T-SQL install / upgrade script as a transaction - sql

I'm trying to write a single T-SQL script which will upgrade a system which is currently in deployment. The script will contain a mixture of:
New tables
New columns on existing tables
New functions
New stored procedures
Changes to stored procedures
New views
etc.
As it's a reasonably large upgrade I want the script to rollback if a single part of it fails. I have an outline of my attempted code below:
DECLARE #upgrade NVARCHAR(32);
SELECT #upgrade = 'my upgrade';
BEGIN TRANSACTION #upgrade
BEGIN
PRINT 'Starting';
BEGIN TRY
CREATE TABLE x ( --blah...
);
ALTER TABLE y --blah...
);
CREATE PROCEDURE z AS BEGIN ( --blah...
END
GO --> this is causing trouble!
CREATE FUNCTION a ( --blah...
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
PRINT 'Error with transaction. Code: ' + ##ERROR + '; Message: ' + ERROR_MESSAGE();
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION #upgrade;
PRINT 'Rollback complete';
RETURN;
END TRY
END
PRINT 'Upgrade successful';
COMMIT TRANSACTION #upgrade;
GO
Note - I know some of the syntax is not perfect - I'm having to re-key the code
It seems as though I can't put Stored Procedures into a transaction block. Is there a reason for this? Is it because of the use of the word GO? If so, how can I put SPs into a transaction block? What are the limitations as to what can go into a transaction block? Or, what would be a better alternative to what I'm trying to achieve?
Thanks

As Thomas Haratyk said in his answer, your issue was the "go". However, you can have as many batches in a transaction as you want. It's the try/catch that doesn't like this. Here's a simple proof-of-concept:
begin tran
go
select 1
go
select 2
go
rollback
begin try
select 1
go
select 2
go
end try
begin catch
select 1
end catch

Remove the GO and create your procedure by using dynamic sql or it will fail.
EXEC ('create procedure z
as
begin
print "hello world"
end')
GO is not a SQL keyword, it is a batch separator. So it cannot be included into a transaction.
Please refer to those topics for further information :
sql error:'CREATE/ALTER PROCEDURE' must be the first statement in a query batch?
Using "GO" within a transaction
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188037.aspx

Related

Properly understanding the error Cannot use the ROLLBACK statement within an INSERT-EXEC statement - Msg 50000, Level 16, State 1

I understand there is a regularly quoted answer that is meant to address this question, but I believe there is not enough explanation on that thread to really answer the question.
Why earlier answers are inadequate
The first (and accepted) answer simply says this is a common problem and talks about having only one active insert-exec at a time (which is only the first half of the question asked there and doesn't address the ROLLBACK error). The given workaround is to use a table-valued function - which does not help my scenario where my stored procedure needs to update data before returning a result set.
The second answer talks about using openrowset but notes you cannot dynamically specify argument values for the stored procedure - which does not help my scenario because different users need to call my procedure with different parameters.
The third answer provides something called "the old single hash table approach" but does not explain whether it is addressing part 1 or 2 of the question, nor how it works, nor why.
No answer explains why the database is giving this error in the first place.
My use case / requirements
To give specifics for my scenario (although simplified and generic), I have procedures something like below.
In a nutshell though - the first procedure will return a result set, but before it does so, it updates a status column. Effectively these records represent records that need to be synchronised somewhere, so when you call this procedure the procedure will flag the records as being "in progress" for sync.
The second stored procedure calls that first one. Of course the second stored procedure wants to take those records and perform inserts and updates on some tables - to keep those tables in sync with whatever data was returned from the first procedure. After performing all the updates, the second procedure then calls a third procedure - within a cursor (ie. row by row on all the rows in the result set that was received from the first procedure) - for the purpose of setting the status on the source data to "in sync". That is, one by one it goes back and says "update the sync status on record id 1, to 'in sync'" ... and then record 2, and then record 3, etc.
The issue I'm having is that calling the second procedure results in the error
Msg 50000, Level 16, State 1, Procedure getValuesOuterCall, Line 484 [Batch Start Line 24]
Cannot use the ROLLBACK statement within an INSERT-EXEC statement.
but calling the first procedure directly causes no error.
Procedure 1
-- Purpose here is to return a result set,
-- but for every record in the set we want to set a status flag
-- to another value as well.
alter procedure getValues #username, #password, #target
as
begin
set xact_abort on;
begin try
begin transaction;
declare #tableVariable table (
...
);
update someOtherTable
set something = somethingElse
output
someColumns
into #tableVariable
from someTable
join someOtherTable
join etc
where someCol = #username
and etc
;
select
someCols
from #tableVariable
;
commit;
end try
begin catch
if ##trancount > 0 rollback;
declare #msg nvarchar(2048) = error_message() + ' Error line: ' + CAST(ERROR_LINE() AS nvarchar(100));
raiserror (#msg, 16, 1);
return 55555
end catch
end
Procedure 2
-- Purpose here is to obtain the result set from earlier procedure
-- and then do a bunch of data updates based on the result set.
-- Lastly, for each row in the set, call another procedure which will
-- update that status flag to another value.
alter procedure getValuesOuterCall #username, #password, #target
as
begin
set xact_abort on;
begin try
begin transaction;
declare #anotherTableVariable
insert into #anotherTableVariable
exec getValues #username = 'blah', #password = #somePass, #target = ''
;
with CTE as (
select someCols
from #anotherTableVariable
join someOtherTables, etc;
)
merge anUnrelatedTable as target
using CTE as source
on target.someCol = source.someCol
when matched then update
target.yetAnotherCol = source.yetAnotherCol,
etc
when not matched then
insert (someCols, andMoreCols, etc)
values ((select someSubquery), source.aColumn, source.etc)
;
declare #myLocalVariable int;
declare #mySecondLocalVariable int;
declare lcur_myCursor cursor for
select keyColumn
from #anotherTableVariable
;
open lcur_muCursor;
fetch lcur_myCursor into #myLocalVariable;
while ##fetch_status = 0
begin
select #mySecondLocalVariable = someCol
from someTable
where someOtherCol = #myLocalVariable;
exec thirdStoredProcForSettingStatusValues #id = #mySecondLocalVariable, etc
end
deallocate lcur_myCursor;
commit;
end try
begin catch
if ##trancount > 0 rollback;
declare #msg nvarchar(2048) = error_message() + ' Error line: ' + CAST(ERROR_LINE() AS nvarchar(100));
raiserror (#msg, 16, 1);
return 55555
end catch
end
The parts I don't understand
Firstly, I have no explicit 'rollback' (well, except in the catch block) - so I have to presume that an implicit rollback is causing the issue - but it is difficult to understand where the root of this problem is; I am not even entirely sure which stored procedure is causing the issue.
Secondly, I believe the statements to set xact_abort and begin transaction are required - because in procedure 1 I am updating data before returning the result set. In procedure 2 I am updating data before I call a third procedure to update further data.
Thirdly, I don't think procedure 1 can be converted to a table-valued function because the procedure performs a data update (which would not be allowed in a function?)
Things I have tried
I removed the table variable from procedure 2 and actually created a permanent table to store the results coming back from procedure 1. Before calling procedure 1, procedure 2 would truncate the table. I still got the rollback error.
I replaced the table variable in procedure 1 with a temporary table (ie. single #). I read the articles about how such a table persists for the lifetime of the connection, so within procedure 1 I had drop table if exists... and then create table #.... I still got the rollback error.
Lastly
I still don't understand exactly what is the problem - what is Microsoft struggling to accomplish here? Or what is the scenario that SQL Server cannot accommodate for a requirement that appears to be fairly straightforward: One procedure returns a result set. The calling procedure wants to perform actions based on what's in that result set. If the result set is scoped to the first procedure, then why can't SQL Server just create a temporary copy of the result set within the scope of the second procedure so that it can be acted upon?
Or have I missed it completely and the issue has something to do with the final call to a third procedure, or maybe to do with using try ... catch - for example, perhaps the logic is totally fine but for some reason it is hitting the catch block and the rollback there is the problem (ie. so if I fix the underlying reason leading us to the catch block, all will resolve)?

How do I limit a SQL stored procedure to be run by one person

I have a stored procedure that basically inserts from one table to another.
While this procedure is running, I don't want anyone else to be able to start it, however I don't want serialization, the other person to run the procedure after I am done with it.
What I want is for the other person trying to start it to get an error, while I am running the procedure.
I've tried with using sp_getapplock, however I can't manage to completely stop the person from running the procedure.
I also tried finding the procedure with sys.dm_exec_requests and blocking the procedure, while this does work, i think it's not optimal because on some servers I don't have the permissions to run sys.dm_exec_sql_text(sql_handle).
What is the best way for me to do this?
Cunning stunts:
ALTER PROC MyProc
AS
BEGIN TRY
IF OBJECT_ID('tembdb..##lock_proc_MyProc') IS NOT NULL
RAISERROR('Not now.', 16, 0)
ELSE
EXEC('CREATE TABLE ##lock_proc_MyProc (dummy int)')
...
EXEC('DROP TABLE ##lock_proc_MyProc')
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
...
EXEC('DROP TABLE ##lock_proc_MyProc')
...
END CATCH
GO
Which can be extended by storing spid and watching for zombie ##.
Also you can just raise isolation level/granularity like TABLOCK, UPDLOCK:
ALTER PROC MyProc
AS
BEGIN TRAN
DECLARE #dummy INT
SELECT #dummy=1
FROM t (TABLOCKX, HOLDLOCK)
WHERE 1=0
...
COMMIT TRAN
this will have different effect - will wait, not fall.

SQL Create Procedure Abort Logic

Good afternoon all -
I have a temporary stored procedure that needs to be run as a hotfix in several places and I'd like to abort the creation and compilation of the SP if the version of the application is not exactly what I enter. I have the basic idea working but I'd like the messages to come out without all the schema issues from trying to compile the SP.
Here is basically what I have:
IF EXISTS ... DROP PROCEDURE
SELECT TOP 1 Version INTO #CurrentVersion FROM Application_Version ORDER BY UpdateDate DESC
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM #CurrentVersion WHERE Version = 10)
RAISERROR ('This is for U10 only. Check the application version.', 20, 1) WITH LOG
CREATE PROCEDURE ....
The RAISERROR causes the SP to not end up in the DB and I do get an error but I also end up with schema errors due to schema changes in the past. Due to the SP needing to be the first statement in the batch I can't use IF / ELSE and NOEXEC yields the same results as RAISERROR (without the error).
Any ideas for what can be done to get all of the same results as above without the SP checking the schema if it hits the RAISERROR so I don't end up with a bunch of extra messages reported?
What you want is the error condition to stop execution of the script, which is possible in SQLCMD mode of the query editor with a simple :on error exit:
:on error exit
SELECT TOP 1 Version INTO #CurrentVersion FROM Application_Version ORDER BY UpdateDate DESC
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM #CurrentVersion WHERE Version = 10)
RAISERROR ('This is for U10 only. Check the application version.', 16, 1);
go
IF EXISTS ... DROP PROCEDURE
go
CREATE PROCEDURE ....
...
go
With this in place there is no need to raise severity 20. Severity 16 is enough, which will take care of the ERRORLOG issue you complain.
The RETURN statement will exit out of a SP. When doing error checking, put a BEGIN and END after your IF statement and after your RAISERROR put a RETURN statement.
There are a couple of options here. My approach would be as follows, because I feel that it provides the best flow:
IF EXISTS ... DROP PROCEDURE
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM Application_Version WHERE Version = 10)
BEGIN
DECLARE #sql NVARCHAR(MAX)
SET #sql = 'CREATE PROCEDURE blablabla AS
BEGIN
-- Your Procedure HERE
END'
EXEC sp_executesql #sql
END ELSE
RAISERROR ('This is for U10 only. Check the application version.', 20, 1) WITH LOG

Add column to table and then update it inside transaction

I am creating a script that will be run in a MS SQL server. This script will run multiple statements and needs to be transactional, if one of the statement fails the overall execution is stopped and any changes are rolled back.
I am having trouble creating this transactional model when issuing ALTER TABLE statements to add columns to a table and then updating the newly added column. In order to access the newly added column right away, I use a GO command to execute the ALTER TABLE statement, and then call my UPDATE statement. The problem I am facing is that I cannot issue a GO command inside an IF statement. The IF statement is important within my transactional model. This is a sample code of the script I am trying to run. Also notice that issuing a GO command, will discard the #errorCode variable, and will need to be declared down in the code before being used (This is not in the code below).
BEGIN TRANSACTION
DECLARE #errorCode INT
SET #errorCode = ##ERROR
-- **********************************
-- * Settings
-- **********************************
IF #errorCode = 0
BEGIN
BEGIN TRY
ALTER TABLE Color ADD [CodeID] [uniqueidentifier] NOT NULL DEFAULT ('{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}')
GO
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
SET #errorCode = ##ERROR
END CATCH
END
IF #errorCode = 0
BEGIN
BEGIN TRY
UPDATE Color
SET CodeID= 'B6D266DC-B305-4153-A7AB-9109962255FC'
WHERE [Name] = 'Red'
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
SET #errorCode = ##ERROR
END CATCH
END
-- **********************************
-- * Check #errorCode to issue a COMMIT or a ROLLBACK
-- **********************************
IF #errorCode = 0
BEGIN
COMMIT
PRINT 'Success'
END
ELSE
BEGIN
ROLLBACK
PRINT 'Failure'
END
So what I would like to know is how to go around this problem, issuing ALTER TABLE statements to add a column and then updating that column, all within a script executing as a transactional unit.
GO is not a T-SQL command. Is a batch delimiter. The client tool (SSM, sqlcmd, osql etc) uses it to effectively cut the file at each GO and send to the server the individual batches. So obviously you cannot use GO inside IF, nor can you expect variables to span scope across batches.
Also, you cannot catch exceptions without checking for the XACT_STATE() to ensure the transaction is not doomed.
Using GUIDs for IDs is always at least suspicious.
Using NOT NULL constraints and providing a default 'guid' like '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}' also cannot be correct.
Updated:
Separate the ALTER and UPDATE into two batches.
Use sqlcmd extensions to break the script on error. This is supported by SSMS when sqlcmd mode is on, sqlcmd, and is trivial to support it in client libraries too: dbutilsqlcmd.
use XACT_ABORT to force error to interrupt the batch. This is frequently used in maintenance scripts (schema changes). Stored procedures and application logic scripts in general use TRY-CATCH blocks instead, but with proper care: Exception handling and nested transactions.
example script:
:on error exit
set xact_abort on;
go
begin transaction;
go
if columnproperty(object_id('Code'), 'ColorId', 'AllowsNull') is null
begin
alter table Code add ColorId uniqueidentifier null;
end
go
update Code
set ColorId = '...'
where ...
go
commit;
go
Only a successful script will reach the COMMIT. Any error will abort the script and rollback.
I used COLUMNPROPERTY to check for column existance, you could use any method you like instead (eg. lookup sys.columns).
Orthogonal to Remus's comments, what you can do is execute the update in an sp_executesql.
ALTER TABLE [Table] ADD [Xyz] NVARCHAR(256);
DECLARE #sql NVARCHAR(2048) = 'UPDATE [Table] SET [Xyz] = ''abcd'';';
EXEC sys.sp_executesql #query = #sql;
We've needed to do this when creating upgrade scripts. Usually we just use GO but it has been necessary to do things conditionally.
I almost agree with Remus but you can do this with SET XACT_ABORT ON and XACT_STATE
Basically
SET XACT_ABORT ON will abort each batch on error and ROLLBACK
Each batch is separated by GO
Execution jumps to the next batch on error
Use XACT_STATE() will test if the transaction is still valid
Tools like Red Gate SQL Compare use this technique
Something like:
SET XACT_ABORT ON
GO
BEGIN TRANSACTION
GO
IF COLUMNPROPERTY(OBJECT_ID('Color'), 'CodeID', ColumnId) IS NULL
ALTER TABLE Color ADD CodeID [uniqueidentifier] NULL
GO
IF XACT_STATE() = 1
UPDATE Color
SET CodeID= 'B6D266DC-B305-4153-A7AB-9109962255FC'
WHERE [Name] = 'Red'
GO
IF XACT_STATE() = 1
COMMIT TRAN
--else would be rolled back
I've also removed the default. No value = NULL for GUID values. It's meant to be unique: don't try and set every row to all zeros because it will end in tears...
Have you tried it without the GO?
Normally you should not mix table changes and data changes in the same script.
Another alternative, if you don't want to split the code into separate batches, is to use EXEC to create a nested scope/batch
as here

handling transaction errors when objects don't exist

I found and article in the MSDN Lbrary explaining that try/catch does not handle errors thrown when an object cannot be found. SO, even though I wrap a transaction in a try/catch, the rollback phrase will not execute:
BEGIN TRY
BEGIN TRANSACTION
SELECT 1 FROM dbo.TableDoesNotExists
PRINT ' Should not see this'
COMMIT TRANSACTION
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
SELECT
ERROR_MESSAGE()
END CATCH
--PRINT 'Error Number before go: ' + CAST(##Error AS VARCHAR)
go
PRINT 'Error Count After go: ' + CAST(##Error AS VARCHAR)
PRINT 'Transaction Count ' + CAST(##TRANCOUNT AS VARCHAR)
What's the recommended way to handle errors thrown when an object does not exists, especially when there is a transaction involved. Should I tack this bit of code in place of the last two print statements:
IF ##ERROR <> 0 AND ##TRANCOUNT > 0
BEGIN
PRINT 'Rolling back txn'
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
END
go
PRINT 'Transaction Count again: ' + CAST(##TRANCOUNT AS VARCHAR)
You can test for the existence of an object with OBJECT_ID():
IF OBJECT_ID('MyTable') IS NULL RAISERROR('Could not find MyTable.', 18, 0)
Why are you trying to retrieve data from a table which does not exist?
The fundamental building block of a database is a table. Not knowing what is in your schema is essentially trying to use SQL as a dynamic language, which it is not.
I would rethink your design; without knowing more about the tables in your database and its intended use it's hard for others to help in this regard. Add some more information to your question please.
EDIT
I've had a read of BOL and the recommended way to handle errors when an object does not exist is as follows:
You can use TRY…CATCH to handle errors
that occur during compilation or
statement-level recompilation by
executing the error-generating code in
a separate batch within the TRY block.
For example, you do this by placing
the code in a stored procedure or by
executing a dynamic Transact-SQL
statement using sp_executesql. This
allows TRY…CATCH to catch the error at
a higher level of execution than the
error occurrence.
I tested this out using the following procedure
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[BrokenProcedure]
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;
SELECT * FROM MissingTable
END
GO
Then called it within a TRY..CATCH block:
BEGIN TRY
PRINT 'Error Number before: ' + CAST(##Error AS VARCHAR)
EXECUTE [dbo].[BrokenProcedure]
PRINT ' Should not see this'
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
PRINT 'Error Number in catch: ' + CAST(##Error AS VARCHAR)
END CATCH
Resulting in the following output:
Error Number before: 0
Error Number in catch: 208
It's not a perfect solution as you will have to create procedures (or use dynamic SQL) for all of your table access, but it's the method recommend by MS.
Now, you've hit on an interesting issue (well, to me anyway). You should not start a transaction because the batch won't compile. However, it can compile and then statement level recompilation fails later.
See this question What is wrong with my Try Catch in T-SQL?
However, in either case you can use SET XACT_ABORT ON. This adds predictability because one effect is to automatically roll back any transaction. It also suppress error 266. See this SO question too
SET XACT_ABORT ON
BEGIN TRY
BEGIN TRANSACTION
SELECT 1 FROM dbo.TableDoesNotExists
PRINT ' Should not see this'
COMMIT TRANSACTION
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
-- not needed, but looks weird without a rollback.
-- you could forget SET XACT_ABORT ON
-- Use XACT_STATE avoid double rollback errors
IF XACT_STATE() <> 0
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
SELECT
ERROR_MESSAGE()
END CATCH
go
--note, this can't be guaranteed to give anything
PRINT 'Error Count After go: ' + CAST(##Error AS VARCHAR)
PRINT 'Transaction Count ' + CAST(##TRANCOUNT AS VARCHAR)