Question

If you run the exec stored procedure command in SSMS, it produces this script:

USE [MY_DB]
GO

DECLARE @return_value int

EXEC    @return_value = [dbo].[usr_DailyReportsEmpty]
        @username = N'someuser'

SELECT  'Return value' = @return_value

GO

However when I run the script the EXEC returns 16 and the SELECT returns 0. Why is that?

Answer 1

You need to change the procedure to explicitly RETURN the value you wish to capture. As Barry Kaye mentioned above when you simply select a value to return a result set the procedure returns 0 for success but if you use the RETURN statement the procedure will return that value.

In the following example, 1 will be selected as a result set when the first procedure is executed but the value captured in @return1 will be 0 for success. The second procedure will not have a result set and the value captured in @return2 will be 3.

CREATE PROCEDURE Test1
AS
    SELECT 1;
GO

CREATE PROCEDURE Test2
AS
    RETURN 3;
GO

DECLARE @return1 INT, @return2 INT;
EXEC @return1 = Test1;
EXEC @return2 = Test2;