Numbered Stored Procedures

Numbered stored procedures are a lesser-known feature that allows multiple procedures to share the same name but are distinguished by a numeric suffix. This feature can be useful in certain scenarios, although it is not commonly used in modern database development.

Numbered stored procedures allow you to create a series of procedures that share the same base name, but each is distinguished by a unique integer. For example, you can have procedures named MyProc;1, MyProc;2, and so on. This can be useful for organizing related procedures or implementing certain types of versioning.

Syntax and Usage

The basic syntax for creating numbered stored procedures is:

CREATE PROCEDURE procedure_name;number
AS
BEGIN
    -- SQL statements
END

To execute a numbered stored procedure, you use the following syntax:

EXEC procedure_name;number

Example

Let’s create a series of numbered stored procedures that demonstrate a simple use case.

Create the first procedure in the series:

CREATE PROCEDURE MyProc;1
AS
BEGIN
    SELECT 'This is procedure 1' AS Message;
END

Create the second procedure in the series:

CREATE PROCEDURE MyProc;2
AS
BEGIN
    SELECT 'This is procedure 2' AS Message;
END

Create the third procedure in the series:

CREATE PROCEDURE MyProc;3
AS
BEGIN
    SELECT 'This is procedure 3' AS Message;
END

Executing Numbered Stored Procedures

To execute these procedures, use the following commands:

EXEC MyProc;1
EXEC MyProc;2
EXEC MyProc;3

Each execution will return the message defined in the respective procedure.

Managing Numbered Stored Procedures

To drop a specific numbered stored procedure, use the following syntax:

DROP PROCEDURE procedure_name;number

For example, to drop MyProc;2, you would use:

DROP PROCEDURE MyProc;2

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages:

• Organization: Numbered stored procedures can help organize related procedures under a common base name.
• Versioning: They can be used to manage different versions of a procedure without renaming the base procedure.

Disadvantages:

• Complexity: Numbered stored procedures can add complexity to database management and maintenance.
• Obsolescence: This feature is not widely used or supported in modern SQL Server practices, making it less familiar to many developers and DBAs.

Conclusion

While numbered stored procedures offer a way to organize and manage related SQL procedures, they are not commonly used in contemporary SQL Server development. Understanding this feature can be useful for legacy systems or specific scenarios where such organization is beneficial. However, for most purposes, it is recommended to use more modern techniques for managing stored procedures, such as naming conventions and version control systems.