Processing large volumes of records is a common requirement in Salesforce. Traditionally, Batch Apex has been the preferred approach for processing large datasets asynchronously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the introduction of Apex Cursors, developers now have another option for working with large SOQL result sets. Apex Cursors became generally available in Spring \u201926 (API version 66.0) and provide more control over how records are retrieved and processed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But does this mean Apex Cursors replace Batch Apex?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No. Both have different purposes and should be selected based on the requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Batch Apex is an asynchronous framework that allows Salesforce developers to process large numbers of records in smaller groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Batch Apex class contains three main methods:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there are thousands of records, Salesforce processes them in multiple transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Records
\u2193
Batch Apex
\u2193
200 \u2192 Execute
200 \u2192 Execute
200 \u2192 Execute
\u2193
Completed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A major advantage is that each execute() runs in a separate transaction, so governor limits are reset for each batch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apex Cursors allow developers to work with large SOQL result sets by retrieving records in smaller chunks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike Batch Apex, the developer controls the position and number of records retrieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Database.Cursor cursor = Database.getCursor(\n'SELECT Id, Name FROM Account ORDER BY Id'\n);<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nInteger totalRecords = cursor.getNumRecords();\nInteger position = 0;\nInteger chunkSize = 200;\n\nwhile (position < totalRecords) {\n Integer fetchSize = Math.min(\n chunkSize,\n totalRecords - position\n );\n \nList<Account> accounts =\n cursor.fetch(position, fetchSize);\n \n for (Account acc : accounts) {\n System.debug(acc.Name);\n }\n \n position += accounts.size();\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe records are retrieved progressively:
Cursor
\u2193
fetch(0, 200)
\u2193
fetch(200, 200)
\u00a0 \u2193
fetch(400, 200)
\u00a0 \u2193
Continue…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This provides greater control over how the result set is processed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apex Cursors vs Batch Apex<\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n