Run a stored procedure using select columns as input parameters? - tsql

Question

I have a select query that returns a dataset with "n" records in one column. I would like to use this column as the parameter in a stored procedure. Below a reduced example of my case.
The query:
SELECT code FROM rawproducts
The dataset:
CODE
1
2
3
The stored procedure:
ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[MyInsertSP]
(#code INT)
AS
BEGIN
INSERT INTO PRODUCTS description, price, stock
SELECT description, price, stock
FROM INVENTORY I
WHERE I.icode = #code
END
I already have the actual query and stored procedure done; I just am not sure how to put them both together.
I would appreciate any assistance here! Thank you!
PS: of course the stored procedure is not as simple as above. I just choose to use a very silly example to keep things small here. :)

Answer 1

Here's two methods for you, one using a loop without a cursor:
DECLARE #code_list TABLE (code INT);
INSERT INTO #code_list SELECT code, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY code) AS row_id FROM rawproducts;
DECLARE #count INT;
SELECT #count = COUNT(*) FROM #code_list;
WHILE #count > 0
BEGIN
DECLARE #code INT;
SELECT #code = code FROM #code_list WHERE row_id = #count;
EXEC MyInsertSP #code;
DELETE FROM #code_list WHERE row_id = #count;
SELECT #count = COUNT(*) FROM #code_list;
END;
This works by putting the codes into a table variable, and assigning a number from 1..n to each row. Then we loop through them, one at a time, deleting them as they are processed, until there is nothing left in the table variable.
But here's what I would consider a better method:
CREATE TYPE dbo.code_list AS TABLE (code INT);
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE MyInsertSP (
#code_list dbo.code_list)
AS
BEGIN
INSERT INTO PRODUCTS (
[description],
price,
stock)
SELECT
i.[description],
i.price,
i.stock
FROM
INVENTORY i
INNER JOIN #code_list cl ON cl.code = i.code;
END;
GO
DECLARE #code_list dbo.code_list;
INSERT INTO #code_list SELECT code FROM rawproducts;
EXEC MyInsertSP #code_list = #code_list;
To get this to work I create a user-defined table type, then use this to pass a list of codes into the stored procedure. It means slightly rewriting your stored procedure, but the actual code to do the work is much smaller.

Answer 2

(how to) Run a stored procedure using select columns as input
parameters?
What you are looking for is APPLY; APPLY is how you use columns as input parameters. The only thing unclear is how/where the input column is populated. Let's start with sample data:
IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.Products', 'U') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE dbo.Products;
IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.Inventory','U') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE dbo.Inventory;
IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.Code','U') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE dbo.Code;
CREATE TABLE dbo.Products
(
[description] VARCHAR(1000) NULL,
price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL,
stock INT NOT NULL
);
CREATE TABLE dbo.Inventory
(
icode INT NOT NULL,
[description] VARCHAR(1000) NULL,
price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL,
stock INT NOT NULL
);
CREATE TABLE dbo.Code(icode INT NOT NULL);
INSERT dbo.Inventory
VALUES (10,'',20.10,3),(11,'',40.10,3),(11,'',25.23,3),(11,'',55.23,3),(12,'',50.23,3),
(15,'',33.10,3),(15,'',19.16,5),(18,'',75.00,3),(21,'',88.00,3),(21,'',100.99,3);
CREATE CLUSTERED INDEX uq_inventory ON dbo.Inventory(icode);
The function:
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.fnInventory(#code INT)
RETURNS TABLE AS RETURN
SELECT i.[description], i.price, i.stock
FROM dbo.Inventory I
WHERE I.icode = #code;
USE:
DECLARE #code TABLE (icode INT);
INSERT #code VALUES (10),(11);
SELECT f.[description], f.price, f.stock
FROM #code AS c
CROSS APPLY dbo.fnInventory(c.icode) AS f;
Results:
description price stock
-------------- -------- -----------
20.10 3
40.10 3
Updated Proc (note my comments):
ALTER PROC dbo.MyInsertSP -- (1) Lose the input param
AS
-- (2) Code that populates the "code" table
INSERT dbo.Code VALUES (10),(11);
-- (3) Use CROSS APPLY to pass the values from dbo.code to your function
INSERT dbo.Products ([description], price, stock)
SELECT f.[description], f.price, f.stock
FROM dbo.code AS c
CROSS APPLY dbo.fnInventory(c.icode) AS f;
This ^^^ is how it's done.