passing list of name/value pairs to stored procedure - asp.net

Question

I have a name/value pair in a List<T> and needing to find the best way to pass these to a stored procedure.
Id Name
1 abc
2 bbc
3 cnn
....
...
What is the best way to accomplish this?

Answer 1

One way to handle this in SQL Server 2005 (prior to the availability of table valued parameters) was to pass a delimited list and use a Split function. If you are using a two-column array, you would want to use two different delimiters:
Declare #Values varchar(max)
Set #Values = '1,abc|2,bbc|3,cnn'
With SplitItems As
(
Select S.Value As [Key]
, S2.Value
, Row_Number() Over ( Partition By S.Position Order By S2.Position ) As ElementNum
From dbo.Split(#Values,'|') As S
Outer Apply dbo.Split(S.Value, ',') As S2
)
Select [Key]
, Min( Case When S.ElementNum = 1 Then S.Value End ) As ListKey
, Min( Case When S.ElementNum = 2 Then S.Value End ) As ListValue
From SplitItems As S
Group By [Key]
Create Function [dbo].[Split]
(
#DelimitedList nvarchar(max)
, #Delimiter nvarchar(2) = ','
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
(
With CorrectedList As
(
Select Case When Left(#DelimitedList, Len(#Delimiter)) <> #Delimiter Then #Delimiter Else '' End
+ #DelimitedList
+ Case When Right(#DelimitedList, Len(#Delimiter)) <> #Delimiter Then #Delimiter Else '' End
As List
, Len(#Delimiter) As DelimiterLen
)
, Numbers As
(
Select Row_Number() Over ( Order By c1.object_id ) As Value
From sys.columns As c1
Cross Join sys.columns As c2
)
Select CharIndex(#Delimiter, CL.list, N.Value) + CL.DelimiterLen As Position
, Substring (
CL.List
, CharIndex(#Delimiter, CL.list, N.Value) + CL.DelimiterLen
, CharIndex(#Delimiter, CL.list, N.Value + 1)
- ( CharIndex(#Delimiter, CL.list, N.Value) + CL.DelimiterLen )
) As Value
From CorrectedList As CL
Cross Join Numbers As N
Where N.Value < Len(CL.List)
And Substring(CL.List, N.Value, CL.DelimiterLen) = #Delimiter
)
Another way to handle this without table-valued parameters is to pass Xml as an nvarchar(max):
Declare #Values nvarchar(max)
Set #Values = '<root><Item Key="1" Value="abc"/>
<Item Key="2" Value="bbc"/>
<Item Key="3" Value="cnn"/></root>'
Declare #docHandle int
exec sp_xml_preparedocument #docHandle output, #Values
Select *
From OpenXml(#docHandle, N'/root/Item', 1)
With( [Key] int, Value varchar(10) )

Answer 2

Take a look at Arrays and Lists in SQL Server 2008 to get some ideas
SQL Server 2008 also supports this multi row values syntax
create table #bla (id int, somename varchar(50))
insert #bla values(1,'test1'),(2,'Test2')
select * from #bla

Answer 3

i endup using foreach <insert>

Answer 4

This could done through three ways.
User Defined Table Type
Json Object Parsing
XML Parsing
I tried with the first option and passed a list of pairs in User Defined Table Type. This works for me. I am posting here, it might help someone else.
The first challenge for me was to pass the list of key value pair data structure and second to loop through the list and insert the record in a table.
Step 1 : Create a User Defined Table Type. I have created with a name 'TypeMetadata'. As it is custom type, I created two attributes of type nvarchar. You can create one of type integer and second of type nvarchar.
-- Type: metadata ---
IF EXISTS(SELECT * FROM SYS.TYPES WHERE NAME = 'TypeMetadata')
DROP TYPE TypeMetadata
GO
CREATE TYPE TypeMetadata AS TABLE (
mkey nvarchar (50),
mvalue nvarchar (50)
);
GO
Step 2 : Then I created a stored procedure with name 'createfiled'
-- Procedure: createtext --
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[createfield]
#name nvarchar(50),
#text nvarchar(50),
#order int,
#type nvarchar(50),
#column_id int ,
#tid int,
#metadataList TypeMetadata readonly
AS
BEGIN
--loop through metadata and insert records --
DECLARE #mkey nvarchar(max);
DECLARE #mvalue nvarchar(max);
DECLARE mCursor CURSOR LOCAL FAST_FORWARD
FOR
SELECT mkey, mvalue
FROM #metadataList;
OPEN mCursor;
FETCH NEXT FROM mCursor INTO #mkey, #mvalue; -- Initial fetch attempt
WHILE ##FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
INSERT INTO template_field_metadata (name, value, template_field_id, isProperty) values (#mkey, #mvalue, 1, 0)
PRINT 'A new metadata created with id : ' + cast(SCOPE_IDENTITY() as nvarchar);
FETCH NEXT FROM mCursor INTO #mkey, #mvalue; -- Attempt to fetch next row from cursor
END;
CLOSE mCursor;
DEALLOCATE mCursor;
END
GO
Step 3: finally I executed the stored procedure like;
DECLARE #metadataToInsert TypeMetadata;
INSERT INTO #metadataToInsert VALUES ('value', 'callVariable2');
INSERT INTO #metadataToInsert VALUES ('maxlength', '30');
DECLARE #fid INT;
EXEC [dbo].[createfield] #name = 'prefagent', #text = 'Pref Agent', #order = 1 , #type= 'prefagent', #column_id = 0, #tid = 49, #metadataList =#metadataToInsert;