autotrace from pl/sql? or something that resembles it? I think autotrace is a sqlplus command.

I really want to get these counts out. Received on Tue Dec 23 2003 - 18:06:49 CST