Question

Using MS SQL2000 at present if that makes any difference.

Is there a better way than the method below to be able to programatically access a table ?

declare @tableName as varchar(50)
declare @sql varchar(4000)

set @tableName = 'User'

print @tableName

If EXISTS(
select TABLE_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES WHERE table_name = ''+@TableName+''
)
BEGIN
    set @sql = 'select * from [' + @tableName + ']'
    exec(@sql)

end

Essentially Im trying to create a simple Mapping tool for CRUD operations so that I need only one Sproc for each operation, and I can pass in my parameterised object, a table name and let the database do the rest. This is purely for my own personal education, hence why Im not using an established framework, so if there are any major gotcha’s with my idea or the code above, I’d appreciate knowing as well.

Thanks

Answer 1

This is complete example to create a SP by follow your initial code:

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.CustomSelect (@tableName as varchar(50))
AS 
SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE @sql varchar(4000)

If EXISTS(
select TABLE_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES WHERE table_name = @tableName
)
BEGIN
    set @sql = 'select 1 as Found, * from [' + @tableName + ']'
    exec(@sql)
END
ELSE
BEGIN
    select 0 as Found
END

This SP always return a recordset so you can check the value of the field FOUND to know if the table exist or not

usage:

EXEC CustomSelect 'User'

Hope it helps