Question

If a stored procedure returns a value of zero, does that always mean it was run successfully? I am using MS SQL Server 2008.

Answer 1

No, you can return something yourself

example

CREATE PROC pr_test AS 
SELECT 1/0

RETURN 0
GO

Now run it

DECLARE @i INT
exec @i = pr_test

SELECT @i  -- will be 0

DROP PROC pr_test

Now let’s do it again without the return statement

CREATE PROC pr_test2 AS 
SELECT 1/0

GO

DECLARE @i INT
exec @i = pr_test2

SELECT @i  -- will be - 6

Better to use an output parameter to pass back statuses and or messages