How Do I Return Multiple Recordsets from SQL Stored Procedure in Access 2010 - sql

Question

I’ve created a pass-through query in Access which executes a stored procedure that searches for a string across all tables in my SQL database. The stored procedure on the SQL server runs as expected, returning multiple Recordsets that contain the value of my search string. However, when I double-click on the pass-through query in Access, in Datasheet View I see the results of only one Recordset. Since it appears that Access is not designed to handle multiple result sets, then how do I use VBA in Access to accomplish this?
exec sqlsp_searchalltables #Tablenames='', #SearchStr='%motion%'

Answer 1

I'm not quite sure how you expected to "bind" your form to the multiple recordsets returned by the stored procedure, but as far as I know the only way to deal with SQL Server stored procedures that return multiple recordsets is to use ADODB.Recordset objects.
(Don't be misled by the "Recordset.NextRecordset Method (DAO)" article here. If you try that approach you will receive run-time error '3847': "ODBCDirect is no longer supported. Rewrite the code to use ADO instead of DAO.")
For example, I have a SQL Server stored procedure that returns two recordsets and I create a pass-through named [dbo_myMultiRsSp_1] to call it:
EXEC dbo.myMultiRsSp #id=1
If I open it in Datasheet View by double-clicking it I see the results of the first recordset.
If I want to process all of the recordsets in VBA I cannot use the pass-through query directly, but I can use its .Connect and .SQL properties as follows
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
Sub MultiRsSpTest()
Dim cdb As DAO.Database
Dim con As ADODB.Connection, cmd As ADODB.Command
Dim r1 As ADODB.Recordset, r2 As ADODB.Recordset
Set cdb = CurrentDb
Set con = New ADODB.Connection
' connect directly to the SQL Server
' (by using the .Connect property of the pass-through query)
con.Open Mid(cdb.QueryDefs("dbo_myMultiRsSp_1").Connect, 5) ' omit "ODBC:" prefix
Set cmd = New ADODB.Command
cmd.ActiveConnection = con
cmd.CommandType = adCmdText
cmd.CommandText = cdb.QueryDefs("dbo_myMultiRsSp_1").SQL
Set r1 = cmd.Execute
Debug.Print
Debug.Print "First Recordset:"
Do Until r1.EOF
Debug.Print r1(0).Value
r1.MoveNext
Loop
Set r2 = r1.NextRecordset
Debug.Print
Debug.Print "Second Recordset:"
Do Until r2.EOF
Debug.Print r2(0).Value
r2.MoveNext
Loop
' r1.Close (happens implicitly)
Set r1 = Nothing
r2.Close
Set r2 = Nothing
Set cmd = Nothing
Set con = Nothing
Set cdb = Nothing
End Sub