Return multiple values from a SQL Server function

Question

How would I return multiple values (say, a number and a string) from a user-defined function in SQL Server?

Answer 1

Example of using a stored procedure with multiple out parameters

As User Mr. Brownstone suggested you can use a stored procedure; to make it easy for all i created a minimalist example. First create a stored procedure:

Create PROCEDURE MultipleOutParameter
    @Input int,
    @Out1 int OUTPUT, 
    @Out2 int OUTPUT 
AS
BEGIN
    Select @Out1 = @Input + 1
    Select @Out2 = @Input + 2   
    Select 'this returns your normal Select-Statement' as Foo
          , 'amazing is it not?' as Bar

    -- Return can be used to get even more (afaik only int) values 
    Return(@Out1+@Out2+@Input)
END 

Calling the stored procedure

To execute the stored procedure a few local variables are needed to receive the value:

DECLARE @GetReturnResult int, @GetOut1 int, @GetOut2 int 
EXEC @GetReturnResult = MultipleOutParameter  
    @Input = 1,
    @Out1 = @GetOut1 OUTPUT,
    @Out2 = @GetOut2 OUTPUT

To see the values content you can do the following

Select @GetReturnResult as ReturnResult, @GetOut1 as Out_1, @GetOut2 as Out_2 

This will be the result: