PERF: Handle utf16 strings using simdutf and std::u16string by ffelixg · Pull Request #526 · microsoft/mssql-python

ffelixg · 2026-04-15T23:50:16Z

Work Item / Issue Reference

GitHub Issue: #514

Summary

Use external dependency simdutf to decode utf16 when decoding in c++
Use pybind11 support for std::u16string to decode utf16 when interacting with python
Remove SQLWCHARToWString, WideToUTF8, Utf8ToWString and WStringToSQLWCHAR; refactor call sites

ffelixg · 2026-04-15T23:56:35Z

I have been evaluating the external library simdutf as a high performance replacement for utf16 -> utf8 conversions, i.e. the functions SQLWCHARToWString, WideToUTF8 and Utf8ToWString. Rather than only using it for the arrow fetch path, I have been trying to make the switch for every location where one of these three functions is used, as the applications follow similar patterns. I didn't use simdutf in every case, another way to eliminate these function calls was to use std::u16string instead of std::wstring when passing strings to/from python. I think this avoids the whole issue where wchars are defined as 32 bit on some OSes but SQLWCHARs are always 16 bit.

This brings arrow performance on linux for nvarchars in line with what it should be.

If the std::u16string type works as well as I hope it does (will have to see what CI says about mac), there are some more spots where it could be used, for example to replace WStringToSQLWCHAR

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR introduces a higher-performance and more platform-consistent UTF-16LE → UTF-8 conversion path in the pybind ODBC layer by adopting simdutf and shifting several wide-string interfaces from std::wstring to std::u16string (to avoid wchar_t width differences across OSes).

Changes:

Add simdutf (via find_package or FetchContent) and use it for UTF-16LE → UTF-8 conversions in diagnostics and data fetch paths.
Replace a number of std::wstring usages with std::u16string for connection strings, queries, and SQL_C_WCHAR parameter buffers.
Remove legacy SQLWCHAR→wstring conversion utilities that are no longer used.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 9 out of 9 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`mssql_python/pybind/CMakeLists.txt`	Adds `simdutf` dependency resolution and links it into the `ddbc_bindings` module.
`mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.h`	Introduces UTF-16 helpers (`dupeSqlWCharAsUtf16Le`, `utf16LeToUtf8Alloc`) and changes `ErrorInfo` to store UTF-8 `std::string`.
`mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.cpp`	Switches parameter binding, diagnostics, query execution, and fetch conversions to UTF-16 + `simdutf`.
`mssql_python/pybind/connection/connection.h`	Updates connection APIs/state to store connection strings as `std::u16string`.
`mssql_python/pybind/connection/connection.cpp`	Uses UTF-16 connection string/query handling and returns UTF-8 error messages directly.
`mssql_python/pybind/connection/connection_pool.h`	Updates pooling key types and APIs to use `std::u16string`.
`mssql_python/pybind/connection/connection_pool.cpp`	Implements pooling with `std::u16string` connection string keys.
`mssql_python/pybind/unix_utils.h`	Removes the `SQLWCHARToWString` declaration.
`mssql_python/pybind/unix_utils.cpp`	Removes the `SQLWCHARToWString` implementation.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.cpp:583

In the SQL_C_WCHAR non-DAE path, the bound buffer is a std::u16string but the bind call uses data() + SQL_NTS and sets bufferLength to size() * sizeof(SQLWCHAR). For SQL_NTS, BufferLength should include the null terminator, and the pointer should be a null-terminated buffer (prefer c_str()). As written, drivers that validate BufferLength may treat this as truncated or read past the provided length.

Suggested fix: use sqlwcharBuffer->c_str() and set bufferLength to (sqlwcharBuffer->size() + 1) * sizeof(SQLWCHAR), or alternatively set *strLenOrIndPtr to the explicit byte length (excluding terminator) and keep BufferLength consistent.

                    std::u16string* sqlwcharBuffer = AllocateParamBuffer<std::u16string>(
                        paramBuffers, param.cast<std::u16string>());
                    LOG("BindParameters: param[%d] SQL_C_WCHAR - String "
                        "length=%zu characters, buffer=%zu bytes",
                        paramIndex, sqlwcharBuffer->size(), sqlwcharBuffer->size() * sizeof(SQLWCHAR));
                    dataPtr = sqlwcharBuffer->data();
                    bufferLength = sqlwcharBuffer->size() * sizeof(SQLWCHAR);
                    strLenOrIndPtr = AllocateParamBuffer<SQLLEN>(paramBuffers);
                    *strLenOrIndPtr = SQL_NTS;

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gargsaumya · 2026-04-16T02:19:28Z

/azp run

azure-pipelines · 2026-04-16T02:19:38Z

Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).

github-actions · 2026-04-16T02:25:58Z

📊 Code Coverage Report

🔥 Diff Coverage 94%	🎯 Overall Coverage 25%	📈 Total Lines Covered: `6961` out of `27068` 📁 Project: `mssql-python`

Diff Coverage

Diff: main...HEAD, staged and unstaged changes

mssql_python/pybind/connection/connection.cpp (100%)
mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.cpp (94.9%): Missing lines 1576,1655,1672,3896,3905,4252,4354
mssql_python/pybind/utf_utils.h (92.0%): Missing lines 15-16

Summary

Total: 169 lines
Missing: 9 lines
Coverage: 94%

mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.cpp

Lines 1572-1580

  1572     LOG("SQLCheckError: Checking ODBC errors - handleType=%d, retcode=%d", handleType, retcode);
  1573     ErrorInfo errorInfo;
  1574     if (retcode == SQL_INVALID_HANDLE) {
  1575         LOG("SQLCheckError: SQL_INVALID_HANDLE detected - handle is invalid");
! 1576         errorInfo.ddbcErrorMsg = "Invalid handle!";
  1577         return errorInfo;
  1578     }
  1579     assert(handle != 0);
  1580     SQLHANDLE rawHandle = handle->get();

Lines 1651-1659

  1651     return records;
  1652 }
  1653 
  1654 // Wrap SQLExecDirect
! 1655 SQLRETURN SQLExecDirect_wrap(SqlHandlePtr StatementHandle, const std::u16string& Query) {
  1656     LOG("SQLExecDirect: Executing query directly - statement_handle=%p, "
  1657         "query_length=%zu chars",
  1658         (void*)StatementHandle->get(), Query.length());
  1659     if (!SQLExecDirect_ptr) {

Lines 1668-1676

  1668         SQLSetStmtAttr_ptr(StatementHandle->get(), SQL_ATTR_CONCURRENCY,
  1669                            (SQLPOINTER)SQL_CONCUR_READ_ONLY, 0);
  1670     }
  1671 
! 1672     SQLWCHAR* queryPtr = reinterpretU16stringAsSqlWChar(Query);
  1673     SQLRETURN ret;
  1674     {
  1675         // Release the GIL during the blocking ODBC call so that other Python
  1676         // threads (e.g. asyncio event loop, heartbeat threads) can run while

Lines 3892-3900

  3892                                      sizeof(DateTimeOffset) * fetchSize,
  3893                                      buffers.indicators[col - 1].data());
  3894                 break;
  3895             default:
! 3896                 std::string columnName = columnMeta["ColumnName"].cast<std::string>();
  3897                 std::ostringstream errorString;
  3898                 errorString << "Unsupported data type for column - " << columnName.c_str()
  3899                             << ", Type - " << dataType << ", column ID - " << col;
  3900                 LOG("SQLBindColums: %s", errorString.str().c_str());

Lines 3901-3909

  3901                 ThrowStdException(errorString.str());
  3902                 break;
  3903         }
  3904         if (!SQL_SUCCEEDED(ret)) {
! 3905             std::string columnName = columnMeta["ColumnName"].cast<std::string>();
  3906             std::ostringstream errorString;
  3907             errorString << "Failed to bind column - " << columnName.c_str() << ", Type - "
  3908                         << dataType << ", column ID - " << col;
  3909             LOG("SQLBindColums: %s", errorString.str().c_str());

Lines 4248-4256

  4248                     break;
  4249                 }
  4250                 default: {
  4251                     const auto& columnMeta = columnNames[col - 1].cast<py::dict>();
! 4252                     std::string columnName = columnMeta["ColumnName"].cast<std::string>();
  4253                     std::ostringstream errorString;
  4254                     errorString << "Unsupported data type for column - " << columnName.c_str()
  4255                                 << ", Type - " << dataType << ", column ID - " << col;
  4256                     LOG("FetchBatchData: %s", errorString.str().c_str());

Lines 4350-4358

  4350             case SQL_SS_TIMESTAMPOFFSET:
  4351                 rowSize += sizeof(DateTimeOffset);
  4352                 break;
  4353             default:
! 4354                 std::string columnName = columnMeta["ColumnName"].cast<std::string>();
  4355                 std::ostringstream errorString;
  4356                 errorString << "Unsupported data type for column - " << columnName.c_str()
  4357                             << ", Type - " << dataType << ", column ID - " << col;
  4358                 LOG("calculateRowSize: %s", errorString.str().c_str());

mssql_python/pybind/utf_utils.h

  11 #include <string>
  12 
  13 inline std::string utf16LeToUtf8Alloc(const std::u16string& utf16) {
  14     if (utf16.empty()) {
! 15         return {};
! 16     }
  17 
  18     std::string utf8(utf16.size() * 3, '\0');
  19     size_t n = simdutf::convert_utf16le_to_utf8_with_replacement(
  20         utf16.data(), utf16.size(), utf8.data());

📋 Files Needing Attention

📉 Files with overall lowest coverage (click to expand)

mssql_python.pybind.build._deps.simdutf-src.src.haswell.implementation.cpp: 0.4%
mssql_python.pybind.build._deps.simdutf-src.src.implementation.cpp: 6.7%
mssql_python.pybind.build._deps.simdutf-src.include.simdutf.implementation.h: 10.4%
mssql_python.pybind.build._deps.simdutf-src.include.simdutf.scalar.utf16_to_utf8.utf16_to_utf8.h: 25.3%
mssql_python.pybind.logger_bridge.cpp: 59.2%
mssql_python.pybind.ddbc_bindings.h: 59.7%
mssql_python.pybind.build._deps.simdutf-src.include.simdutf.internal.isadetection.h: 65.3%
mssql_python.row.py: 70.5%
mssql_python.pybind.logger_bridge.hpp: 70.8%
mssql_python.pybind.ddbc_bindings.cpp: 74.2%

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⚙️ Build Summary	📋 Coverage Details
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ffelixg · 2026-04-16T23:44:55Z

Only issue seems to be that some Linux CI containers don't have git. I'm trying to fetch simdutf via url instead.

gargsaumya · 2026-04-17T03:58:12Z

/azp run

azure-pipelines · 2026-04-17T03:58:23Z

Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).

ffelixg · 2026-04-19T22:44:42Z

@gargsaumya The second CI error was due to the ubuntu image using an older version of cmake. Should be fine now I hope.

I have also replaced the remaining std::wstring occurences with std::u16string and eliminated helper functions as well as platform specific code accordingly. Let me know if you are happy with this holistic update to utf16 string handling or if you would prefer to keep it contained to the arrow fetch path.

gargsaumya · 2026-04-20T04:22:31Z

Thanks for the update @ffelixg. I actually prefer this and it LGTM overall. ButI’ll still take a closer look at the changes and get back to you.
I’ve approved the workflow for now so we can run the pipeline and get a passing test run.

gargsaumya · 2026-04-20T04:22:46Z

/azp run

azure-pipelines · 2026-04-20T04:22:56Z

Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).

ffelixg · 2026-04-20T21:56:47Z

I think that this latest CI failure was due to a flaky test. The same test / platform passed in a past CI run and I don't think my changes affected that test. Could you rerun that one @gargsaumya?

gargsaumya · 2026-04-21T02:55:57Z

/azp run

azure-pipelines · 2026-04-21T02:56:09Z

Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).

gargsaumya

Really appreciate the effort here, this is a very meaningful contribution @ffelixg. I've reviewed the PR and left 2 inline comments, please take a look!

bewithgaurav

one real bug (diag message overflow, stack memory leaking into exception text on long error messages, repro inline), one accidental README typo, one perf nit on the new helper. only the diag bug actually blocks, the other two can ride along or land separately.

gargsaumya · 2026-05-13T03:04:09Z

/azp run

azure-pipelines · 2026-05-13T03:04:20Z

Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).

Login failures and other connection-time errors raised by the C++ pybind layer were surfacing as plain RuntimeError instead of a mssql_python exception, making it impossible for callers to catch them via the DB-API 2.0 exception hierarchy. Connection::checkError() now embeds the SQLSTATE code in the thrown message (SQLSTATE:XXXXX:<msg>) so the Python layer can map it to the correct exception class via sqlstate_to_exception() -- consistent with how cursor-level errors are already handled in helpers.py. The new _raise_connection_error() helper is applied to all four connection operations that go through checkError(): connect, commit, rollback, and set_autocommit. Note: when PR #526 (simdutf) merges, the two WideToUTF8() calls in connection.cpp::checkError() will need updating to utf16LeToUtf8Alloc(). Fixes #532

bewithgaurav · 2026-05-13T11:11:30Z

@ffelixg - thanks for your responses - requesting you to please resolve conflicts and we'll do a last set of review

…ersions

ffelixg · 2026-05-13T17:09:04Z

@bewithgaurav Done, I also noticed that a couple utf16LeToUtf8Alloc calls could be replaced by std::u16string + pybind11 while I was doing the conflict resolution.

gargsaumya · 2026-05-14T02:16:02Z

/azp run

azure-pipelines · 2026-05-14T02:16:12Z

Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).

bewithgaurav

lgtm, great stuff - thanks @ffelixg !

Login failures and other connection-time errors raised by the C++ pybind layer were surfacing as plain RuntimeError instead of a mssql_python exception, making it impossible for callers to catch them via the DB-API 2.0 exception hierarchy. Connection::checkError() now embeds the SQLSTATE code in the thrown message (SQLSTATE:XXXXX:<msg>) so the Python layer can map it to the correct exception class via sqlstate_to_exception() -- consistent with how cursor-level errors are already handled in helpers.py. The new _raise_connection_error() helper is applied to all four connection operations that go through checkError(): connect, commit, rollback, and set_autocommit. Note: when PR #526 (simdutf) merges, the two WideToUTF8() calls in connection.cpp::checkError() will need updating to utf16LeToUtf8Alloc(). Fixes #532

PR #526 changed ErrorInfo to return std::string directly instead of std::wstring, and removed WideToUTF8() function. Updated checkError() to use direct assignment since err.sqlState and err.ddbcErrorMsg are now already std::string. This fixes compilation errors after rebase on main.

@bewithgaurav

Replace manual LCOV_EXCL_LINE markers with cleaner built-in lcov filtering. This approach uses lcov's native exclusion mechanism and is more maintainable. Changes: - Add eng/scripts/join_logs_for_coverage.py to join multi-line LOG calls during coverage builds - Modify build.sh to temporarily join LOG statements in codecov mode with automatic restore - Use lcov --rc lcov_excl_line='\bLOG[A-Z_]*\s*\(' to exclude LOG macros from coverage - Add llvm-cov ignore pattern for build/_deps/ (vendored simdutf sources from PR #526) - Add lcov --remove for build/_deps/ as defense-in-depth (from PR #579) - Update .gitignore to exclude local development scripts Benefits: - No source code clutter (600+ markers not needed) - Catches all LOG variants (LOG_ERROR, LOG_WARNING, etc.) - Excludes vendored third-party dependencies from coverage metrics - Cleaner, more maintainable approach using lcov native features - Source files remain unchanged in repository Addresses review feedback from @bewithgaurav on PR #556 Includes changes from PR #579 to fix simdutf coverage pollution

### Work Item / Issue Reference > [AB#45159](https://sqlclientdrivers.visualstudio.com/mssql-python/_sprints/taskboard/mssql-python%20Team/mssql-python/Rubidium/May%202026?workitem=45159) ------------------------------------------------------------------- ### Summary **Enhancements** - #548 — manylinux_2_28 build targets for RHEL 8 / glibc 2.28 - #542 — macOS universal2 wheel for Python 3.10 - #526 — UTF-16 string handling via simdutf - #528 — Optimized execute() hot path - #567 — Azure Linux installation docs **Bug Fixes** - #562 — Login failures now raise mssql_python exception instead of RuntimeError - #568 — GIL released during blocking SQLSetConnectAttr calls - #541 — GIL released during blocking ODBC statement/fetch/transaction calls - #560 — executemany RuntimeError when decimals change signs - #495 — Inconsistent CP1252 VARCHAR retrieval Windows vs Linux - #559 — BulkCopy empty string in NVARCHAR(MAX)/VARCHAR(MAX) (via mssql_py_core 0.1.4)

PERF: Use simdutf for decoding utf16

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Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 15, 2026 23:50

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of ffelixg April 15, 2026 23:52 View session

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Comment thread mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.h Outdated

Include cstring

0e8661f

github-advanced-security AI found potential problems Apr 16, 2026

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Comment thread mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.h Fixed

ffelixg added 2 commits April 17, 2026 01:22

Use url instead of git for fetching simdutf

19c46ab

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into simdutf

4fbe283

ffelixg added 2 commits April 19, 2026 22:37

Account for older cmake versions

1b9df47

Replace remaining std::wstring uses with std::u16string

12bbb58

ffelixg changed the title ~~PERF: Use simdutf for decoding utf16~~ PERF: Handle utf16 strings using simdutf and std::u16string Apr 19, 2026

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Comment thread mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.h Fixed

gargsaumya changed the title ~~PERF: Handle utf16 strings using simdutf and std::u16string~~ FIX: [PERF] Handle utf16 strings using simdutf and std::u16string Apr 20, 2026

Merge branch 'main' into simdutf

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Comment thread mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.h Outdated

Comment thread mssql_python/pybind/CMakeLists.txt

Set URL_HASH & Avoid utf16LeToUtf8Alloc param copy

c71a0a3

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Comment thread mssql_python/pybind/utf_utils.h Dismissed

Merge branch 'main' into simdutf

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Comment thread mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.cpp Outdated

Comment thread mssql_python/pybind/README.md Outdated

Comment thread mssql_python/pybind/utf_utils.h

bewithgaurav changed the title ~~FIX: [PERF] Handle utf16 strings using simdutf and std::u16string~~ PERF: Handle utf16 strings using simdutf and std::u16string May 12, 2026

ffelixg and others added 4 commits May 12, 2026 20:19

Fix SQLGetDiagRec stack leak & test long messages

0aa8573

utf16LeToUtf8Alloc: overallocate instead of doing 2 passes

6b17015

Refer to README instead of chapter

1fa8293

Merge branch 'main' into simdutf

d2150e8

ffelixg mentioned this pull request May 13, 2026

FIX: Request SQL_CHAR as SQL_C_WCHAR in arrow fetch path #575

Open

ffelixg added 4 commits May 13, 2026 17:30

Avoid GENERATE_SERIES which is unsupported in one of the windows CI v…

8c30f92

…ersions

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into simdutf

30c8528

Replace 3 instances of utf16LeToUtf8Alloc by std::u16string + pybind11

c3720bd

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into simdutf

6a157eb

bewithgaurav approved these changes May 14, 2026

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gargsaumya approved these changes May 14, 2026

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gargsaumya merged commit 9ae2638 into microsoft:main May 14, 2026
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bewithgaurav mentioned this pull request May 14, 2026

CHORE: Exclude vendored simdutf sources from coverage report #579

Open

gargsaumya mentioned this pull request May 15, 2026

RELEASE:1.7.0 #585

Closed

gargsaumya mentioned this pull request May 20, 2026

RELEASE:1.7.1 #593

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📊 Code Coverage Report

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94%

🎯 Overall Coverage

25%

Diff Coverage

Diff: main...HEAD, staged and unstaged changes

Summary

mssql_python/pybind/ddbc_bindings.cpp

mssql_python/pybind/utf_utils.h

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