Can't call stored procedure without specifying supposedly optional parameter - sql

Question

I'm trying to call a stored procedure with several required and several optional parameters. Before I came along, the beginning of the procedure scripted out like this:
USE [MYDB]
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[SP_GetStudents]
(
#SortOrder varchar(50),
#SortColumn varchar(150),
#SortLetter varchar(10),
#Status varchar(250),
#PageIndex int,
#PageSize int,
#User_ID int,
#Reference_No varchar(50) = NULL,
#First_Name varchar(50) = NULL,
#Middle_Name varchar(50) = NULL,
#Last_Name varchar(50) = NULL
)
As
BEGIN
-- other stuff here
Everything seems to work fine. Then I added another parameter to the end:
USE [MYDB]
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[SP_GetStudents]
(
#SortOrder varchar(50),
#SortColumn varchar(150),
#SortLetter varchar(10),
#Status varchar(250),
#PageIndex int,
#PageSize int,
#User_ID int,
#Reference_No varchar(50) = NULL,
#First_Name varchar(50) = NULL,
#Middle_Name varchar(50) = NULL,
#Last_Name varchar(50) = NULL,
#ContextID int = NULL
)
As
BEGIN
-- other stuff here
and now it's broken. When I use ADO.NET to call the stored proc by setting up a command object with parameters, it throws an exception because I'm not setting the #ContextID parameter.
Any idea why? I thought if I set it to the default value of NULL, then it would effectually be totally optional.
Update: here's how the SqlCommand gets set up, as best I can represent it here:
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("SP_GetStudents");
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
SqlParameter param = new SqlParameter();
param.ParameterName = "#SortOrder";
param.Value = sortOrder;
param.Direction = ParameterDirection.Input;
SqlParameter param2 = new SqlParameter();
param2.ParameterName = "#SortColumn";
param2.Value = sortColumn;
param2.Direction = ParameterDirection.Input;
cmd.Parameters.Add(param);
cmd.Parameters.Add(param2);
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#SortLetter", sortLetter));
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#Status", status));
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#PageIndex", pageIndex));
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#PageSize", pageSize));
// here, the code splits a search expression into multiple parameters, looping over a switch statement like this:
foreach (string token in tokens)
{
switch(token)
{
case "Reference_No":
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#Reference_No", (object)value ?? DBNull.Value));
break;
case "First_Name":
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#First_Name", (object)value ?? DBNull.Value));
break;
case "Last_Name":
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#Last_Name", (object)value ?? DBNull.Value));
break;
case "Middle_Name":
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#Middle_Name", (object)value ?? DBNull.Value));
break;
case "Generation":
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#Generation", (object)value ?? DBNull.Value));
break;
case "ContextID":
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#ContextID", (object)value ?? DBNull.Value));
break;
}
}
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("#User_ID", userID);
// fires off cmd through a DAL
Here's the exception (of type System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException):
The parameterized query '(#Reference_No varchar(50),
#First_Name varchar(5' expects the parameter '#ContextID', which was not supplied.
I find this message kind of odd because the formatting seems jacked. Anyway, under the hood the command gets executed via a SqlDataAdapter which is used to fill a DataSet. The exception is thrown during the Fill method execution.

Answer 1

On this http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187926.aspx link following line is mentioned..
The value of each declared parameter must be supplied by the user when the procedure is called unless a default value for the parameter is defined or the value is set to equal another parameter. If a procedure contains table-valued parameters, and the parameter is missing in the call, an empty table is passed in.
So based on that I can say that if you put the "Default" Key work your problem will be resolved.
Also on the same page information regarding default is mention with details like following.
default
A default value for a parameter. If a default value is defined for a parameter, the procedure can be executed without specifying a value for that parameter. The default value must be a constant or it can be NULL. The constant value can be in the form of a wildcard, making it possible to use the LIKE keyword when passing the parameter into the procedure. See Example C below.
Default values are recorded in the sys.parameters.default column only
for CLR procedures. That column will be NULL for Transact-SQL
procedure parameters.
Thanks,
Jigar