What is the best way to paginate results in SQL Server

Question

What is the best way (performance wise) to paginate results in SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008, 2012 if you also want to get the total number of results (before paginating)?

Answer 1

You didn't specify the language nor which driver you are using. Therefore I'm describing it abstractly.

• Create a scrollable resultset / dataset. This required a primary on the table(s)
• jump to the end
• request the row count
• jump to the start of the page
• scroll through the rows until the end of the page