SQL: Try/Catch doesn't catch an error when attempting to access a table that it can't find

Question

I\'ve created a stored procedure that runs a number of commands to modify data. I only want to commit the transaction if everything succeeds. I\'m doing this by using a try-

Answer 1

EXECUTE ('SELECT * FROM NonexistentTable');

Answer 2

At the start of your script use SET XACT_ABORT

SET XACT_ABORT ON

When SET XACT_ABORT is ON, if a Transact-SQL statement raises a run-time error, the entire transaction is terminated and rolled back.

I don't think that's going to be possible:

The following types of errors are not handled by a CATCH block when they occur at the same level of execution as the TRY…CATCH construct:

• Compile errors, such as syntax errors, that prevent a batch from running.

• Errors that occur during statement-level recompilation, such as object name resolution errors that occur after compilation because of deferred name resolution.

Ref.

The following example shows how an object name resolution error generated by a SELECT statement is not caught by the TRY…CATCH construct, but is caught by the CATCH block when the same SELECT statement is executed inside a stored procedure.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO

BEGIN TRY
    -- Table does not exist; object name resolution
    -- error not caught.
    SELECT * FROM NonexistentTable;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
    SELECT 
        ERROR_NUMBER() AS ErrorNumber
        ,ERROR_MESSAGE() AS ErrorMessage;
END CATCH

The error is not caught and control passes out of the TRY…CATCH construct to the next higher level.