T-SQL Throw Exception

Question

I am facing the famous 'Incorrect syntax' while using a THROW statement in a T-SQL stored procedure. I have Googled it and checked the questions on StackOverflow but the solutions proposed (and strangely, accepted) do not work for me.

I am modifying a stored procedure as follows:

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[CONVERT_Q_TO_O]
    @Q_ID int = NULL,
    @IDENTITY INT = NULL OUTPUT
AS
BEGIN
    SET NOCOUNT ON;

    DECLARE @EXISTING_RECORD_COUNT [int];

    SELECT
        @EXISTING_RECORD_COUNT = COUNT (*)
    FROM
        [dbo].[O]
    WHERE
        [Q_ID] = @Q_ID

    IF @EXISTING_RECORD_COUNT = 0
    BEGIN
        -- DO SOME STUFF HERE

        -- RETURN NEW ID
        SELECT @IDENTITY = SCOPE_IDENTITY()
    END
    ELSE
    BEGIN
         THROW 99001, 'O associated with the given Q Id already exists', 1;
    END
END
GO

When I code this T-SQL I get an error saying

Incorrect statement near 'THROW'. Expecting CONVERSATION, DIALOG, DISTRIBUTED, or TRANSACTION

All solutions suggest to put a semi-colon either before 'THROW' or after 'ELSE BEGIN' statements. When I modify the T-SQL I simply get the "Incorrect statement near 'THROW'" error and can't seem to find a solution.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Try with this:

RAISERROR('your message here',16,1)

Answer 2

This continues to occur in SQL Server 2014.

I have found that putting the semi-colon at the end of BEGIN helps.

This approach has the error

IF 'A'='A'
BEGIN
   THROW 51000, 'ERROR', 1;
END;

And this approach does not have the error

IF 'A'='A'
BEGIN;
  THROW 51000, 'ERROR', 1;
END;

Answer 3

To solve your problem,

Incorrect statement near 'THROW'. Expecting CONVERSATION, DIALOG, DISTRIBUTED, or TRANSACTION

put semi-colon before your throw statement:

BEGIN
    ;THROW 99001, 'O associated with the given Q Id already exists', 1;
END

And about the

"Incorrect statement near 'THROW'".

Try to use this in case you're using a older version than SQL 2012:

RAISERROR('O associated with the given Q Id already exists',16,1);

Because THROW is a new feature of SQL 2012.

Answer 4

This error can also occur if you incorrectly code this:

RAISEERROR('your message here',16,1)

I stared at that for four hours, putting semicolons all over the place, before I realized I'd misspelled "RAISERROR"

Answer 5

put ; before THROW keyword and it will work.

Answer 6

As pointed out through many answers, the THROW statement was introduced in SQL Server 2012. So if you are using this version of SQL Server or later, it is recommended to use THROW, else use RAISERROR.

Also, the statement before the THROW statement must be followed by the semicolon (;) statement terminator. That's why you must include a semicolon before the throw.

Look at this article about the Differences Between RAISERROR and THROW in Sql Server

I would also like to encourage you to read the documentation from MSDN THROW (Transact-SQL) which explains these matters at the Remarks section.

Answer 7

I use:

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.THROW_EXCEPTION @Message VARCHAR(MAX), @Code VARCHAR(MAX) = -1 AS BEGIN
    DECLARE @BR VARCHAR(MAX) = CHAR(13) + CHAR(10)
    DECLARE @TAB VARCHAR(MAX) = '   '
    DECLARE @T TABLE (X BIT)
    INSERT INTO @T (X) VALUES (
          @BR + @TAB + 'Error! ' + ISNULL(@Message, '{NULL}')
        + @BR + @TAB + 'Code: ' + ISNULL(@Code, '{NULL}')
        + @BR)
END

Next:

EXEC THROW_EXCEPTION 'Your Message'
-- OR
EXEC THROW_EXCEPTION 'Your Message', 'Error Code'
-- OR
EXEC THROW_EXCEPTION 'Your Message', 123456