Beginning Microsoft SQL Server 2008 ... - S3 Tech Training

12
Stored Procedures
Ah, the good stuff. If you’re a programmer coming from a procedural language, then this is probably
the part you’ve been waiting for. It’s time to get down to the main variety of code of SQL Server,
but before we get going too far down that road, I need to prepare you for what lies ahead. There’s
probably a lot less than you’re expecting and, at the very same time, a whole lot more. The good
news is that, with SQL Server 2008, you have .NET support — giving us a veritable “oo la la!” of
possibilities.
You see, a stored procedure, sometimes referred to as a sproc (which I usually say as one word, but
I’ve sometimes heard pronounced as “ess-proc”), is really just something of a script — or more
correctly speaking, a batch — that is stored in the database rather than in a separate file. Now this
comparison is not an exact one by any means — sprocs have things, such as input parameters, output
parameters, and return values, that a script doesn’t really have, but the comparison is not that
far off either.
For now, SQL Server’s only “programming” language continues to be T-SQL, and that leaves us
miles short of the kind of procedural horsepower that you expect when you think of a true programming
language. However, T-SQL blows C, C++, Visual Basic, Java, Delphi, or whatever away
when it comes to what T-SQL is supposed to do — work on data definition, manipulation, and
access. But T-SQL’s horsepower stops right about there — at data access and management. In short,
it has an adequate amount of power to get most simple things done, but it’s not always the place
to do it.
For this chapter, we’re not going to worry all that much about T-SQL’s shortcomings — instead,
we’ll focus on how to get the most out of T-SQL, and even toss in a smattering of what .NET can
add to the picture. We’ll take a look at parameters, return values, control of flow, looping structures,
both basic and advanced error trapping, and more. In short, this is a big chapter that deals
with many subjects. All of the major subject areas are broken up into their own sections, so you
can take them one step at a time, but let’s start right out with the basics of getting a sproc created.