Question

I have tried both the below queries and they perform in same time. But still I have seen RaiseError used in many stored procedures instead of print.

Query 1:

BEGIN
    WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:03.00'

    PRINT 'DELAY 1 HAS ENDED'

    WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:03.00'

    PRINT 'DELAY 2 HAS ENDED'
END

Query 2:

BEGIN
    WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:03.00'

    RAISERROR ('DELAY 1 HAS ENDED', 10,1) WITH NOWAIT

    WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:03.00'

    RAISERROR ('DELAY 2 HAS ENDED', 10,1) WITH NOWAIT

END

Both give the desired output only after 6 seconds (I have checked this in SQL Server 2008 R2)

Answer 1

I have the same server version as you did, and Query 2 prints the first result after 3 seconds (as expected). You have to switch to the Message tab on your own in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio to see the message.