In this article, I will explain the introduction of Table-Valued Parameter. When we have to pass multiple rows of data from SQL Server the developers either have options either to send one row at a time or come up with other workarounds to meet requirements like using XML data type to pass data which is a bit complex and tedious to use. Also there is a SQLBulkCopy object available in .Net to send multiple rows of data to SQL Server at once, but the data still cannot be passed to a stored procedure.
Table-Valued Parameters:
SQL Server 2008 Provides a New Feature Called Table-Valued Parameters; it provides us to easily pass a table to a stored procedure from T-SQL code or from an application as a parameter.
To perform this task, first of all we need to create a user defined type, Database Node -> Programmability -> Types- > User-Defined Table Types. Script to create a User-Defined Table type
--Create User-defined Table Type
CREATE TYPE dbo.MessageQueue AS TABLE
(
id int PRIMARY KEY,
MessageType varchar(20) NOT NULL,
MessageContent varchar(1000) NOT NULL,
PushDate datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT GETDATE()
)
GO
--Using the User-Defined Table Type
DECLARE @MyMessageQueue MessageQueue
INSERT INTO @MyMessageQueue(id ,MessageType,MessageContent,PushDate)
VALUES (1,'SMS','Hello World','2009-09-30 10:00:00'),
(2,'SMS','Hello World','2009-09-30 10:00:00'),
(3,'MMS','Happy Diwali','2009-10-17 10:00:00')
-- Select the inserted records using new type
SELECT * FROM @MyMessageQueue
The benefit of User-Defined Table Type is that it can be passed to a stored procedure. Below is an example of using the newly created type with stored procedure
Using the user defined table type in Stored Procedure:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[MyMessageTable]
(
id [int] PRIMARY KEY,
MessageType varchar(20) NULL,
MessageContent varchar(1000) NOT NULL,
PushDate datetime NULL,
EngineID int NOT NULL
)
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE usp_InsertMessages
@MyParameter MessageQueue READONLY,
@EngineId varchar(20)
AS
INSERT INTO MyMessageTable(id,MessageType,MessageContent,PushDate,EngineID)
SELECT id,MessageType,MessageContent,PushDate,@EngineId
FROM @MyParameter
--<where condition if any> for the table valued parameter
GO
--Using the User-Defined Table Type in stored procedure
DECLARE @MyMessageQueue MessageQueue
INSERT INTO @MyMessageQueue(id ,MessageType,MessageContent,PushDate)
VALUES (1,'SMS','Hello World','2009-09-30 10:00:00'),
(2,'SMS','Hello World','2009-09-30 10:00:00'),
(3,'MMS','Happy Diwali','2009-10-17 10:00:00')
EXEC usp_InsertMessages @MyMessageQueue,007
-- Select the records inserted using Stored procedure
SELECT * FROM MyMessageTable
In order to use the user defined data type, user must have execute permission on this type. If user doesn't have executed permission on the same, it can be granted using below statement:
GRANT EXECUTE ON TYPE::dbo.MessageQueue TO <User Name>;
I will be providing the C# code for this article for using this feature in .NET applications.
Leave Comment