Calling an SP using ExecuteNonQuery - sql-server

Question

I have some general purpose code in my app for calling non-query commands like inserts:
DBComm.CommandText = SQL
DBComm.Connection = Cnn
Ans = DBComm.ExecuteNonQuery
I'm using this to call an SP that takes two strings and returns an int:
Dim SQL As String = "EXEC Import_Validation " & Code & "," & User
Return DbS.Execute(SQL)
This works fine, with the exception that the return value is not the value of the SP (is it a job id of some sort?). So I modified it slightly:
Param = New SqlParameter("#RETURN_VALUE", SqlDbType.Int)
Param.Direction = ParameterDirection.ReturnValue
DBComm.Parameters.Add(Param)
DBComm.CommandText = SQL
DBComm.Connection = Cnn
DBComm.ExecuteNonQuery
This runs, but always returns 0 for RETURN_VALUE. I suspect this is because I do not have the following line:
DBComm.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
Is that suspicion correct?
However, if I add this line, the SQL no longer works, complaining Could not find stored procedure "Import_Validation '1234', 'maury'. I assume that is because it thinks the string I passed in is just the name, and is being confused by the parameters. I could add the parameters as input parameters on DBComm, but then the method would be specific to a particular SP.
So is there a way I can call an SP using SQL I construct and still get a parameter back out?

Answer 1

If you are just returning an integer, I've used this:
Param.value=cmd.ExecuteScalar()

Answer 2

I Cannot guess nor explain why you had trouble executing the store procedure, since you didn't share the full code (full part of the code that have issue). However, generally speaking, when you use ExecuteNonQuery() you're supposed to use a valid T-SQL. By default, the commandType is Text. So, if you need to execute a store procedure, you'll need to change the command type to StoredProcedure before executing the query. So, I would say your guess is correct in this line :
DBComm.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
Also, in your code, you declared a #RETURN_VALUE parameter, but I couldn't see anything calling its value !? So, maybe this is the issue ?
anyhow, check this :
Using connection As New SqlConnection(ConnectionString)
command As New SqlCommand("dbo.Import_Validation", connection)
command.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
command.Parameters.Add("#Code", SqlDbType.VarChar, 250)
command.Parameters.Add("#User", SqlDbType.VarChar, 250)
command.Parameters.Add("#RETURN_VALUE", SqlDbType.Int).Direction = ParameterDirection.ReturnValue
command.Parameters("#Code").Value = Code
command.Parameters("#User").Value = User
connection.Open()
command.ExecuteNonQuery()
'IF returned value is more than one row, then use reader instead
Dim return_value As Integer = Convert.ToInt32(command.Parameters("#RETURN_VALUE").Value)
connection.Close()
End Using