Question

I am having difficulty establishing the correct syntax for calling a stored procedure within a stored procedure. I thought this syntax was correct:

SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[newProc](
    @param1 varchar(50),
    @param2 nvarchar(2000),
    @param3 int,
    @param4 int,
    @param5 int,
    @param6 int
)
AS
BEGIN
    SET NOCOUNT ON;

    EXEC [dbo].[externProc1] @param1, @param2;
    GO

    EXEC [dbo].[externProc2] @param3, @param4;
    GO

    EXEC [dbo].[insertProc3] @param5, @param6;
    GO

END
GO

But when I try this, I keep getting
“Incorrect syntax near ‘;’ Must declare the scalar variable @param3.
Must declare the scalar variable @param5.”

What is the correct syntax for calling a stored procedure with parameters from within another stored procedure?

Answer 1

The GO keyword in T-SQL states that a block of t-sql statements ends and executes that block. This means that a variable defined in one block is not longer “in scope” for a statement occurring after that block has been ended/executed with GO.

GO is not actually a transact sql statement:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188037(v=sql.105).aspx

Users must follow the rules for batches. For example, any execution of
a stored procedure after the first statement in a batch must include
the EXECUTE keyword. The scope of local (user-defined) variables is
limited to a batch, and cannot be referenced after a GO command.