How do I conditionally create a stored procedure in SQL Server?
-
09-06-2019 - |
Question
As part of my integration strategy, I have a few SQL scripts that run in order to update the database. The first thing all of these scripts do is check to see if they need to run, e.g.:
if @version <> @expects
begin
declare @error varchar(100);
set @error = 'Invalid version. Your version is ' + convert(varchar, @version) + '. This script expects version ' + convert(varchar, @expects) + '.';
raiserror(@error, 10, 1);
end
else
begin
...sql statements here...
end
Works great! Except if I need to add a stored procedure. The "create proc" command must be the only command in a batch of sql commands. Putting a "create proc" in my IF statement causes this error:
'CREATE/ALTER PROCEDURE' must be the first statement in a query batch.
Ouch! How do I put the CREATE PROC command in my script, and have it only execute if it needs to?
Solution
Here's what I came up with:
Wrap it in an EXEC(), like so:
if @version <> @expects
begin
...snip...
end
else
begin
exec('CREATE PROC MyProc AS SELECT ''Victory!''');
end
Works like a charm!
OTHER TIPS
SET NOEXEC ON is good way to switch off some part of code
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.assemblies WHERE name = 'SQL_CLR_Functions')
SET NOEXEC ON
GO
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.CLR_CharList_Split(@list nvarchar(MAX), @delim nchar(1) = N',')
RETURNS TABLE (str nvarchar(4000)) AS EXTERNAL NAME SQL_CLR_Functions.[Granite.SQL.CLR.Functions].CLR_CharList_Split
GO
SET NOEXEC OFF
P.S. Another way is SET PARSEONLY { ON | OFF }.
But watch out for single quotes within your Stored Procedure - they need to be "escaped" by adding a second one. The first answer has done this, but just in case you missed it. A trap for young players.
Versioning your database is the way to go, but... Why conditionally create stored procedures. For Views, stored procedures, functions, just conditionally drop them and re-create them every time. If you conditionally create, then you will not clean-up databases that have a problem or a hack that got put in 2 years ago by another developer (you or I would never do this) who was sure he would remember to remove the one time emergency update.
Problem with dropping and creating is you lose any security grants that had previously been applied to the object being dropped.
I must admit, I would normally agree with @Peter - I conditionally drop and then unconditionally recreate every time. I've been caught out too many times in the past when trying to second-guess the schema differences between databases, with or without any form of version control.
Having said that, your own suggestion @Josh is pretty cool. Certainly interesting. :-)
This is an old thread, but Jobo is incorrect: Create Procedure must be the first statement in a batch. Therefore, you can't use Exists
to test for existence and then use either Create
or Alter
. Pity.
My solution is to check if the proc exists, if so then drop it, and then create the proc (same answer as @robsoft but with an example...)
IF EXISTS(SELECT * FROM sysobjects WHERE Name = 'PROC_NAME' AND xtype='P')
BEGIN
DROP PROCEDURE PROC_NAME
END
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE PROC_NAME
@value int
AS
BEGIN
UPDATE SomeTable
SET SomeColumn = 1
WHERE Value = @value
END
GO
use the 'Exists' command in T-SQL to see if the stored proc exists. If it does, use 'Alter', else use 'Create'
IF NOT EXISTS(SELECT * FROM sys.procedures WHERE name = 'pr_MyStoredProc')
BEGIN
CREATE PROCEDURE pr_MyStoredProc AS .....
SET NOCOUNT ON
END
ALTER PROC pr_MyStoredProc
AS
SELECT * FROM tb_MyTable