Count records using GlideRecord vs…

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Understand when to use getRowCount vs GlideAggregate COUNT for performance

Script Include

var RecordCounter = Class.create();
RecordCounter.prototype = {

    // Wrong: Full query execution before counting
    getIncidentCountSlow: function(priority) {
        var gr = new GlideRecord('incident');
        gr.addQuery('priority', priority);
        gr.addQuery('state', 'IN', '1,2,3,6'); // New,In Progress,On Hold,Resolved
        gr.query();
        return gr.getRowCount(); // Fetches ALL records first
    },

    // Right: Database-level COUNT operation
    getIncidentCountFast: function(priority) {
        var ga = new GlideAggregate('incident');
        ga.addQuery('priority', priority);
        ga.addQuery('state', 'IN', '1,2,3,6');
        ga.addAggregate('COUNT');
        ga.query();
        
        if (ga.next()) {
            return parseInt(ga.getAggregate('COUNT'), 10);
        }
        return 0; // Handle empty result set
    },

    // When you need both count and conditional logic
    processHighPriorityIncidents: function() {
        var count = this.getIncidentCountFast('1'); // P1 incidents
        
        if (count > 50) {
            // Trigger escalation workflow
            gs.eventQueue('incident.high_volume', null, count.toString());
        }
        
        return count;
    },

    type: 'RecordCounter'
};

The critical difference: getRowCount() executes the full query, loads every matching record into memory, then counts them. GlideAggregate with COUNT generates a SQL COUNT(*) that returns only the number. On large tables, this difference is catastrophic — I've seen getRowCount() operations timeout after loading 250,000+ incident records when all they needed was the count. The platform doesn't optimize this automatically.

When to use GlideAggregate COUNT

When you only need the count of records, not the record data itself
On tables with more than 1,000 records in your expected result set
In scheduled jobs that check record volumes for reporting or thresholds
When building dashboard widgets that display record counts by category

When NOT to use GlideAggregate COUNT

When you need to process the actual records after counting — use GlideRecord with hasNext() instead
On small result sets (under 100 records) where you'll query the same data again — the performance difference is negligible
In client-side scripts — neither works there, use GlideAjax to call a Script Include
When you need field values from the records — GlideAggregate only returns aggregate functions, not field data

Key behaviors and gotchas

GlideAggregate.getAggregate('COUNT') returns a string, not a number — always use parseInt() for math operations
Both methods respect ACLs — users only count records they can read, which can cause confusing discrepancies in reports
getRowCount() has a hard limit of 10,000 records — it will never return more than that, even if more records match
GlideAggregate respects database indexes — queries on indexed fields like state, priority, and assigned_to perform dramatically better
Empty result sets require explicit handling — GlideAggregate.next() returns false when no records match
Domain separation affects both — counts only include records in accessible domains, not global counts

⚠️

Never use getRowCount() in a loop or scheduled job on large tables. I've seen this pattern bring down entire instances when it hits tables like sys_journal_field or sys_audit with millions of records.

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Alternative Approaches

Existence check without counting

var RecordChecker = Class.create();
RecordChecker.prototype = {

    hasHighPriorityIncidents: function() {
        var gr = new GlideRecord('incident');
        gr.addQuery('priority', '1');
        gr.addQuery('state', 'IN', '1,2,3');
        gr.setLimit(1); // Only need to know if any exist
        gr.query();
        
        return gr.hasNext(); // Stops after first match
    },

    type: 'RecordChecker'
};

When you only need to know if matching records exist, not the exact count.

Trade-offs: Faster than both counting methods but only returns boolean existence, not quantity.

API Methods Used

GlideRecord.getRowCount()GlideAggregate.addAggregate()GlideAggregate.getAggregate()GlideRecord.hasNext()

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Count records using GlideRecord vs GlideAggregate