How to pass a comma separated list to a stored procedure?

Question

So I have a Sybase stored proc that takes 1 parameter that\'s a comma separated list of strings and runs a query with in in an IN() clause:

CREATE PROCEDURE          


        

Answer 1

Not sure if it's in ASE, but in SQL Anywhere, the sa_split_list function returns a table from a CSV. It has optional arguments to pass a different delimiter (default is a comma) and a maxlength for each returned value.

sa_split_list function

Answer 2

This works in SQL. Declare in your GetSomething procedure a variable of type XML as such:

DECLARE @NameArray XML = NULL

The body of the stored procedure implements the following:

SELECT * FROM MyTbl WHERE name IN (SELECT ParamValues.ID.value('.','VARCHAR(10)')
FROM @NameArray.nodes('id') AS ParamValues(ID))

From within the SQL code that calls the SP to declare and initialize the XML variable before calling the stored procedure:

DECLARE @NameArray XML

SET @NameArray = '<id><</id>id>Name_1<<id>/id></id><id><</id>id>Name_2<<id>/id></id><id><</id>id>Name_3<<id>/id></id><id><</id>id>Name_4<<id>/id></id>'

Using your example the call to the stored procedure would be:

EXEC GetSomething @NameArray

I have used this method before and it works fine. If you want a quick test, copy and paste the following code to a new query and execute:

DECLARE @IdArray XML

SET @IdArray = '<id><</id>id>Name_1<<id>/id></id><id><</id>id>Name_2<<id>/id></id><id><</id>id>Name_3<<id>/id></id><id><</id>id>Name_4<<id>/id></id>'

SELECT ParamValues.ID.value('.','VARCHAR(10)')
FROM @IdArray.nodes('id') AS ParamValues(ID)

Answer 3

Pass the comma separated list into a function that returns a table value. There is a MS SQL example somewhere on StackOverflow, damned if I can see it at the moment.

CREATE PROCEDURE getSomething @keyList varchar(4096)
AS
SELECT * FROM mytbl WHERE name IN (fn_GetKeyList(@keyList))

Call with -

exec getSomething 'John,Tom,Foo,Bar'

I'm guessing Sybase should be able to do something similar?

Answer 4

If you're using Sybase 12.5 or earlier then you can't use functions. A workaround might be to populate a temporary table with the values and read them from there.

Answer 5

Try this way. Its works for me.

@itemIds varchar(max)

CREATE PROCEDURE getSomething @keyList varchar(4096)
AS
SELECT * FROM mytbl WHERE name IN (SELECT Value FROM [Global_Split] (@itemIds,','))

Answer 6

Do you need to use a comma separated list? The last couple of years, I've been taking this type of idea and passing in an XML file. The openxml "function" takes a string and makes it like xml and then if you create a temp table with the data, it is queryable.

DECLARE @idoc int
DECLARE @doc varchar(1000)
SET @doc ='
<ROOT>
<Customer CustomerID="VINET" ContactName="Paul Henriot">
   <Order CustomerID="VINET" EmployeeID="5" OrderDate="1996-07-04T00:00:00">
      <OrderDetail OrderID="10248" ProductID="11" Quantity="12"/>
      <OrderDetail OrderID="10248" ProductID="42" Quantity="10"/>
   </Order>
</Customer>
<Customer CustomerID="LILAS" ContactName="Carlos Gonzlez">
   <Order CustomerID="LILAS" EmployeeID="3" OrderDate="1996-08-16T00:00:00">
      <OrderDetail OrderID="10283" ProductID="72" Quantity="3"/>
   </Order>
</Customer>
</ROOT>'
--Create an internal representation of the XML document.
EXEC sp_xml_preparedocument @idoc OUTPUT, @doc
-- Execute a SELECT statement that uses the OPENXML rowset provider.
SELECT    *
FROM       OPENXML (@idoc, '/ROOT/Customer',1)
            WITH (CustomerID  varchar(10),
                  ContactName varchar(20))