Stored Procedures

1. Overview

When you need to store or retrieve data that is accessing and manipulating data within a database is a rather straightforward operation in SQL server database, and so we will go for T-SQL with four simple commands – SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, and UPDATE, and perform all the required tasks. The skill in working with databases lies in being able to not just work with these commands, but also complete each unit of work efficiently.

We will cover the different types of stored procedures used in SQL Server and their usage. We will also examine the working of stored procedures, the potentially tricky areas, and how to avoid them.

To increase performances, every developer should consider a number of factors during development. However, we will focus on running T-SQL from within stored procedures; we will examine what constitutes a stored procedure and discuss different types. We will cover:

•The difference between system stored procedures and user stored procedures •Creating and designing stored procedures •Using parameters and best practices •Flow control statements •Recursion •Return values

2. What is a Stored Procedure?

If a repetitive T-SQL task has to be executed within an application, then the best repository for it is a program called a stored procedure, stored in SQL Server. Storing the code inside the SQL Server object gives us many advantages, like:

•Security due to encryption •Performance gains due to compilation •Being able to hold the code in a central repository: ◦Altering the code in SQL Server without replicating in several different programs ◦Being able to keep statistics on the code to keep it optimized •Reduction in the amount of data passed over a network by keeping the code on the server •Hiding the raw data by allowing only stored procedures to gain access to the data You may have executed some ad-hoc queries for tasks like inserting data, querying information in other systems, or creating new database objects such as tables. All these tasks can be placed within a stored procedure, so that any developer can run the same code without having to recreate the T-SQL commands. Also, generalizing the code for all values makes it generic and reusable.

Stored procedures are more than just tools for performing repetitive tasks. There are two main types of stored procedure – system stored procedures and user-defined stored procedures. We also have extended stored procedures that can reside as either system or user-defined types. Extended stored procedures give functionality that is not necessarily contained within SQL Server, like allowing DOS commands to run and working with e-mail. It is also possible to create your own extended stored procedures.

3.Syntax :-

/*
   DECLARE @OutPutValue VARCHAR(100)
   EXEC spExample 'CodeProject', @OutPutValue OUTPUT
   PRINT @OutPutValue
   */
   CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[spExample]
     @parameter1 VARCHAR(100)
    ,@parameter2 VARCHAR(200) OUTPUT
   AS
   BEGIN
   DECLARE @parameter3 VARCHAR(100)
   SET @parameter3 = ' Your development resources.'
       IF @parameter1 IS NOT NULL AND LEN(@parameter1) > 1
           SELECT @parameter2 = 'The ' 
                      + @parameter1 
                                          + @parameter3
       ELSE SELECT  @parameter2 = 'CodeProject is cool!'
   RETURN
   
   END
   GO