MS SQL: Suppress return value of stored procedure called in stored procedure

Question

I think I have the same problem as kcrumley describes in the question \"Problem calling stored procedure from another stored procedure via classic ASP\". However his questio

Answer 1

Those are not return variables, but output record sets. I guess that as soon as SQL server flushes output to client, you're screwed and can't take it back.

I would solve this by adding a parameter to SP return_1, that would control if return_1 would select records or just do stuff and silently exit.

Answer 2

As Matt points out in his comment, neither solution really 'swallow' the first resultset. I don't know why you'd want this but you can 'swallow' the result of the first exec by using a table variable. It must match the exact amount and type of the result set's columns. Like so:

CREATE PROCEDURE return_1 AS 
    SET NOCOUNT ON;
    SELECT 1
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE call_return_1_and_return_2 AS 
    SET NOCOUNT ON;
    DECLARE @Result TABLE (res int)
    insert into @Result EXEC return_1
    SELECT 2
GO

Answer 3

Its not the NOCOUNT thats causing this, your stored procedures have a select each so each one is coming in its own result set. This could be avoided by changing your first stored procedure to use output parameters to pass the number 1 back rather than doing a select. The second stored procedure could then examine the output parameter to get the data it needs to run.

Try something like this

CREATE PROCEDURE Proc1
(
    @RetVal INT OUTPUT
)
AS
SET NOCOUNT ON
SET @RetVal = 1

CREATE PROCEDURE Proc2
AS
SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE @RetVal int
EXEC    [dbo].[Proc1]
        @RetVal = @RetVal OUTPUT
SELECT  @RetVal as N'@RetVal'