The soft state based query result cache (SQRC) on the hub caches - if requested by the provider application - the result of a READ_ENITITYSET request and applies paging on the result list. Consecutive paging requests for the same query result will then be served from that cache.
Note that component IW_FND and IW_BEP both have to be at least on SAP Gateway 2.0 SP09 or component SAP_GWFND is on SAP NetWeaver 7.40 SP08.
The only difference between the request URLs are the values of the $top and $skip system query options. The rest of the URL must be identical.
For example, the data is retrieved from an underlying business framework which is not owned by the provider application. But even in this case it is best to address possible performance issues after they have occurred.
If an Entity Set might contain thousands or even hundreds of thousands of entries, filtering must always be used first. The provider application might, for example, refuse the first READ_ENITITYSET if no adequate filter has been provided.
As the SRQC is only working if soft state has been enabled, provider applications must also always implement paging themselves and trigger this in case soft state is disabled. With this feature the data returned to the client can always be outdated. There is no cache control mechanism available. Even though using soft state might make the application faster more memory is used.
The default configuration is an active SQRC.
Note that any soft state behavior has to be implemented in the data provider.