I need to get the table name to query from a table.
var tableName = "select tableName from tableList where type='A';"
Then subsequently use that table name in another query.
"select * from" + tableName
Transact SQL/stored procedures are new to me in general so any help would be appreciated. I didn't design the database and unfortunately can't really change it to be a better design as much as I would love to!
My question is - is this possible from one stored procedure and if so can anyone mock up how I'd do it.
Or if there are any better ways anyone can think of (bar redesigning the database!)
Thanks
Maybe via dynamic SQL
DECLARE #String AS VARCHAR(8000)
DECLARE #TableName AS VARCHAR(50)
DECLARE #Results AS VARCHAR(8000)
SET #TableName = (select top 1 tableName from tableList where type='A')
SET #String = 'Select * from ' + #TableName
SET #Results = #String + #TableName
EXEC #Results
You can either use execas #kevchadders suggested or you can use sp_executesql, read The Curse and Blessings of Dynamic SQL for an excellent explantion on dynamic SQL.
You should use dynamic SQL to achieve that.
Basically, you execute your query using sp_executesql or exec, and store the result to a, kinda, staging table to be processed further:
declare #sql = varchar(8000);
select #sql = 'insert into resulttbl select * from ' + #tableName;
exec sp_executesql(#sql);
-- further process using resulttbl
Or
insert into resulttbl
exec ('select * from ' + #tableName);
-- further process using resulttbl
Anyway, you should read the following article for a better explanation: The Curse and Blessings of Dynamic SQL
You can directly write
select * from (select tableName from tableList where type='A') X
Related
I have a query of which the select-part is really long. I'd like to split this in several pieces, especially because some parts are in there twice or even more often.
What I'd like is something like the following:
Declare #SQLPart as varchar(1000)
Set #SQLPart = 'Field1,
case ... as Field2,'
Select ..., #SQLPart, ... From .....
Unfortunately this results error messages. I tried something like EXEC(#SQLPart) as well but of course this also didn't work. How would I solve this?
Yes, dynamic sql and sp_executesql:
CREATE TABLE ##Temp (Field1 int, Field2 int)
Declare #SQLPart nvarchar(1000)
Set #SQLPart = N'Field1, Field2 '
DECLARE #SQL nvarchar(1000) = N'SELECT ' + #SQLPart + 'FROM ##Temp'
PRINT #SQL
EXEC sp_executesql #SQL
DROP TABLE ##Temp
Your SQL code must be nvarchar type.
Alse sp_executesql is better than EXECUTE function, when you have many similar queries, sp_executesql caches executaion plans, and it can be better in perfomance.
You can use dynamic sql here,and use a EXECUTE keyword to execute this dynamic query
Declare #SQLPart as varchar(1000)
Set #SQLPart = 'Field1,
case ... as Field2,'
EXECUTE ('SELECT ....,'+#SQLPart+',... FROM ...')
SQL Server does not support Macro-Substitution, so you would have to use Dynamic SQL.
Declare #SQL varchar(max) ='Select ... ' + #SQLPart + '... from ...'
Exec(#SQL)
I am trying to write some dynamic SQL queries that select results into a temp table with a query string. It looks like follows:
DECLARE #SQL Varchar(4000)
SET #SQL = 'SELECT * INTO #tmp_tab FROM dbo.sometable'
EXEC(#SQL)
It doesn't give any error to run the code, but when I want to select from #tmp_tab, it says the table doesn't exist.
So I am wondering if there is any special syntax for it, or dynamic SQL doesn't support such operation?
Many thanks.
Maybe it has something to do with access. If you create a global temp table, it will work.
DECLARE #SQL Varchar(4000)
SET #SQL = 'SELECT * INTO ##tmp_tab FROM dbo.batch'
EXEC(#SQL)
SELECT * FROM ##tmp_tab
Alright so say I have code that looks like this.
CREATE Table database_info
(
DBName NVARCHAR (MAX)
);
INSERT INTO database_info (DBName)
VALUES ('db1')
SELECT * FROM database_info
DECLARE #temp nvarchar(MAX)
SET #temp = (SELECT DBName FROM database_info where database_info.DBName = 'db1')
--How I want it to work SELECT * FROM #temp
Is there any kind of operation I could do on this temporary variable to have the string act as a regular SQL command?
Thanks
You may execute a dynamic sql using EXEC. Now, declaring the #sql variable would be quite too much in this case, but it is useful when you are not sure of the length of the statement you will pass to it.
DECLARE #sql AS VARCHAR(MAX)
SET #sql = 'SELECT * FROM ' + #temp
EXEC(#sql)
I want to create a SQL tabled-value function that will receive a query as n parameter through my API. In my function I want execute that query. The query will be a SELECT statement.
This is what I have done so far and what to achieve but it is not the correct way to do so.
CREATE FUNCTION CUSTOM_EXPORT_RESULTS (
#query varchar(max),
#guid uniqueidentifier,
#tableName varchar(200))
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
(
-- Execute query into a table
SELECT *
INTO #tableName
FROM (
EXEC(#query)
)
)
GO
Please suggest the correct way!
Try this one -
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.sp_CUSTOM_EXPORT_RESULTS
#query NVARCHAR(MAX) = 'SELECT * FROM dbo.test'
, #guid UNIQUEIDENTIFIER
, #tableName VARCHAR(200) = 'test2'
AS BEGIN
SELECT #query =
REPLACE(#query,
'FROM',
'INTO [' + #tableName + '] FROM')
DECLARE #SQL NVARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT #SQL = '
IF OBJECT_ID (N''' + #tableName + ''') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE [' + #tableName + ']
' + #query
PRINT #SQL
EXEC sys.sp_executesql #SQL
RETURN 0
END
GO
Output -
IF OBJECT_ID (N'test2') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE [test2]
SELECT * INTO [test2] FROM dbo.test
What I see in your question is encapsulation of:
taking a dynamic SQL expression
executing it to fill a parametrized table
Why do you want to have such an encapsulation?
First, this can have a negative impact on your database performance. Please read this on EXEC() and sp_executesql() . I hope your SP won't be called from multiple parts of your application, because this WILL get you into trouble, at least performance-wise.
Another thing is - how and where are you constructing your SQL? Obviously you do it somewhere else and it seems its manually created. If we're talking about a contemporary application, there are lot of OR/M solutions for this and manual construction of TSQL in runtime should be always avoided if possible. Not to mention EXEC is not guarding you against any form of SQL injection attacks. However, if all of this is a part of some database administration TSQL bundle, forget his paragraph.
At the end, if you want to simply load a new table from some existing table (or part of it) as a part of some administration task in TSQL, consider issuing a SELECT ... INTO ... This will create a new target table structure for you (omitting indexes and constraints) and copy the data. SELECT INTO will outperform INSERT INTO SELECT because SELECT INTO gets minimally logged.
I hope this will get you (and others) at least a bit on the right track.
You can use stored procedure as well, here is the code that you can try.
CREATE FUNCTION CUSTOM_EXPORT_RESULTS
(
#query varchar(max),
#guid uniqueidentifier,
#tableName varchar(200)
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
(
declare #strQuery nvarchar(max)
-- Execute query into a table
SET #strQuery = REPLACE(#query,'FROM', 'INTO '+#tableName+' FROM')
exec sp_executesql #strQuery
)
GO
I have dynamic SQL stored in a SQL table that I have to execute under certain conditions. Currently, we use cursors to handle that for us, but I was always told to avoid cursors when possible as they aren't the most efficient way of doing things. So, my question is: how do I execute dynamic SQL without them (if there's a way)? The entire system is built around this dynamic SQL mess, so there is no changing it.
For this, just assume the table has Id AS IDENTITY and SQL AS VARCHAR fields, where the SQL field contains the SQL to be executed (obviously).
EDIT:
Basically, I want to loop through the table and execute the SQL in the SQL column.
So, a row in the table will basically look like this:
ID SQL
-- ----------------------
1 SELECT * FROM RECORD
2 SELECT * FROM PERSON
3 SELECT * FROM LOCATION
I haven't written any code because what I'd write is a cursor to traverse through the table and execute it. I just don't know of any other ways of looping a table and executing that string as a SQL query other than something like:
DECLARE #sql VARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE _cursor CURSOR
FOR
SELECT [SQL]
FROM #tmp2
OPEN _cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM _cursor INTO #sql
WHILE ##FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
PRINT ( #sql )
END
CLOSE _cursor
DEALLOCATE _cursor
You can use any number of concatenation tricks to make one big batch without using a cursor, I personally use the FOR XML trick a lot.
Here's an overview:
http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/t-sql-programming/concatenating-row-values-in-transact-sql/
However, the cursor (while generally a code smell) isn't going to contribute a terrible amount to the non-performance of this. And you will have an opportunity to handle errors etc a lot easier than with a single batch.
In addition, if you have DDL in some of those statements which has to be the first statement in a batch, then you would need to submit them in separate batches. EXEC or sp_executesql doesn't implement any batch splitting like SSMS has the GO batch separator.
Ignoring the fundamental flaws in this whole schema....
declare #sql nvarchar(max)
select #sql = ''
select #sql = #sql + SQL + ';' from #tmp2
exec sp_executesql #sql
At least we've got rid of your cursor now :)
EDIT: Code that is working for me...
create table #tmp2 (sql nvarchar(100))
insert #tmp2 values ('select * from sysobjects')
insert #tmp2 values ('Select * from sysColumns')
declare #sql nvarchar(max)
select #sql = ''
select #sql = #sql + SQL + ';' from #tmp2
exec sp_executesql #sql
drop table #tmp2