Lets suppose I have a DB. Lets call this database Utils. In Utils I have 2 functions. Okay lets say I am currently working in db MyDatabase. I need to calculate some fields in a table. This is how I currently do it: My select statement looks like the following
SELECT *,
column1= UTILS.dbo.Function1(ID)
column2 =UTILS.dbo.Function1(Name
column3 =UTILS.dbo.Function1(Address)
INTO ##temp_table1
FROM MyDatabase.dbo.Customers
SELECT *,
column1= UTILS.dbo.Function2(ID)
column2 =UTILS.dbo.Function2(Name
column3 =UTILS.dbo.Function2(Address)
INTO ##temp_table2
FROM MyDatabase.dbo.Customers
The problem with this is that I don't just have 3 columns to be calcualted. I have about 100. So I really don't want to repeat the select statement twice because if a change comes along then I have to change it in two places which is error prone, makes my script very long and hard to read and other issues.
My solution
USE Utils; GO;
DECLARE #strSQL VARCHAR(MAX)
SET #strSQL = '
SELECT *,
column1= UTILS.dbo.temp_function(ID)
column2 =UTILS.dbo.temp_function(Name
column3 =UTILS.dbo.temp_function(Address) '
exec sp_rename 'UTILS.dbo.Function1' ,'temp_function'
exec (#strSQL + 'into temp_table1 FROM Customers')
exec sp_rename 'temp_function' ,'UTILS.dbo.Function1'
exec sp_rename 'UTILS.dbo.Function2' ,'temp_function'
exec (#strSQL + 'into temp_table2 FROM Customers')
exec sp_rename 'temp_function' ,'UTILS.dbo.Function2'
But I dont like this solution since i Have to change databases to use sp_rename. It also gives me caution. And MSDN advises against it.
What is a good way to overcome this problem?
You can easily avoid using sp_rename by changing your solution as follows:
USE Utils; GO;
DECLARE #strBaseSQL VARCHAR(MAX)
,#strSQL VARCHAR(MAX)
SET #strBaseSQL = '
SELECT *,
column1= UTILS.dbo.temp_function(ID)
column2 =UTILS.dbo.temp_function(Name
column3 =UTILS.dbo.temp_function(Address) '
SELECT #strSQL = REPLACE(#strBaseSQL, 'UTILS.dbo.temp_function', 'UTILS.dbo.function1')
EXEC (#strSQL + 'into temp_table1 FROM Customers')
SELECT #strSQL = REPLACE(#strBaseSQL, 'UTILS.dbo.temp_function', 'UTILS.dbo.function2')
EXEC (#strSQL + 'into temp_table2 FROM Customers')
Related
Using SQL Server 2008 for Transnational replication.
Some times my team folks altering the table during development before removing the table from subscription in the replication. So it leads to replication failure in the environment. To avoid that, planned to write a DDL trigger which will remove the table from subscription when it is getting altered.
Below is the trigger i have written to achieve the same.
CREATE TRIGGER RemoveArticleFromRepliction ON DATABASE
FOR DROP_TABLE
, ALTER_TABLE AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DECLARE #EventData XML = EVENTDATA();
DECLARE #TableName VARCHAR(255) = #EventData.value('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/ObjectName)[1]', 'NVARCHAR(255)')
DECLARE #CMD VARCHAR(255) = 'IF EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM SYS.TABLES WHERE NAME = ''' + #TableName + ''') EXEC sp_mck_DropSubscriptionArticle ''' + #TableName + ''''
EXEC #CMD
END
The trigger applied successfully in SQL server 2008.
Note: sp_mck_DropSubscriptionArticle is a custom procedure. the logic to remove the article from subscription is added in it.
When i execute the alter statement, i am getting the below error
Could not find stored procedure 'IF EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM SYS.TABLES WHERE NAME = 'NOTE') EXEC sp_mck_DropSubscriptionArticle 'NOTE''.
Please help me resolve this issue or suggest me any other approach to fix this problem
Looks like you are missing the brackets after EXEC. Please try the below changed code
CREATE TRIGGER RemoveArticleFromRepliction ON DATABASE
FOR DROP_TABLE
, ALTER_TABLE AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DECLARE #EventData XML = EVENTDATA();
DECLARE #TableName VARCHAR(255) = #EventData.value('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/ObjectName)[1]', 'NVARCHAR(255)')
DECLARE #CMD VARCHAR(255) = 'IF EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM SYS.TABLES WHERE NAME = ''' + #TableName + ''') EXEC sp_mck_DropSubscriptionArticle ''' + #TableName + ''''
EXEC (#CMD)
END
I have the following SQL Server stored procedure:
CREATE PROCEDURE ispsDcOhcAgg #TmpTableName NVARCHAR(50), #ListItem NVARCHAR(50)
AS
IF EXISTS (SELECT name
FROM sys.tables
WHERE name = #TmpTableName)
DROP TABLE #TmpTableName; -- This will not work.
GO
This will clearly not work (see the comment in the above snippit). The only (and very ugly) way I have found to get around this problem is to do the following
CREATE PROCEDURE ispsDcOhcAgg #TmpTableName NVARCHAR(50), #ListItem NVARCHAR(50)
AS
DECLARE #SQL NVARCHAR(4000)
SET #SQL = N'IF EXISTS (SELECT name ' +
N'FROM sys.tables ' +
N'WHERE name = N' + N'''' + #TmpTableName + N''') ' +
N'DROP TABLE ' + #TmpTableName + N';'
EXEC sp_executesql #SQL;
GO
which truly stinks and for large stored procedures, it's horrendous!
Is there another way of doing this that I don't know about?
Thanks for your time.
No, if you want to use a table name dynamically like this, you need to use dynamic SQL.
So you should make sure you don't open yourself up to nasty SQL injection risks!
Try something like this:
SET #SQL = 'IF EXISTS (SELECT name ' +
N'FROM sys.tables ' +
N'WHERE name = #TableName) ' +
N'DROP TABLE ' + QUOTENAME(#TmpTableName) + ';'
EXEC sp_executesql #SQL, N'#TableName sysname', #TmpTableName;
No, if you want to determine the table to be dropped at runtime, there is no alternative to dynamic SQL.
There is a slightly less ugly way: you only use dynamic SQL for the command that needs to be dynamic (the DROP command):
DECLARE #SQL NVARCHAR(100)
IF EXISTS (SELECT name
FROM sys.tables
WHERE name = #TmpTableName)
BEGIN
SET #SQL = N'DROP TABLE ' + #TmpTableName + N';'
EXEC sp_executesql #SQL;
END
I am attempting to semi automate creation of my databases
As part of this I want to add extended properties of column descriptions.
When I try to run sp_sqlexec in my script ( or even just Exec(#mystring) I get an error. However, if while debugging, I copy the dynamic sql string from the watch window and then run sp_sqlexec on the copied string in a seperate window I get no errors and the extended properties are added correctly.
The following script demonstrates the problem:
--Create a table to apply column descriptions to
Create table dbo.table1 (id int, name nvarchar(20));
--Create the table that contains our column descriptions
Create table dbo.column_descs_table (schemaname nvarchar(20), tablename nvarchar(20), columnname nvarchar(20), column_description nvarchar(20))
Insert into column_descs_table (schemaname, tablename, columnname, column_description)
values ('dbo', 'table1', 'id', 'the id column'), ('dbo' , 'table1', 'name', 'the name column');
--Dynamic sql string varaible to hold the commands
Declare #dyn_sql nvarchar(max);
Set #dyn_sql = 'N'''; --Set to opening quote
--now create the string containing commands to add column escriptions
SELECT #dyn_sql = #dyn_sql + N' EXEC sp_addextendedproperty ''''Col Desc'''', ''''' + column_description + N''''', ''''SCHEMA'''', ' + schemaname + N', ''''TABLE'''', ' + tablename + N', ''''COLUMN'''', ' + columnname + N' ;'
FROM dbo.column_descs_table
Set #dyn_sql = #dyn_sql + ''''; --add the closing quote
Print #dyn_sql --If I copy the contents of #dyn_sql here and run seperately it works OK
Exec sp_sqlexec #dyn_sql -- this line causes error
The error I get is
Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 1
Incorrect syntax near ' EXEC sp_addextendedproperty 'Col Desc', 'the id column', 'SCHEMA', dbo, 'TABLE', table1, 'COLUMN', id ; EXEC sp_addextendedprope'.
Yet if I step through the code and copy the contents of #dyn_sql then paste this as follows:
Exec sp_sqlexec N' EXEC sp_addextendedproperty ''Col Desc'', ''the id column'', ''SCHEMA'', dbo, ''TABLE'', table1, ''COLUMN'', id ; EXEC sp_addextendedproperty ''Col Desc'', ''the name column'', ''SCHEMA'', dbo, ''TABLE'', table1, ''COLUMN'', name ;'
Then the above works fine and the column descriptions are added as expected.
Any help on this specific copying problem is much appreciated. I do understand the security issues with dynamic sql ( this script will be removed from the database once my setup is complete)
Thanks in advance
Jude
It looks like it's because your leading N is included within the string to execute; you don't need it at all. In other words, you are ending up with something like this:
exec sp_execsql 'N'' exec sp_addextendedproperty /* etc. */ '''
But it should be like this:
exec sp_execsql N'exec sp_addextendedproperty /* etc. */ '
But why are you even using dynamic SQL here? All values passed to sp_addextendedproperty can be passed as parameters so there is no obvious reason to use dynamic SQL, unless you've simplified something for the question.
Finally, you should be using sp_executesql, it's the preferred way to execute dynamic SQL.
I believe that I have resolved my string copying problem. SQL was detecting double quotes in by concatenated string as empty strings and removing them. A simple example showing the problem and my solution is below:
--Example to Select 'simple string' and then 'concat string' into results sets
DECLARE
#Simplestring nvarchar( max ) = '' ,
#Concatstring nvarchar( max ) = '' ,
#Stringvar nvarchar( 10 ) = 'string';
--The double quotes in next line are the quotemark we want plus a quotemark acting
--as an escape character
--#simplestring will be set to 'Select 'simple string' '
SET #Simplestring = 'Select ''simple string'' ';
--Similarly we need #concatstring to be set to 'Select 'Concat string' '
SET #Concatstring = 'Select '' concat' + #Stringvar + ''; -- this wont work the last
--double quote will be removed
--Add a character that cannot appear in any othe part of the concatenation - I've used *
SET #Concatstring = 'Select '' Concat ' + #Stringvar + '*';
--Now replace the * with a quote mark
SET #Concatstring = REPLACE( #Concatstring , '*' , '''' ); -- This will work
EXEC sp_executesql #Simplestring;
EXEC sp_executesql #Concatstring;
There may be a simpler solution than mine.
Many thanks for the advice on using sp_executesql. I am working on changing my code to use this ( with variables passed in as parametrs).
Jude
I have a TSQL sproc that builds a query as and executes it as follows:
EXEC (#sqlTop + #sqlBody + #sqlBottom)
#sqlTop contains something like SELECT TOP(x) col1, col2, col3...
TOP(x) will limit the rows returned, so later I want to know what the actual number of rows in the table is that match the query.
I then replace #sqlTop with something like:
EXEC ('SELECT #ActualNumberOfResults = COUNT(*) ' + #sqlBody)
I can see why this is not working, and why a value not declared error occurs, but I think it adequately describes what I'm trying to accomplish.
Any ideas?
use sp_executesql and an output parameter
example
DECLARE #sqlBody VARCHAR(500),#TableCount INT, #SQL NVARCHAR(1000)
SELECT #sqlBody = 'from sysobjects'
SELECT #SQL = N'SELECT #TableCount = COUNT(*) ' + #sqlBody
EXEC sp_executesql #SQL, N'#TableCount INT OUTPUT', #TableCount OUTPUT
SELECT #TableCount
GO
You could instead have the dynamic query return the result as a row set, which you would then insert into a table variable (could be a temporary or ordinary table as well) using the INSERT ... EXEC syntax. Afterwards you can just read the saved value into a variable using SELECT #var = ...:
DECLARE #rowcount TABLE (Value int);
INSERT INTO #rowcount
EXEC('SELECT COUNT(*) ' + #sqlBody);
SELECT #ActualNumberOfResults = Value FROM #rowcount;
Late in the day, but I found this method much simpler:
-- test setup
DECLARE #sqlBody nvarchar(max) = N'SELECT MyField FROM dbo.MyTable WHERE MyOtherField = ''x''';
DECLARE #ActualNumberOfResults int;
-- the goods
EXEC sp_executesql #sqlBody;
SET #ActualNumberOfResults = ##ROWCOUNT;
SELECT #ActualNumberOfResults;
After executing your actual query store the result of ##ROWCOUNT in any variable which you can use later.
EXEC sp_executesql 'SELECT TOP 10 FROM ABX'
SET #TotRecord = ##ROWCOUNT into your variable for later use.
Keep in mind that dynamic SQL has its own scope. Any variable declared/modified there will go out of scope after your EXEC or your sp_executesql.
Suggest writing to a temp table, which will be in scope to your dynamic SQL statement, and outside.
Perhaps put it in your sqlBottom:
CREATE TABLE ##tempCounter(MyNum int);
EXEC('SELECT #ActualNumberOfResults = COUNT(*) ' + #sqlBody +
'; INSERT INTO ##tempCounter(MyNum) VALUES(#ActualNumberOfResults);');
SELECT MyNum FROM ##tempCounter;
You can use output variable in SP_EXECUTESQL
DECLARE #SQL NVARCHAR(MAX);
DECLARE #ParamDefinition NVARCHAR(100) = '#ROW_SQL INT OUTPUT'
DECLARE #AFFECTED_ROWS INT;
SELECT
#SQL = N'SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 2'
SELECT #SQL += 'SELECT #ROW_SQL = ##ROWCOUNT;';
EXEC SP_EXECUTESQL #SQL, #ParamDefinition, #ROW_SQL=#AFFECTED_ROWS OUTPUT;
PRINT 'Number of affected rows: ' + CAST(#AFFECTED_ROWS AS VARCHAR(20));
Ouput:
SQL2.sql: Number of affected rows: 2
Thanks Jesus Fernandez!
The only problem with the answers that create temporary tables (either using "DECLARE #rowcount TABLE" or "CREATE TABLE ##tempCounter(MyNum int)") is that you're having to read all the affected records off disk into memory. If you're expecting a large number of records this may take some time.
So if the answer is likely to be large the "use sp_executesql and an output parameter" solution is a more efficient answer. And it does appear to work.
I have a number of stored procedures structured similarly to this:
DECLARE #sql NVARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE #mdx NVARCHAR(MAX)
CREATE table #result
(
[col1] NVARCHAR(50),
[col2] INT,
[col3] INT
)
SET #mdx = '{some dynamic MDX}'
SET #sql = 'SELECT a.* FROM OpenQuery(LinkedAnalysisServer, ''' + #mdx + ''') AS a'
INSERT INTO #result
EXEC sp_executesql #sql
SELECT * FROM #result
This works quite well when results exist in the cube. However, when the OpenQuery results are empty, the INSERT fails with this error:
Column name or number of supplied
values does not match table
definition.
My question is, what is the best way to handle this scenario? I'm using the results in a static report file (.rdlc), so the explicit typing of the temp table is (I'm pretty sure) required.
Use TRY/CATCH in your stored procedure, you'll notice there is a specific error number for your problem, so check the error number and if it is that, return an empty result set. As you already have the table defined that'll be easier.
PseudoCode looks something like this:
SET #mdx = '{some dynamic MDX}'
SET #sql = 'SELECT a.* FROM OpenQuery(LinkedAnalysisServer, ''' + #mdx + ''') AS a'
BEGIN TRY
INSERT INTO #result
EXEC sp_executesql #sql
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
IF ERROR_NUMBER <> 'The error number you are seeing'
BEGIN
RAISERROR('Something happened that was not an empty result set')
END
END CATCH
SELECT * FROM #result
You'll want to check for that particular error, so that you don't just return empty result sets if your SSAS server crashes for example.
There is another solution to this issue, similar to the accepted answer, which involves using an IF statement instead of TRY...CATCH.
http://www.triballabs.net/2011/11/overcoming-openquery-mdx-challenges/
IF (SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM OPENQUERY("SSAS1",
'SELECT [Measures].[Target Places] ON COLUMNS
FROM [ebs4BI_FactEnrolment]
WHERE [DimFundingYear].[Funding Year].&[17]')) > 0
EXEC sp_executesql N'SELECT CONVERT(varchar(20),
"[DimPAPSCourse].[Prog Area].[Prog Area].[MEMBER_CAPTION]")
as ProgArea,
convert(float, "[Measures].[Target Places]") as Target
FROM OPENQUERY("SSAS1",
''SELECT [Measures].[Target Places] ON COLUMNS,
[DimPAPSCourse].[Prog Area].[Prog Area] ON ROWS
FROM [ebs4BI_FactEnrolment]
WHERE [DimFundingYear].[Funding Year].&[17]'')'
ELSE
SELECT '' as ProgArea, 0 as Target
WHERE 1=0