Question

So in C# to use a stored procedure I have code like the following (connection code omitted):

 string sql = "GetClientDefaults";

 SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(sql);
 cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;    //<-- DO I NEED THIS??
 cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@computerName", computerName);

Where sql is the name of a stored procedure. Now, this code seems to work just fine with and without the commented line.

So, do I need this line? Is there some performance (or other) benefit to setting this? Is there a benefit to NOT setting it or setting it to Text?

Answer 1

According to the tests in this blog post SQL Server will do the parameterization for you, by wrapping your statement in sp_executesql, when you use CommandType.Text. But when you use CommandType.StoredProcedure you will parameterize it and thereby saving the database some work. The latter method is faster.

Edit:

Setup

I’ve done some tests myself and here are the results.

Create this procedure:

create procedure dbo.Test
(
   @Text1 varchar(10) = 'Default1'
  ,@Text2 varchar(10) = 'Default2'
)
as
begin
   select @Text1 as Text1, @Text2 as Text2
end

Add a trace to it using SQL Server Profiler.

And then call it using the following code:

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;

namespace ConsoleApplication2
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            CallProcedure( CommandType.Text );
            CallProcedure( CommandType.StoredProcedure );
        }

        private static void CallProcedure(CommandType commandType)
        {
            using ( SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection("Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=Test;Integrated Security=SSPI;") )
            {
                connection.Open();
                using ( SqlCommand textCommand = new SqlCommand("dbo.Test", connection) )
                {
                    textCommand.CommandType = commandType;
                    textCommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Text1", "Text1");
                    textCommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Text2", "Text2");
                    using ( IDataReader reader = textCommand.ExecuteReader() )
                    {
                        while ( reader.Read() )
                        {
                            Console.WriteLine(reader["Text1"] + " " + reader["Text2"]);
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Results

In both cases the calls are made using RPC.

Here’s what the trace reveals using CommandType.Text:

exec sp_executesql N'dbo.Test',N'@Text1 nvarchar(5),@Text2 nvarchar(5)',@Text1=N'Text1',@Text2=N'Text2'

And here is the result using CommandType.StoredProcedure:

exec dbo.Test @Text1=N'Text1',@Text2=N'Text2'

As you can see the text-call is wrapped in a call to sp_executesql so that it is properly parameterized. This will of course create a slight overhead, and thus my previous statement that using CommandType.StoredProcedure is faster still stands.

Another noteworthy thing, and which is also kind of a deal breaker here, is that when I created the procedure without default values I got the following error:

Msg 201, Level 16, State 4, Procedure Test, Line 0 Procedure or
function ‘Test’ expects parameter ‘@Text1’, which was not supplied.

The reason for this is how the call to sp_executesql is created, as you can see the parameters are declared and initialized, but they are not used. For the call to work, it should have looked like this:

exec sp_executesql N'dbo.Test @Text1, @Text2',N'@Text1 nvarchar(5),@Text2 nvarchar(5)',@Text1=N'Text1',@Text2=N'Text2'

Meaning, when you’re using CommandType.Text you have to add the parameters to the CommandText unless you always want the default values to be used.

So, to answer your question

1. Using CommandType.StoredProcedure is faster.
2. If you’re using CommandType.Text, then you’ll have to add the parameter names to the call to the procedure unless you want the default values to be used.