Question

I have an SQL Server database table created by deploying the following description in a .dbproj project:

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Tasks]
(
TaskId uniqueidentifier primary key,
State int not null,
)

and I want to insert a row into that table with the following code:

using( SqlTransaction transaction = connection.BeginTransaction() ) {
    using( SqlCommand command = connection.CreateCommand() ) {
        command.CommandText = "INSERT INTO Tasks VALUES( \"" +
            Guid.NewGuid().ToString() + "\", 0)";
        command.Transaction = transaction;
        command.ExecuteNonQuery();
        transaction.Commit();
    }
}

when ExecuteNonQuery() runs an exeption is thrown saying

The name [the string representation of the GUID I passed] is not permitted in this context.

What’s up? I did the same to insert data into an SQLite table previously and it worked. How do I pass a GUID into an SQL INSERT statement?

Answer 1

Use a parameterized query, like so:

command.CommandText = "INSERT INTO Tasks VALUES( @id, 0)";
command.Parameters.Add( "@id", SqlDbType.UniqueIdentifier, 16 ).Value = value;

This way, the database driver formats the value for you. This is a good practice that will also help protect your database from SQL Injection attacks.

Alternatively, you could let the database generate the guid for you:

command.CommandText = "INSERT INTO Tasks VALUES( NEWID(), 0)";