How to pass an array into a SQL Server stored procedure

Question

How to pass an array into a SQL Server stored procedure?

For example, I have a list of employees. I want to use this list as a table and join it with another table.

Answer 1

You need to pass it as an XML parameter.

Edit: quick code from my project to give you an idea:

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[GetArrivalsReport]
    @DateTimeFrom AS DATETIME,
    @DateTimeTo AS DATETIME,
    @HostIds AS XML(xsdArrayOfULong)
AS
BEGIN
    DECLARE @hosts TABLE (HostId BIGINT)

    INSERT INTO @hosts
        SELECT arrayOfUlong.HostId.value('.','bigint') data
        FROM @HostIds.nodes('/arrayOfUlong/u') as arrayOfUlong(HostId)

Then you can use the temp table to join with your tables. We defined arrayOfUlong as a built in XML schema to maintain data integrity, but you don't have to do that. I'd recommend using it so here's a quick code for to make sure you always get an XML with longs.

IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.xml_schema_collections WHERE name = 'xsdArrayOfULong')
BEGIN
    CREATE XML SCHEMA COLLECTION [dbo].[xsdArrayOfULong]
    AS N'
    
        
            
                
            
        
    
';
END
GO