Recordset.Edit or Update sql vba statement fastest way to update?

I recently came across vba update statements and I have been using Recordset.Edit and Recordset.Update to not only edit my existing data but to update it.

I want to know the difference between the two: recordset.update and Update sql Vba statement. I think they all do the same but I can’t figure which one is more efficient and why.

Example code below:

'this is with sql update statement
dim someVar as string, anotherVar as String, cn As New ADODB.Connection

someVar = "someVar"
anotherVar = "anotherVar"

sqlS = "Update tableOfRec set columna = " &_
         someVar & ", colunmb = " & anotherVar &_
                                    " where columnc = 20"; 

cn.Execute stSQL

This is for recordset (update and Edit):

dim thisVar as String, someOthVar as String, rs as recordset 
thisVar = "thisVar"
someOthVar = "someOtherVar"


set rs = currentDb.openRecordset("select columna, columnb where columnc = 20")
do While not rs.EOF
   rs.Edit
   rs!columna = thisVar
   rs!columnb = someOthvar
   rs.update

   rs.MoveNext
loop 

Answer

Assuming WHERE columnc = 20 selects 1000+ rows, as you mentioned in a comment, executing that UPDATE statement should be noticeably faster than looping through a recordset and updating its rows one at a time.

The latter strategy is a RBAR (Row By Agonizing Row) approach. The first strategy, executing a single (valid) UPDATE, is a “set-based” approach. In general, set-based trumps RBAR with respect to performance.

However your 2 examples raise other issues. My first suggestion would be to use DAO instead of ADO to execute your UPDATE:

CurrentDb.Execute stSQL, dbFailonError

Whichever of those strategies you choose, make sure columnc is indexed.