What is good C# coding style for catching SQLException and retrying

Question

I have a method that calls a SQLServer function to perform a free text search against a table. That function will occasionally on the first call result in a SQLException: \"

Answer 1

There is no good style for doing something like this. You'd be better off figuring out why the request fails the first time but succeeds the second time.

It seems possible that Sql Server has to initially compile an execution plan and then execute the query. So the first call fails because the combined times exceed your timeout property, and succeeds the second time because the execution plan is already compiled and saved.

I don't know how UsersDataContext works, but it may be the case that you have the option to Prepare the query before actually executing it.

Real Answer: If I had to do this, I would retry just once and not again, like this:

var results = new List();
using (var ctx = new 
    UsersDataContext(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[CONNECTION_STRING_KEY].ConnectionString))
{
        try
        {
            results = ctx.SearchPhoneList(value, maxRows)
                         .Select(user => user.ToDto())
                         .ToList();
            break;
        }
        catch (SqlException)
        {
            try
            {
                results = ctx.SearchPhoneList(value, maxRows)
                         .Select(user => user.ToDto())
                         .ToList();
                break;
            }
            catch (SqlException)
            {
                // set return value, or indicate failure to user however
            }
        }
    }
}

return results;

While I might trust you to not abuse the retry process, you'd be tempting your successor to increase the retry count as a quick fix.