Question

I want to create dymamic SQL code to automatically create a table-replication.

I’m stuck on how to make the following code dynamic, so that it’s possible to pass in SQL variables and use them in the code. I help myself at the moment with search and replacing the 'TODO:' parts, which is not very nice… Here is the code:

DECLARE @sql VARCHAR(MAX) SET @sql = ''  SELECT   @sql = @sql +           'exec sp_addarticle @publication = ''TODO:TREP_PUBLICATION_NAME'',@article = N''' +           name +           ''', @source_owner = N''dbo'', @source_object = N''' +           name +           ''', @type = N''logbased'', @description = N'''', @creation_script = N'''', @pre_creation_cmd = N''delete'', @schema_option = 0x0000000000000000, @identityrangemanagementoption = N''none'', @destination_table = N''' +           name +           ''', @destination_owner = N''dbo'', @status = 8, @vertical_partition = N''false'', @ins_cmd = N''SQL'', @del_cmd = N''SQL'', @upd_cmd = N''SQL''' FROM   TODO:PUBLICATION_DB.sys.tables WHERE   type      = 'U'   AND name IN (     SELECT        name     FROM       OPENROWSET('SQLOLEDB', 'TODO:SUBSCRIBER_SERVER';                  'TODO:SUBSCRIBER_LOGIN';                  'TODO:SUBSCRIBER_PASSWORD', 'select * from TODO:SUBSCRIBER_DB.sys.tables where type=''U''')   )   AND name IN (     SELECT       TABLE_NAME     FROM       TODO:PUBLICATION_DB.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS     WHERE       TODO:TABLE_NAME_FILTER   )  EXEC(@Sql) 

One problem is that I need dynamic SQL inside a dynamic SQL block. If somebody could help me to convert this code using variables I would really appreciate that!

Thanks Daniel

Answer 1

Dynamic SQL might not be the answer – but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it easier to automate and ‘parameter-ize’.

In other words, I once managed a huge replication topology where I frequently had to tear down subscribers, and even (occasionally) recreate publications, and so on. Rather than mucking with trying to generate T-SQL that dynamically queried things and did EVERYTHING in one fell-swoop, I create a number of T-SQL Templates (.tql files) that I could then use to populate with a few parameters, and then turn loose.

And if you’re unfamiliar with templates, just check out this video – which will quickly get you up to speed:

http://www.sqlservervideos.com/video/using-sql-server-templates

And here’s an example of the kind of template I was using to add articles – as you’re shooting for:

/* Add Article */   USE [<database,sysname,--Default>] GO  EXEC sp_addarticle     @publication = N'<publicationName,sysname,--Default>',     @article = N'<article_1,sysname,--Default>',     @source_owner = N'dbo',      @source_object = N'<article_1,sysname,--Default>',     @destination_table = N'<article_1,sysname,--Default>',     @type = N'logbased',      @creation_script = null,      @description = null,      @pre_creation_cmd = N'drop',      @schema_option = <bitmask_1,binary(8),0x000000000000CCD3>,     @status = 16,      @vertical_partition = N'false',      @ins_cmd = N'CALL sp_MSins_<article_1,sysname,--Default>',      @del_cmd = N'CALL sp_MSdel_<article_1,sysname,--Default>',      @upd_cmd = N'MCALL sp_MSupd_<article_1,sysname,--Default>',      @filter = null,      @sync_object = null,      @auto_identity_range = N'false' GO  EXEC sp_addarticle     @publication = N'<publicationName,sysname,--Default>',     @article = N'<article_2,sysname,--Default>',     @source_owner = N'dbo',      @source_object = N'<article_2,sysname,--Default>',     @destination_table = N'<article_2,sysname,--Default>',     @type = N'logbased',      @creation_script = null,      @description = null,      @pre_creation_cmd = N'drop',      @schema_option = <bitmask_2,binary(8),0x000000000000CCD3>,     @status = 16,      @vertical_partition = N'false',      @ins_cmd = N'CALL sp_MSins_<article_2,sysname,--Default>',      @del_cmd = N'CALL sp_MSdel_<article_2,sysname,--Default>',      @upd_cmd = N'MCALL sp_MSupd_<article_2,sysname,--Default>',      @filter = null,      @sync_object = null,      @auto_identity_range = N'false' GO  EXEC sp_addarticle     @publication = N'<publicationName,sysname,--Default>',     @article = N'<article_3,sysname,--Default>',     @source_owner = N'dbo',      @source_object = N'<article_3,sysname,--Default>',     @destination_table = N'<article_3,sysname,--Default>',     @type = N'logbased',      @creation_script = null,      @description = null,      @pre_creation_cmd = N'drop',      @schema_option = <bitmask_3,binary(8),0x000000000000CCD3>,     @status = 16,      @vertical_partition = N'false',      @ins_cmd = N'CALL sp_MSins_<article_3,sysname,--Default>',      @del_cmd = N'CALL sp_MSdel_<article_3,sysname,--Default>',      @upd_cmd = N'MCALL sp_MSupd_<article_3,sysname,--Default>',      @filter = null,      @sync_object = null,      @auto_identity_range = N'false' GO  EXEC sp_addarticle     @publication = N'<publicationName,sysname,--Default>',     @article = N'<article_4,sysname,--Default>',     @source_owner = N'dbo',      @source_object = N'<article_4,sysname,--Default>',     @destination_table = N'<article_4,sysname,--Default>',     @type = N'logbased',      @creation_script = null,      @description = null,      @pre_creation_cmd = N'drop',      @schema_option = <bitmask_4,binary(8),0x000000000000CCD3>,     @status = 16,      @vertical_partition = N'false',      @ins_cmd = N'CALL sp_MSins_<article_4,sysname,--Default>',      @del_cmd = N'CALL sp_MSdel_<article_4,sysname,--Default>',      @upd_cmd = N'MCALL sp_MSupd_<article_4,sysname,--Default>',      @filter = null,      @sync_object = null,      @auto_identity_range = N'false' GO 

And in some cases… I also used these templates which in turn had some nested/dynamic SQL. But by using both, I found that I was able to very easily tame some of the more redundant tasks necessary without over-complicating things.