Modifying Data with Stored Procedures

Stored procedures can accept data as input parameters and can return data as output parameters, result sets, or return values. The sample below illustrates how ADO.NET sends and receives input parameters, output parameters, and return values. The example inserts a new record into a table where the primary key column is an identity column in a SQL Server database.

Note

If you are using SQL Server stored procedures to edit or delete data using a SqlDataAdapter, make sure that you do not use SET NOCOUNT ON in the stored procedure definition. This causes the rows affected count returned to be zero, which the DataAdapter interprets as a concurrency conflict. In this event, a DBConcurrencyException will be thrown.

Example

The sample uses the following stored procedure to insert a new category into the Northwind Categories table. The stored procedure takes the value in the CategoryName column as an input parameter and uses the SCOPE_IDENTITY() function to retrieve the new value of the identity field, CategoryID, and return it in an output parameter. The RETURN statement uses the @@ROWCOUNT function to return the number of rows inserted.

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.InsertCategory  
  @CategoryName nvarchar(15),  
  @Identity int OUT  
AS  
INSERT INTO Categories (CategoryName) VALUES(@CategoryName)  
SET @Identity = SCOPE_IDENTITY()  
RETURN @@ROWCOUNT  

The following code example uses the InsertCategory stored procedure shown above as the source for the InsertCommand of the SqlDataAdapter. The @Identity output parameter will be reflected in the DataSet after the record has been inserted into the database when the Update method of the SqlDataAdapter is called. The code also retrieves the return value.

Note

When using the OleDbDataAdapter, you must specify parameters with a ParameterDirection of ReturnValue before the other parameters.

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;

static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var connectionString = GetConnectionString();
        ReturnIdentity(connectionString);
        // Console.ReadLine();
    }

    static void ReturnIdentity(string connectionString)
    {
        using (SqlConnection connection = new(connectionString))
        {
            // Create a SqlDataAdapter based on a SELECT query.
            SqlDataAdapter adapter = new("SELECT CategoryID, CategoryName FROM dbo.Categories", connection)
            {
                // Create a SqlCommand to execute the stored procedure.
                InsertCommand = new SqlCommand("InsertCategory", connection)
                {
                    CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
                }
            };

            // Create a parameter for the ReturnValue.
            SqlParameter parameter = adapter.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add("@RowCount", SqlDbType.Int);
            parameter.Direction = ParameterDirection.ReturnValue;

            // Create an input parameter for the CategoryName.
            // You do not need to specify direction for input parameters.
            adapter.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add("@CategoryName", SqlDbType.NChar, 15, "CategoryName");

            // Create an output parameter for the new identity value.
            parameter = adapter.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add("@Identity", SqlDbType.Int, 0, "CategoryID");
            parameter.Direction = ParameterDirection.Output;

            // Create a DataTable and fill it.
            DataTable categories = new();
            adapter.Fill(categories);

            // Add a new row.
            DataRow categoryRow = categories.NewRow();
            categoryRow["CategoryName"] = "New Beverages";
            categories.Rows.Add(categoryRow);

            // Update the database.
            adapter.Update(categories);

            // Retrieve the ReturnValue.
            var rowCount = (int)adapter.InsertCommand.Parameters["@RowCount"].Value;

            Console.WriteLine("ReturnValue: {0}", rowCount.ToString());
            Console.WriteLine("All Rows:");
            foreach (DataRow row in categories.Rows)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("  {0}: {1}", row[0], row[1]);
            }
        }
    }

    static string GetConnectionString() =>
        // To avoid storing the connection string in your code,
        // you can retrieve it from a configuration file.
        "Data Source=(local);Initial Catalog=Northwind;Integrated Security=true";
}
Option Explicit On
Option Strict On

Imports System.Data
Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Module Class1

    Sub Main()
        Dim connectionString As String = _
            GetConnectionString()
        ReturnIdentity(connectionString)
        ' Console.ReadLine()
    End Sub


    Private Sub ReturnIdentity(ByVal connectionString As String)
        Using connection As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection( _
           connectionString)

            ' Create a SqlDataAdapter based on a SELECT query.
            Dim adapter As SqlDataAdapter = New SqlDataAdapter( _
               "SELECT CategoryID, CategoryName FROM dbo.Categories", _
               connection)

            ' Create a SqlCommand to execute the stored procedure. 
            adapter.InsertCommand = New SqlCommand("dbo.InsertCategory", _
               connection)
            adapter.InsertCommand.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure

            ' Create a parameter for the ReturnValue.
            Dim parameter As SqlParameter = _
               adapter.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add( _
              "@RowCount", SqlDbType.Int)
            parameter.Direction = ParameterDirection.ReturnValue

            ' Create an input parameter for the CategoryName.
            ' You do not need to specify direction for input parameters.
            adapter.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add( _
              "@CategoryName", SqlDbType.NChar, 15, "CategoryName")

            ' Create an output parameter for the new identity value.
            parameter = adapter.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add( _
              "@Identity", SqlDbType.Int, 0, "CategoryID")
            parameter.Direction = ParameterDirection.Output

            ' Create a DataTable and fill it.
            Dim categories As DataTable = New DataTable
            adapter.Fill(categories)

            ' Add a new row.
            Dim newRow As DataRow = categories.NewRow()
            newRow("CategoryName") = "New Category"
            categories.Rows.Add(newRow)

            ' Update the database.
            adapter.Update(categories)

            ' Retrieve the ReturnValue.
            Dim rowCount As Int32 = _
               CInt(adapter.InsertCommand.Parameters("@RowCount").Value)

            Console.WriteLine("ReturnValue: {0}", rowCount.ToString())
            Console.WriteLine("All Rows:")
            Dim row As DataRow
            For Each row In categories.Rows
                Console.WriteLine("  {0}: {1}", row(0), row(1))
            Next
        End Using
    End Sub

    Private Function GetConnectionString() As String
        ' To avoid storing the connection string in your code,  
        ' you can retrieve it from a configuration file.
        Return "Data Source=(local);Initial Catalog=Northwind;" _
           & "Integrated Security=true;"
    End Function

End Module

See also