Question

Below is the code for my stored procedure but I am not completely clear with the flow of execution. How the @@RAISERROR() in my case will work and how it will change the normal flow? Also what does the number 10 & 1 mean in that function. There are few other numbers also that can be used instead of 10 & 1 so how all the number affects flow of execution. Please let me know if my coding structure of style is bad/wrong or if there is any scope for improvement.
Below is my code.

CREATE PROCEDURE spAddressMaster 
@Mode           varchar(20),
@Street         varchar(MAX),
@City           varchar(300),
@State          varchar(300),
@Country        varchar(300),
@PostalCode     int,
@Remarks        varchar(MAX),
@Type           varchar(300)
AS
BEGIN
BEGIN TRANSACTION
BEGIN TRY
--INSERT MODE--
IF(@Mode='INSERT')
BEGIN
    INSERT INTO [AddressMST] (
                [Street],
                [City],
                [State],
                [Country],
                [PostalCode],
                [Remarks],
                [Type]
                )
    VALUES (
        @Street,
        @City,
        @State,
        @Country,
        @PostalCode,
        @Remarks,
        @Type
    ) 
IF(@@ERROR<>0)
    RAISERROR('Insert Operation Fail',10,1)
END
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
    IF(@@ERROR<>0)
    BEGIN
        ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
        SELECT ERROR_MESSAGE()
    END 
END CATCH
END
GO

Answer 1

First off, you have a big problem: you have a BEGIN TRANSACTION without any COMMIT. That’s about as wrong as you can get when programming for databases! Use this general structure:

BEGIN TRANSACTION

BEGIN TRY

…do stuff…

COMMIT
END TRY

BEGIN CATCH

…error handling…

ROLLBACK

END CATCH

Next up, when you are executing code within a BEGIN TRY block, if any errors are raised execution is immediately transferrred to the BEGIN CATCH block. This means that the IF(@@ERROR<>0) block will only ever be executed when no errors have occured, i.e. @@ERROR will always be 0.

As for the meaning of the 10 and 1 in the RAISERROR, that is complex, detailed, and best explained in SQL Server books online under the entry “RAISERROR”. Here’s the Link.