Question

I’m developing a simple database architecture in VisualParadigm and lately ran over next code excerpt.

IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects 
WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'getType') AND type in (N'P', N'PC')) 
DROP PROCEDURE getType;

Next goes my stored procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE getType @typeId int
AS
SELECT * FROM type t WHERE t.type_id = @typeId;

Can anyone explain what does it mean/do (the former one)?

P.S.: It would be great, if you may also check for any syntax errors as I’m totally new to SQL Server and stored procedures.

Answer 1

The IF EXISTS part first checks if a stored procedure with the same name exists. if it does it drops it before creating it. Without this check you’d get an error that the stored procedure already exists.