Question

I have the following code below:

BEGIN TRY 

    BEGIN TRANSACTION
       -- DO SOMETHIING

    COMMIT TRAN

END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
   IF(@@TRANCOUNT > 0)
     ROLLBACK TRANSACTION

   RAISERROR(ERROR_MESSAGE(), ERROR_SEVERITY(), ERROR_STATE()) --ERROR: Incorrect syntax near 'ERROR_MESSAGE'.

END CATCH

However, the RAISERROR statement isn’t working. What is wrong in the raise error statement?

Answer 1

RAISERROR follows the same rules as any other stored procedure call. Parameters passed in must be a constant or a variable. You cannot pass a function directly as a parameter. See Executing Stored Procedures for documentation on this.

/* Demo Code - Functions accept functions as parameters
               while stored procedures do not              */

create function dbo.fnDayOfWeek 
    (@date datetime) 
    returns int
as
begin
    declare @x int
    set @x = DATEPART(day,@date)
    return (@x)
end
go

/* Both statements are successful */
select dbo.fnDayOfWeek('2010-08-06')
go
select dbo.fnDayOfWeek(GETDATE())
go

drop function dbo.fnDayOfWeek
go

create procedure DayOfWeek
    @date datetime
as
begin
    select DATEPART(day,@date)
end
go

/* First call succeeds, second fails */
exec DayOfWeek @date = '2010-08-06'
go
exec DayOfWeek @date = getdate()
go

drop procedure DayOfWeek
go