>I suggest your first approach with getting ID first and then join with the rest of the fields.
>
>BTW, I was about to post a better thread when I was interruped by a call from work
>
>http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/transactsql/thread/5ef9b5a1-d25a-4319-869a-e7dbf6acb594
>
>See Alejandro Mesa response there.

Thanks, that's what I always do as well. By that, we eliminate specific backend functionalities and benefit from pure SQL syntax to obtain the performance.