SQL stored procedure where database to query is parameter - sql

I am working with Microsoft Access (not SQL server) and have written a stored procedure (Query) as shown below in SQL.
This procedure works but it relies on a hard coded path to the database from which to pull (SELECT) the data.
To make the query more useful I want to pass the database to SELECT from as a parameter to the query - how does one do this?
INSERT INTO Part_Batteries ( ItemCode, Size, Voltage )
SELECT tblBatteries.ItemCode, tblBatteries.SizeAH, tblBatteries.Voltage
FROM tblBatteries IN 'C:\Databases\DeviceDatabases\UKDevices.mdb';
I.e. I want to replace the line
FROM tblBatteries IN 'C:\Databases\DeviceDatabases\UKDevices.mdb';
with something like this
FROM tblBatteries IN #DB
Currently I am testing the procedures by either clicking on them in Access or by calling them from a VB module.
When I am satisfied they work I will call them as required from the main application that will be built using C#.
Thanks in advance.

Please read this http://www.sommarskog.se/dynamic_sql.html#storedprocedures
I think it is what you are looking for.

You need to declare the variable at the top of your stored proc
DECLARE #DB AS string
INSERT INTO Part_Batteries ( ItemCode, Size, Voltage )
SELECT tblBatteries.ItemCode, tblBatteries.SizeAH, tblBatteries.Voltage
FROM tblBatteries IN #DB;

Related

Selecting data from a different schema within a stored procedure

Consider this:
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[setIdentifier](#oldIdentifierName as varchar(50), #newIdentifierName as varchar(50))
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #old_id as int;
DECLARE #new_id as int;
SET #old_id = (SELECT value FROM Configuration WHERE id = #oldIdentifierName);
SET #new_id = (SELECT value FROM Configuration WHERE id = #newIdentifierName);
IF #old_id IS NOT NULL AND #new_id IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
UPDATE Customer
SET type = #new_id
WHERE type = #old_id;
END;
END
[...]
EXECUTE dbo.setIdentifier '1', '2';
What this does is create a stored procedure that accepts two parameters which it then uses to update a Customer table.
The problem is that the entire script above runs within a schema other than "dbo". Let's just assume the schema is "company1". And when the stored procedure is called, I get an error from the SELECT statement, which says that the Configuration table cannot be found. I'm guessing this is because MS SQL by default looks for tables within the same schema as the location of the stored procedure, and not within the calling context.
My question is this:
Is there some option or parameter or switch of some kind that will
tell MS SQL to look for tables in the "caller's default schema" and
not within the schema that procedure itself is stored in?
If not,
what would you recommend? I don't really want to prefix the tables
with the schema name, because it would be kind of unflexible to do
that. So I'm thinking about using dynamic sql (and the schema_name()
function which returns the correct value even within the procedure),
but I am just not experienced enough with MS SQL to construct the
proper syntax.
It would be a tad more efficient to explicitly specify the schema name. And generally speaking, schema's are mainly used to divide a database into logical area's. I would not anticipate on tables schema-hopping often.
Regarding your question, you might want to have a look at the 'execute as' documentation on msdn, since it allows to explicitly control your execution context.
I ended up passing the schema name to my script as a property on the command line for the "sqlcmd" command. Like this:
C:/> sqlcmd -vSCHEMANAME=myschema -imysqlfile
In the SQL script I can then access this variable like this:
SELECT * from $(SCHEMANAME).myTable WHERE.... etc
Not quite as flexible as dynamic sql, but "good enough" as it were.
Thanks all for taking time to respond.

Cast Stored Procedure Result as a Table? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
SQL: how to predicate over stored procedure's result sets?
(3 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
I currently have a stored procedure that runs a complex query and returns a data set. I'd like to cast this data set to a table (on which I can perform further queries) if at all possible. I know I can do this using a table-valued UDF but I'd prefer to avoid that at this point. Is there any way I can accomplish this task?
EDIT: OK... so the SProc I'm using (written by third party and I'm not supposed to change it) runs a fairly complex select statement to return a bunch of line item data about purchase orders. I can recreate it as a UDF but then I'd have to support the UDF and ensure it gets changed as and when our vendor changes their SProc. I'd like to further refine this line item info by a number of criteria such as (but not limited to) item numbers, vendor codes, cost centers, etc. All of this information is brought back by the original SProc and I just need to be able to manipulate it further. My thought process was that if I can somehow treat the results of the SProc as a table (or get them into a table format of some type) then I can run further queries against the original result set to limit by the criteria mentioned above. Please let me know if any further details are needed.
There's various means of sharing data between stored procedures - this link is pretty exhaustive.
But I'm curious why you want a table valued stored procedure (which doesn't exist in SQL Server) when there are table valued functions...
Cast Stored Procedure Result as a
Table?
Yes and this is used quite often. It simply needs one or more select statements:
Create Procedure #Foo
As
Select object_id, name
From sys.columns
That said, you cannot join to this resultset nor can you easily consume it from another stored proc (although there is a way). Given your edit, it appears the question is whether you can consume the results of a stored proc by another stored proc. Technically, yes. You can populate a temp table with the results of a proc. However, you must declare your temp variable or temp table with the same column structure as is returned by the first resultset of the stored proc.
Declare #Data Table ( object_id int, name nvarchar(128) )
Insert #Data
Exec #Foo
Select *
From #Data
(Or use the far more clever OPENROWSET solution as mentioned by Cade Roux and OMG Ponies)
Have you considered using table-valued parameters? They are new in SQL 2008.
-- Edit --
Nope, never mind, they're only good for passing data into stored procedures.
You could try using a View instead of a Stored Procedure. Store your complex query as part of the view, and you have the functionality to perform more queries on the view.

SQL - How to insert results of Stored_Proc into a new table without specifying columns of new table?

Using SQL Server 2005, I'd like to run a stored procedure and insert all of the results into a new table.
I'd like the new table to have its columns automatically configured based upon the data returned by the stored procedure.
I am familiar with using the SELECT ... INTO syntax:
SELECT * INTO newtable FROM oldtable
Is this possible?
Edit for clarification: I'm hoping to accomplish something like:
Select * INTO newtable FROM exec My_SP
The only way to do this is w/ OPENROWSET against the local server:
SELECT * INTO #temp
FROM OPENROWSET (
'SQLOLEDB'
, 'Server=(local);TRUSTED_CONNECTION=YES;'
, 'SET FMTONLY OFF EXEC database.schema.procname'
) a
But this is kind of a last-ditch-gotta-do-it-damn-the-consequences kind of method. It requires elevated permissions, won't work for all procedures, and is generally inefficient.
More info and some alternatives here: http://www.sommarskog.se/share_data.html
This seems like a horrible design. You're really going to create a new table to store the results of a stored procedure, every time the stored procedure is called? And you really can't create the table in advance because you have absolutely no idea what kind of output the stored procedure has? What if the stored procedure returns multiple resultsets? What if it has side effects?
Okay, well, if that's what you really want to do...
One way to accomplish this is to use your local server as a linked server and utilize OPENQUERY. First you need to make sure your local server is configured for data access:
EXEC sp_serveroption 'local server name', 'DATA ACCESS', true;
Then you can do something like this:
SELECT * INTO dbo.newtable
FROM OPENQUERY('local server name', 'EXEC yourdb.dbo.yourproc;');
PS How are you going to write code that is going to perform SELECT INTO into a new table name every time (because you can only do SELECT INTO once)? Dynamic SQL? What happens if two users run this code at the same time? Does one of them win, and the other one just gets an error message?
A variation of the same is
create table somename
select * from wherever;

How to see the values of a table variable at debug time in T-SQL?

Can we see the values (rows and cells) in a table valued variable in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) during debug time? If yes, how?
DECLARE #v XML = (SELECT * FROM <tablename> FOR XML AUTO)
Insert the above statement at the point where you want to view the table's contents. The table's contents will be rendered as XML in the locals window, or you can add #v to the watches window.
That's not yet implemented according this Microsoft Connect link:
Microsoft Connect
This project https://github.com/FilipDeVos/sp_select has a stored procedure sp_select which allows for selecting from a temp table.
Usage:
exec sp_select 'tempDb..#myTempTable'
While debugging a stored procedure you can open a new tab and run this command to see the contents of the temp table.
In the Stored Procedure create a global temporary table ##temptable and write an insert query within your stored procedure which inserts the data in your table into this temporary table.
Once this is done you can check the content of the temporary table by opening a new query window.
Just use "select * from ##temptable"
If you are using SQL Server 2016 or newer, you can also select it as JSON result and display it in JSON Visualizer, it's much easier to read it than in XML and allows you to filter results.
DECLARE #v nvarchar(max) = (SELECT * FROM Suppliers FOR JSON AUTO)
I have come to the conclusion that this is not possible without any plugins.
SQL Server Profiler 2014 lists the content of table value parameter. Might work in previous versions too.
Enable SP:Starting or RPC:Completed event in Stored Procedures group and TextData column and when you click on entry in log you'll have the insert statements for table variable.
You can then copy the text and run in Management Studio.
Sample output:
declare #p1 dbo.TableType
insert into #p1 values(N'A',N'B')
insert into #p1 values(N'C',N'D')
exec uspWhatever #PARAM=#p1
Why not just select the Table and view the variable that way?
SELECT * FROM #d
Sorry guys, I'm a little late to the party but for anyone that stumbles across this question at a later date, I've found the easiest way to do this in a stored procedure is to:
Create a new query with any procedure parameters declared and initialised at the top.
Paste in the body of your procedure.
Add a good old fashioned select query immediately after your table variable is initialised with data.
If 3. is not the last statement in the procedure, set a breakpoint on the same line, start debugging and continue straight to your breakpoint.
Profit!!
messi19's answer should be the accepted one IMHO, since it is simpler than mine and does the job most of the time, but if you're like me and have a table variable inside a loop that you want to inspect, this does the job nicely without too much effort or external SSMS plugins.

How do I supply the FROM clause of a SELECT statement from a UDF parameter

In the application I'm working on porting to the web, we currently dynamically access different tables at runtime from run to run, based on a "template" string that is specified. I would like to move the burden of doing that back to the database now that we are moving to SQL server, so I don't have to mess with a dynamic GridView. I thought of writing a Table-valued UDF with a parameter for the table name and one for the query WHERE clause.
I entered the following for my UDF but obviously it doesn't work. Is there any way to take a varchar or string of some kind and get a table reference that can work in the FROM clause?
CREATE FUNCTION TemplateSelector
(
#template varchar(40),
#code varchar(80)
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
(
SELECT * FROM #template WHERE ProductionCode = #code
)
Or some other way of getting a result set similar in concept to this. Basically all records in the table indicated by the varchar #template with the matching ProductionCode of the #code.
I get the error "Must declare the table variable "#template"", so SQL server probably things I'm trying to select from a table variable.
On Edit: Yeah I don't need to do it in a function, I can run Stored Procs, I've just not written any of them before.
CREATE PROCEDURE TemplateSelector
(
#template varchar(40),
#code varchar(80)
)
AS
EXEC('SELECT * FROM ' + #template + ' WHERE ProductionCode = ' + #code)
This works, though it's not a UDF.
The only way to do this is with the exec command.
Also, you have to move it out to a stored proc instead of a function. Apparently functions can't execute dynamic sql.
The only way that this would be possible is with dynamic SQL, however, dynamic SQL is not supported by SqlServer within a function.
I'm sorry to say that I'm quite sure that it is NOT possible to do this within a function.
If you were working with stored procedures it would be possible.
Also, it should be noted that, be replacing the table name in the query, you've destroyed SQL Server's ability to cache the execution plan for the query. This pretty much reduces the advantage of using a UDF or SP to nil. You might as well just call the SQL query directly.
I have a finite number of tables that I want to be able to address, so I could writing something using IF, that tests #template for matches with a number of values and for each match runs
SELECT * FROM TEMPLATENAME WHERE ProductionCode = #code
It sounds like that is a better option
If you have numerous tables with identical structure, it usually means you haven't designed your database in a normal form. You should unify these into one table. You may need to give this table one more attribute column to distinguish the data sets.