Question

Please forgive newbie’s ignorance!

How do I grab the value of the output parameter in execute sp_executesql?

I can see the output but cannot get to it:

    DECLARE @LastActivity nvarchar(100)
    DECLARE @LastActivityDate datetime
    DECLARE @sql nvarchar(MAX)
    DECLARE @RowsToProcess  int 
    DECLARE @CurrentRow     int 
    DECLARE @SelectCol1     nvarchar(100)
    DECLARE @SelectCol2     nvarchar(100)
    DECLARE @SelectCol3     nvarchar(100)
    DECLARE @LastDate TABLE (RowID int not null primary key identity(1,1), col4 nvarchar(MAX), col5 sql_variant)
    DECLARE @table1 TABLE (RowID int not null primary key identity(1,1), col1 nvarchar(100),col2 nvarchar(100),col3 nvarchar(100))
    INSERT into @table1 (col1,col2,col3)(SELECT t.name AS col1, c.name AS col2, m.Field1 as col3 
                                         FROM sys.columns c INNER JOIN 
                                              sys.tables t ON c.object_id = t.object_id INNER JOIN 
                                              sys.schemas s ON t.schema_id = s.schema_id INNER JOIN 
                                              dbo.MERGE_TABLES m ON m.Table_Name=t.name
                                              WHERE c.name LIKE '%[_]DATE%' and m.[Enabled]='Y')  
    SET @RowsToProcess=@@ROWCOUNT 
    SET @CurrentRow=0 
    WHILE @CurrentRow<@RowsToProcess 
        BEGIN 
        SET @CurrentRow=@CurrentRow+1 
        SELECT @SelectCol1=col1,@SelectCol2=col2,@SelectCol3=col3 FROM @table1 WHERE RowID=@CurrentRow
            SET @sql='SELECT ' + '[dbo].[ConvertToDatetime](MAX(' + @SelectCol2 + '))' + ' FROM ' + @SelectCol1 + ' Where ' + @SelectCol3 + ' = ' + '''0722607QZ'''
        Declare @params as nvarchar(MAX)
        Set @params = '@date sql_variant output'
        Declare @date as sql_variant;
        execute sp_executesql 
                 @sql    
                ,@params 
                ,@date output
                       Select @date
        INSERT into @LastDate VALUES (@sql, @date) 
        end   
select col4,col5 from @LastDate

select col4,col5 from @LastDate gives me the SQL script in clo4 but col5 is empty! I need to store the @date as I still need to get the Max(@date)

Thanx a million.

SET @sql=’set @date =(‘SELECT ‘ + ‘[dbo].[ConvertToDatetime](MAX(‘ +
@SelectCol2 + ‘))’ + ‘ FROM ‘ + @SelectCol1 + ‘ Where ‘ + @SelectCol3
+ ‘ = ‘ + ”’0722607QZ”’ ) ‘

the above sql gives me error: Incorrect syntax near ‘.’

SET @sql=’set @date =(SELECT [dbo].[ConvertToDatetime](MAX( + @SelectCol2 + ))
FROM @SelectCol1 Where @SelectCol3 ”=0722607QZ” ) ‘

The above sql gives the error: Must declare the scalar variable “@SelectCol2”

SET @sql='SELECT ' + @date + '=convert(nvarchar(100), [dbo].[ConvertToDatetime](MAX(' + @SelectCol2 + ')))' + ' FROM ' + @SelectCol1 + ' Where ' + @SelectCol3 + ' = ' + '''0722607QZ''' 

the above produces the error : Implicit conversion from data type sql_variant to nvarchar is not
allowed. Use the CONVERT function to run this query.

SET @sql='SELECT ' + @date + '=convert(nvarchar(MAX),(MAX(' + @SelectCol2 + '))' + ' FROM ' + @SelectCol1 + ' Where ' + @SelectCol3 + ' = ' + '''0722607QZ''' 

the above produces no error but all output is NULL, no values.

Answer 1

Your syntax looks ok but you never assign to the output variable @date hence no value.

Instead of;

SET @sql='SELECT ...'

You need;

SET @sql='set @date = (SELECT ...'

Can’t you use a better type than sql_variant?