Why does SQL Server thinks a Temp Table already exists when it doesn't?

Question

Background: There\'s a stored procedure which does \"stuff\" with a temp table of a given name. The procedure is generic in that it inspects the schema of the temp table and

Answer 1

Instead of #test, use a fully qualified name. For example,

[tempdb].[dbo].[temptable]

I learned this little trick here Insert result of executing dynamic query into a table .

Intellisense will complain but you will still be able to create or alter the stored procedure.

When done with it, be sure to drop it:

DROP TABLE [tempdb].[dbo].[temptable]

Answer 2

It's a limitation. Dynamic SQL won't work either since #tmp will be created in a new session and immediately lost. For the EXACT snippet as shown, this does the same

CREATE TABLE #test
(
    a BIGINT NOT NULL,
    b BIGINT NOT NULL
)

IF not (1=1)
    ALTER TABLE #test ADD c BIGINT NOT NULL   

There cannot be two CREATE .. #name within the same batch, but this will also work in general form

IF (1=1)
BEGIN
    CREATE TABLE #test
    (
        a BIGINT NOT NULL,
        b BIGINT NOT NULL
    );
END 
GO

IF NOT (1=1)
BEGIN
    CREATE TABLE #test
    (
        a BIGINT NOT NULL,
        b BIGINT NOT NULL,
        c BIGINT NOT NULL   
    )
END

Answer 3

since i dont have sql 2008, i cannot test it. however as far as i know, this is a parser issue explicitly with temp tables. the same would work fine with normal tables

to sort this out, just split your code with logical GO statements

ideally: check for existence of temp tables before you create your temp tables, drop them if they exist, fire a go, do the creation of temp tables again, fire a go, then any post processing, fire a go, finally drop them again and fire the last go

---

you might also want to try and use the table variable instead of temp tables if above does not solve it for you

Answer 4

You could always "cheat":

DECLARE @SQL VARCHAR(200)

IF (1=1)
BEGIN
    SET @SQL = 'CREATE TABLE #Temp     ' +
               '(                      ' +
               '    a BIGINT NOT NULL, ' +
               '    b BIGINT NOT NULL  ' +
               ')                      '
END
ELSE
BEGIN
    SET @SQL = 'CREATE TABLE #Temp     ' +
               '(                      ' +
               '    a BIGINT NOT NULL, ' +
               '    b BIGINT NOT NULL, ' +
               '    c BIGINT NOT NULL  ' +
               ')                      '
END

EXEC SP_EXECUTESQL @SQL