Dynamic Parameter for stored procedures - sql-server

I have a table which stores intermediary tables names & final Tables for each main tables listed at column level.Iam trying to write a stored procedure which will accept parameter - main Table name and and give result back the intermediary table names .
Then following query should select few columns from the intermediary table (result of first query)Any help would be great !
I have first part resolved , but second part is an issue :
ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[p_dataselect]
(
#MainTable varchar(20)
)
AS
EXEC ('SELECT #ITable =im_table from' +#MainTable)
EXEC ('SELECT * from dbo.' +#ITABLE)
-- this does not work .

Your #ITable variable, that you are SELECT-ing into in the 1st EXEC, is not declared inside the stored procedure. So there is no way to access it in the 2nd EXEC statement.

EXEC ('SELECT #ITable =im_table from' +#MainTable)
EXEC ('SELECT * from dbo.' +#ITABLE)
Are two separate queries and the variable #ITABLE declared at the first one ill not be avaiable for the second.
You can try to transform it in a unique query using the first one as subquery for the second.
warning: Using dynamic queries like that at general is a bad idea, try to avoid it or at least learn about dynamic parametric queries.

Related

Access SQL Server temporary tables created in different scope

I am writing a stored procedure for SQL Server 2008 in which I need to extract information from a set of tables. I do not know ahead of time the structure of those tables. There is another table in the same database that tells me the names and types of the fields in this table.
I am doing this:
declare #sql nvarchar(max)
set #sql = 'select ... into #new_temporary_table ...'
exec sp_executesql #sql
Then I iterate doing:
set #sql = 'insert into #another_temporary_table ... select ... from #new_temporary_table'
exec sp_executesql #sql
After that I drop the temporary table. This happens in a loop, so the table with be created, populated and dropped many times, each time with different columns.
This fails with the error:
Invalid object name: #new_temporary_table.
After some googling I have found that:
The table #new_temporary_table is being created in the scope of the call to exec sp_executesql which is different from the one of my stored proc. This is the reason the next exec sp_executesql cannot find the table. This post explains it:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/transactsql/thread/1dd6a408-4ac5-4193-9284-4fee8880d18a
I could use global temporary tables, which are prepended with ##. I can't do this because multiple stored procs could run at the same time and they would be affecting each other's state
In this article it says that if I find myself in this situation I should change the structure of the database. This is not an option for me:
http://www.sommarskog.se/dynamic_sql.html
One workaround I have found was combining all the select into #new_temporary_table.. and all the insert into ... scripts into one gigantic statement. This works fine but it has some downsides.
If I do print #sql to troubleshoot, the text gets truncated, for example.
Do I have any other option? All ideas are welcome.
You could use global temp tables, but use a context id (such as newid()) as part of the global temp table name.
declare #sql varchar(2000)
declare #contextid varchar(50) = convert(varchar(20), convert(bigint, substring(convert(binary(16), newid()), 1, 4)))
set #sql = 'select getdate() as stuff into ##new_temporary_table_' + #contextid
exec (#sql)
I think it's best to use one single script.
You can change how many characters will print in Tools > Options > Query Results > SQL Server > Results to Text - change "Maximum number of characters..." from 256 to the max (8192).
If it's bigger than 8192, then yes, printing is difficult. But you could try a different option in this case. Instead of PRINT #sql; instead use the following (with Results to Grid):
SELECT sql FROM (SELECT #sql) AS x(sql) FOR XML PATH;
Now you can click on the result, and it opens in a new query window. Well, it's an XML file window, and you can't execute it or see color-coding, and you have to ignore that it changes e.g. > to > to make it valid as XML data, but from here it's easy to eyeball if you're just trying to eyeball it. You can copy and paste it to a real query editor window and do a search and replace for the entitized characters if you like. FWIW I asked for them to make such XML windows real query windows, but this was denied:
http://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/425990/ssms-allow-same-semantics-for-xml-docs-as-query-windows
#temp tables (not global) are available in the scope they were created and below.
So you could do something like...
while (your_condition = 1) begin
set #sql = 'select ... into #temp1 ...from blah
exec sp_do_the_inserts'
exec(#sql)
end
The sp_do_the_inserts might look like...
select * into #temp2 from #temp1
....your special logic here....
This assumes you create sp_do_the_inserts beforehand, of course.
Don't know if that serves your need.

How can I create a new database with schema within a stored procedure?

I want to write a TSQL stored procedure that creates a database with a specified name, and pre-populates it with some schema.
So I use lots of EXEC statements:
EXEC('CREATE TABLE ' + #dbName + '.dbo.MyTable (...)');
etc, along with some CREATE PROCEDURE, CREATE FUNCTION etc. However, the problem comes from when I want to create a type, as CREATE TYPE statements can't have the database specified, and you can't have USE #dbName within the stored procedure.
How can I create a type in another database in a stored procedure?
There are certain commands that can't use used as ssarabando suggests, among them is CREATE SCHEMA, which throws Msg 111 when used in with that technique.
The work around is to nest dynamic SQL blocks as follows:
exec('use tempdb; exec sp_executesql N''create schema test'' ')
The outer block does nothing except change the database, so that the inner block has the correct context when it is executed.
Notice that the inner parameter to sp_executesql needs two single quotes.
You may want to take a look at sp_addtype instead. You can execute this in the database you want.
You could also use this, for example:
EXEC('use ' + #dbName + ';create type somename from int not null;')
That'll select the correct database before creating the type.

Alternate synonym in SQL Server in one transaction

I am new to Transact SQL programming.
I have created a stored procedure that would drop and create an existing synonym so that it will point to another table. The stored procedure takes in 2 parameters:
synonymName - an existing synonym
nextTable - the table to be point at
This is the code snippet:
...
BEGIN TRAN SwitchTran
SET #SqlCommand='drop synonym ' + #synonymName
EXEC sp_executesql #SqlCommand
SET #SqlCommand='create synonym ' + #synonymName + ' for ' + #nextTable
EXEC sp_executesql #SqlCommand
COMMIT SwitchTran
...
We have an application that would write data using the synonym regularly.
My question is would I run into a race condition where the synonym is dropped, while the application try to write to the synonym?
If the above is a problem, could someone give me suggestion to the solution.
Thanks
Yes, you'd have a race condition.
One way to manage this is to have sp_getapplock after BEGIN TRAN in Transaction mode and trap/handle the return status as required. This will literally serialise (in the execution sense, not isolation) callers so only one SPID executes at any one time.
I'm fairly certain you will indeed get race conditions. Synonym Names are intended to be used for shortening the name of an object and aren't supposed to change any more often than other objects. I'm guessing by your description that you are using it for code reuse. You are probably better off using Dynamic SQL instead, which incidentally you already are.
For more information on Dynamic SQL you might want to consider a look at this article on by Erland Sommarskog that OMG Poinies references in a lot of his answers. Particularly the section on Dealing with Dynamic Table and Column Names which I've quotes below
Dealing with Dynamic Table and Column
Names
Passing table and column names as
parameters to a procedure with dynamic
SQL is rarely a good idea for
application code. (It can make
perfectly sense for admin tasks). As
I've said, you cannot pass a table or
a column name as a parameter to
sp_executesql, but you must
interpolate it into the SQL string.
Still you should protect it against
SQL injection, as a matter of routine.
It could be that bad it comes from
user input.
To this end, you should use the
built-in function quotename() (added
in SQL 7). quotename() takes two
parameters: the first is a string, and
the second is a pair of delimiters to
wrap the string in. The default for
the second parameter is []. Thus,
quotename('Orders') returns [Orders].
quotename() takes care of nested
delimiters, so if you have a really
crazy table name like Left]Bracket,
quotename() will return
[Left]]Bracket].
Note that when you work with names
with several components, each
component should be quoted separately.
quotename('dbo.Orders') returns
[dbo.Orders], but that is a table in
an unknown schema of which the first
four characters are d, b, o and a dot.
As long as you only work with the dbo
schema, best practice is to add dbo in
the dynamic SQL and only pass the
table name. If you work with different
schemas, pass the schema as a separate
parameter. (Although you could use the
built-in function parsename() to split
up a #tblname parameter in parts.)
While general_select still is a poor
idea as a stored procedure, here is
nevertheless a version that summarises
some good coding virtues for dynamic
SQL:
CREATE PROCEDURE general_select #tblname nvarchar(128),
#key varchar(10),
#debug bit = 0 AS DECLARE #sql nvarchar(4000)
SET #sql = 'SELECT col1, col2, col3
FROM dbo.' + quotename(#tblname) + '
WHERE keycol = #key' IF #debug = 1
PRINT #sql EXEC sp_executesql #sql, N'#key varchar(10)', #key = #key
- I'm using sp_executesql rather than EXEC().
- I'm prefixing the table name with dbo.
- I'm wrapping #tblname in quotename().
- There is a #debug parameter.

SQL Server 2008: Creating dynamic Synonyms?

in my SQL Server 2008 database I have a number of different tables with the same structure. I query them in different stored procedures. My first try was to pass the table name to the stored procedure, like:
CREATE PROCEDURE MyTest
#tableName nvarchar(255)
AS
BEGIN
SELECT * FROM #tableName
END
But we can't use parameters for table names in SQL. So I asked you and tried the solution with using Synonyms instead of a parameter for the table name:
CREATE PROCEDURE MyTest
#tableName nvarchar(255)
AS
BEGIN
EXEC SetSimilarityTableNameSynonym #tbl = #tableName;
SELECT * FROM dbo.CurrentSimilarityTable
END
SetSimilarityTableNameSynonym is a SP to set the Synonym dbo.CurrentSimilarityTable to the passed value (the specific table name). It looks like:
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[SetSimilarityTableNameSynonym]
#tbl nvarchar(255)
AS
BEGIN
IF object_id('dbo.CurrentSimilarityTable', 'SN') IS NOT NULL
DROP SYNONYM CurrentSimilarityTable;
-- Set the synonym for each existing table
IF #tbl = 'byArticle'
CREATE SYNONYM dbo.CurrentSimilarityTable FOR dbo.similarity_byArticle;
...
END
Now, as you probably see, the problem is with concurrent access to the SPs which will "destroy" each others assigned synonym. So I tried to create dynamic synonyms for each single SP-call with a GUID via NewID()
DECLARE #theGUID uniqueidentifier;
SET #theGUID=NEWID()
SET #theSynonym = 'dbo.SimTabSyn_' + CONVERT(nvarchar(255), #theGUID);
BUT ... I can't use the dynamical created name to create a synonym:
CREATE SYNONYM #theSynonym FOR dbo.similarity_byArticle;
doesn't work.
Has anybody an idea, how to get dynamical synonyms running? Is this even possible?
Thanks in advance,
Frank
All I can suggest is to run the CREATE SYNONYM in dynamic SQL. And this also means your code is running at quite high rights (db_owner or ddl_admin). You may need EXECUTE AS OWNER to allow it when you secure the code.
And how many synonyms will you end up with for the same table? If you have to do it this way, I'd use OBJECT_ID not NEWID and test first so you have one synonym per table.
But if you have one synonym per table then why not use the table name...?
What is the point is there creating 1 or more synonyms for the same table, given the table names are already unique...
I'd fix the database design.
Why would you want multiple concurrent users to overwrite the single resource (synonym)?
If your MyTest procedure is taking a the table name as a parameter, why not simply do dynamic SQL? You can validate the #tableName against against a hardcoded list of tables that this procedure is allowed to select from, or against sys.tables

Temporary function or stored procedure in T-SQL

Is there any chance to create temporary stored procedure or function on MS SQL 2005? I would like to use this stored procedure only in my query so after execution it will be gone.
I have a query I would like to EXEC against some data. But for every table I will process this command, I need to change some parts of it. So I thought I would create temporary SP that would return for me a query from arguments I provide (like table name and so on) and than execute this query by EXEC.
And this stored procedure will be not useful for me later so I would like to have it temporary so that when I end executing my query - it will disappear.
This question is a bit old, but the other answers failed to provide the syntax for creating temporary procedures. The syntax is the same as for temporary tables: #name for local temporary objects, ##name for global temporary objects.
CREATE PROCEDURE #uspMyTempProcedure AS
BEGIN
print 'This is a temporary procedure'
END
This is described in the "Procedure Name" section of the official documentation. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187926%28v=sql.90%29.aspx
I'm using this technique to deduplicate the code for my primitive T-SQL unit tests. A real unit testing framework would be better, but this is better than nothing and "garbage collects" after itself.
Re your edit - it sounds like you should be using sp_ExecuteSQL against a (parameterized) nvarchar that contains TSQL.
Search on sp_ExecuteSQL; a simple example:
DECLARE #SQL nvarchar(4000),
#Table varchar(20) = 'ORDERS',
#IDColumn varchar(20) = 'OrderID',
#ID int = 10248
SET #SQL = 'SELECT * FROM [' + #Table + '] WHERE ['
+ #IDColumn + '] = #Key'
EXEC sp_executesql #SQL, N'#Key int', #ID
Note that table and column names must be concatenated into the query, but values (such as #Key) can be parameterized.
There is a temporary stored procedure - but it is per connection, not per sp.
However, you might want to look at Common Table Expressions - they may be what you are after (although you can only read from them once).
Maybe if you can clarify what you are trying to do?
Just use the SQL of the stored proc inside your query. No need to create a stored procedure inside the DB, it won't give you any advantage over a normal query inside your query.

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