西沙必利:Using ADO & Stored Procedures in C/SIDE

Recently, I had to do a small project. A client of us wanted to see the global inventory of all its companies. Furthermore, the companies were also spread over multiple databases. They wanted quick answers on questions like "What is the inventory of this item in any location in any company in any database". Now, I'm not going to tell you how I solved the case. I just wanted to highlight some interesting stuff that I used. Some basics about using ADO in NAV. ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) is described as "ADO is designed to provide a consistent way of accessing data regardless of how the data are structured. ". It's actually automation that you can use (should be installed together with windows - but I'm not sure) to access about any kind of database. It's generally used by developers in C/SIDE to access data in another database then the current database. It's basically 3 steps: 1. Make a connection to the database, using a "connectionstring"
http://www.connectionstrings.com/ is a very helpful website to help you compose your connectionstring. Usually, I create a seperate setup table with the parameters needed to create a connectionstring. In C/SIDE, you can create a connection like this:
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IF ISCLEAR(lADOConnection) THEN CREATE(lADOConnection);
lADOConnection.ConnectionString:=GetConnectionString(precDBServer."Server Name", precDBServer."Database Name", precDBServer.Login, precDBServer.Password);
lADOConnection.Open; LADOConnection is an automation variable of the type "'Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.8 Library'.Connection". You also see that I compose my connectionstring in a seperate function:
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GetConnectionString(...) : Text[1024] ltxtConnectionString:='Driver={SQL Server};'
    + 'Server='+pcodServerName+';'
    + 'Database='+pcodDatabaseName+';'
    + 'Uid='+pcodUserID+';'
    + 'Pwd='+pcodPassword+';'; EXIT(ltxtConnectionString);  2. Do your thing in the database (read, write, loop data, call SP, grant permissions,...) ... usually using SQL commands. We will go into this deeper further down the road. 3. Close your connection This is how I close my connection: Code: Select all
lADOConnection.Close;
CLEAR(lADOConnection);
If you're a dedicated C/SIDE developer, you see that this is not usual. Creating a connection? Closing a connection?? In C/SIDE, you're already connected by just declaring a record variable - by sorts of speaking. That's because the native client connects with the database before you can start working - and therefore, you're always connected . It's logical, I know, but anyway ... What could it be useful for? So, what can we do in for example in the database. Well. A number of things. From the top of my head: Creating company-specific views when a new company is created
Create data in a queue table
Compose a SQL String, execute that SQL String and givie back the results ... .
...
It all comes down on executing a stored procedure in a SQL Server database. If you can do that, then the possibilities is limited to what you can do with Stored Procedures. And there is not much limitation to that . About everything you can do in T-SQL, you can do with SP's! So, let me try to explain all this by using a few examples: Creating company-specific views when a new company is created
First of all, I created a stored procedure in SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) like this (I added some comments to make things clearer):
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CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[SP_CreateView_ItemLocation]
     @CompanyName VARCHAR(30)
AS
BEGIN
     SET NOCOUNT ON;DECLARE @SQLString NVARCHAR(MAX) --If the view already exists, drop the view SET @SQLString = 'IF OBJECT_ID (''['+@CompanyName+'$SP_ItemLocation]'', ''view'') IS NOT NULL DROP VIEW ['+@CompanyName+'$SP_ItemLocation]' EXEC sp_executesql @SQLString --assemble the SQLString (including the companyname) SET @SQLString =
     'CREATE VIEW [dbo].['+@CompanyName+'$SP_ItemLocation]
     AS
     SELECT DISTINCT ''ILE'' AS TableName, [Item No_] AS ItemNo, [Location Code] AS LocationCode,
     ['+@CompanyName+'$Location].Name AS LocationName, ['+@CompanyName+'$Location].[Main Location] AS MainLocation
     FROM dbo.['+@CompanyName+'$Item Ledger Entry], ['+@CompanyName+'$Location]
     where dbo.['+@CompanyName+'$Item Ledger Entry].[Location Code] = ['+@CompanyName+'$Location].Code' print @SQLString
     --this "print " is optionally - it is useful when you're debugging your SP
     --in SSMS, because it shows the SQLString that you have been building. exec sp_executesql @SQLString END Then, I wrote some C/AL to call this SP (I excluded the connection-stuff mentioned above. Note that a connection is still necessary):  
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CreateCompanyViews() ... IF ISCLEAR(lADOCommand) THEN
CREATE(lADOCommand);    lvarActiveConnection := lADOConnection;
lADOCommand.ActiveConnection := lvarActiveConnection;    lADOCommand.CommandText := 'SP_CreateView_ItemLocation';
lADOCommand.CommandType := 4;
lADOCommand.CommandTimeout := 0;    lADOParameter:=lADOCommand.CreateParameter('@CompanyName', 200, 1, 30,COMPANYNAME);
lADOCommand.Parameters.Append(lADOParameter);    lADOCommand.Execute; ... You see that I'm using LADOCommand, which is an automation variable of the type "'Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.8 Library'.Command" and LADOParameter is a "'Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.8 Library'.Parameter". Some explanation is required, I guess: A command needs a Command Type. This site is useful to help you with the different command types. You see we used "4", being a stored procedure.
To let the SP know for what company we have to create the view, we have to send a parameter. Therefor, we use the ADO parameter automation mentioned above. To help you with this, this site is useful. You have to define the direction of the parameter (input, output, ...) and the data type and its length. In my example, I used an input parameter, varchar as datatype and length 30.
Note that we used lvarActiveConnection. This variable is of the type Variant. You have to give the active connection to the command variable, and this is the way to do it:
Load it into your variant like: lvarActiveConnection := lADOConnection;
Use it in your command like: lADOCommand.ActiveConnection := lvarActiveConnection;
To conclude, I added this code in Codeunit 2 at the end of the OnRun trigger. The code in this codeunit is executed when a company is created.
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cduMyADOSamplesMgt.CreateCompanyViews; I added this after the COMMIT, because I want to make sure that my company is created, no matter if my view was successfully created or not. Compose a SQL String, execute that SQL String and give back the results ... .
This time, I went a little bit further , because now I have an output result set . First, my stored procedure:
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CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[SP_LoadInventory]
     @ItemNo AS VARCHAR(20)
AS BEGIN
     SET NOCOUNT ON;   
     DECLARE @CompanyName VARCHAR(30)
     DECLARE @OrigCompanyName VARCHAR(30)
     DECLARE @SQLString NVARCHAR(MAX)
     DECLARE @Counter INT DECLARE curCompany CURSOR FOR SELECT [Name] as CompanyName from dbo.Company
OPEN curCompany SET @Counter = 0
SET @SQLString='' FETCH NEXT FROM curCompany INTO @CompanyName
-- Begin looping all companies in the database WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
     -- Converting the wonderful NAV-supported-but-best-not-used-in-SQL characters
     SET @OrigCompanyName = @CompanyName
     SET @CompanyName = REPLACE(@CompanyName,'.','_');
     SET @CompanyName = REPLACE(@CompanyName,'"','_');
     SET @CompanyName = REPLACE(@CompanyName,'\','_');
     SET @CompanyName = REPLACE(@CompanyName,'/','_');
     SET @CompanyName = REPLACE(@CompanyName,'''','_');    -- Only put the UNION in between of two SELECT statements
IF @Counter > 0
BEGIN
     SET @SQLString = @SQLString + 'UNION'
END
SET @SQLString = @SQLString +
     '
     SELECT DISTINCT ''' + @OrigCompanyName + ''' AS CompanyName,ItemNo, LocationCode, LocationName, MainLocation
     FROM dbo.[' + @CompanyName + '$SP_ItemLocation] a
     WHERE ItemNo = ''' + @ItemNo + '''
     '
FETCH NEXT FROM curCompany INTO @CompanyName SET @Counter = @Counter + 1 END; print @SQLString EXEC sp_executesql @SQLString         CLOSE curCompany
DEALLOCATE curCompany END This is just a simple stored procedure that is going to UNION a SQL Statement for each company. In C/AL, you can call this Stored Procedure like:
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... IF ISCLEAR(lADOCommand) THEN
CREATE(lADOCommand);    lvarActiveConnection := lADOConnection;
lADOCommand.ActiveConnection := lvarActiveConnection;    lADOCommand.CommandText := 'SP_LoadInventory';
lADOCommand.CommandType := 4;
lADOCommand.CommandTimeout := 0;    lADOParameter:=lADOCommand.CreateParameter('@ItemNo', 200, 1, 20,pcodItemNo);
lADOCommand.Parameters.Append(lADOParameter);    lADOCommand.Execute; IF ISCLEAR(lADORecordset) THEN
     CREATE(lADORecordset); lADORecordset.ActiveConnection := lvarActiveConnection;
lADORecordset.Open(lADOCommand);    WHILE NOT lADORecordset.EOF DO BEGIN  ptmpGlobalInventoryBuffer.INIT;
ptmpGlobalInventoryBuffer."Item No" := lADORecordset.Fields.Item('ItemNo').Value;
ptmpGlobalInventoryBuffer."Company Name" := lADORecordset.Fields.Item('CompanyName').Value;
ptmpGlobalInventoryBuffer."Location Code" := lADORecordset.Fields.Item('LocationCode').Value;
ptmpGlobalInventoryBuffer."Location Name" := lADORecordset.Fields.Item('LocationName').Value;
ptmpGlobalInventoryBuffer."Main Location" := lADORecordset.Fields.Item('MainLocation').Value;
ptmpGlobalInventoryBuffer.INSERT; lADORecordset.MoveNext; END; ... May be here also some explanation: Note that we used lvarActiveConnection to load the active connection into our recordset variable as well.
The execution of the SP is the same as before, but now you expect something back. That's why you're loading the resultset into a recorset ('Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.8 Library'.Recordset) with the statement: lADORecordset.Open(lADOCommand);
After the recordset is loaded, we can loop that recordset and put (in my case) the results into a temp table.
Not that you can move through your recordset with MoveNext, MoveFirst, MoveFirst, MoveLast. You can check if you're at the end with EOF (End Of File).
Using an output parameter in a Stored Procedure
OK, taking a little step back. Suppose we want to create a SP with a simple output parameter like a decimal, boolean or whatever. So you won't get back a recordset like above, but just an output parameter. Not really creative, but a SP with an output parameter looks something like this:
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CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[WALDO_test]
     @Result AS VARCHAR(20) OUTPUT
AS
BEGIN
     SET @Result = 'Test Output';
END You define your outputparameter with the OUTPUT keyword. In NAV it could be something like:
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... IF ISCLEAR(lADOCommand) THEN
     CREATE(lADOCommand); lvarActiveConnection := lADOConnection;
lADOCommand.ActiveConnection := lvarActiveConnection; lADOCommand.CommandText := 'WALDO_test';
lADOCommand.CommandType := 4;
lADOCommand.CommandTimeout := 0;    lADOParameter:=lADOCommand.CreateParameter('@Result', 200, 2, 20,ltxtResult);
lADOCommand.Parameters.Append(lADOParameter);    lADOCommand.Execute; //Get your result back from the command variable :
ltxtResult := FORMAT(lADOCommand.Parameters.Item('@Result').Value);    MESSAGE(ltxtResult); ... You see that you need an extra statement to pull your result back from the command variable. It's not going to do that for you automatically (allthough you defined your parameter as being "output" (we defined the direction-argument in the CreateParameter-statement as "2")). One comment might be that you want to use the return value in stead of an output parameter, but keep in mind that the return value of a SP must be "integer". There are tons of other things you can do with ADO, Stored Procedures,... . I just wanted you to experience how you can use ADO, and what it might be useful for. I'm not saying that this is always the best solution in any case. It's just one of the possibilities where much is possible and flexible solutions can be built with. Sorry for the somewhat bad editing. I had my hands full with it . Any comment is highly appreciated._________________Eric Wauters
MVP - Microsoft Dynamics NAV
My blog
 
 
 
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srinivas   Post subject: PrecDBServerPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:01 am 
 
 Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:42 am
Posts: 3
Location: HYDERABAD
Country:   Dear Waldo,
Can you explain about PrecDBServer.Is it variable or something.
please give reply i need it. _________________
Srinivas
Microsoft Dynamics Nav ---You are the Creator of our own Destiny  
 
 
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Waldo   Post subject: Re: PrecDBServerPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:25 am 
 
 
 
 Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2002 11:50 am
Posts: 3353
Location: Kontich, Belgium
Country:   srinivas wrote:
Dear Waldo,
Can you explain about PrecDBServer.Is it variable or something.
please give reply i need it.
precDBServer is a recordvariable of a table with the fields:
- "Code"
- "Description"
- "Server Name"
- "Database name"
- "Login"
- "Password" So, it's a table which contains the connection details of servers. Using these fields, I can form a connectionstring. Is that somewhat clear _________________Eric Wauters
MVP - Microsoft Dynamics NAV
My blog
 
 
 
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srinivas   Post subject: Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:45 pm 
 
 Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:42 am
Posts: 3
Location: HYDERABAD
Country:   Thank you Waldo , While i was trying to make connection , I got the following error.
can u help me . ---------------------------
Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision
---------------------------
This message is for C/AL programmers: The call to member Open failed. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers returned the following message:
[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][Shared Memory]SQL Server does not exist or access denied. ---------------------------
OK
--------------------------- I gave valid servername ,userid,password,database name.
but i don't know why it is showing this error.actually this was the code which i have written.  IF ISCLEAR(ladoconnection) THEN CREATE (ladoconnection); ladoconnection.ConnectionString:=getconnectionstring(precdbserver."server name", precdbserver."database name", precdbserver.login,precdbserver.password); ladoconnection.Open;  
getconnectionstring(VAR server1 : Text[300];VAR databasename : Text[300];VAR login : Text[300];VAR password : Text[300]) ltextconnectio  ltextconnectionstring:='Driver={SQL Server};'
+ 'Server='+ server1 +';'
+ 'Database='+databasename+';'
+ 'Uid='+login+';'
+ 'Pwd='+password+';'; EXIT(ltextconnectionstring);_________________
Srinivas
Microsoft Dynamics Nav ---You are the Creator of our own Destiny  
 
 
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rajpatelbca   Post subject: Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:13 am 
 
 Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:07 pm
Posts: 164
Location: Ahmedabad  great idea for interact with SQL Server. Thanks
 
 
 
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John Reinhold   Post subject: Re: Using ADO & Stored Procedures in C/SIDEPosted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:43 pm 
 
 Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 9:59 am
Posts: 12
Location: Skanderborg
Country:   Hello, Waldo This is very interesting and useful. I have it working fine. However, I can not get it to work, when the Stored Porcedure is made with an output parameter as this:
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ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[SP_PDIFFTRANSAKTIONHUVUD$uppdatera$IMPL]
   @return_value_argument float(53)  OUTPUT
AS
   BEGIN
     EXECUTE sysdb.ssma_oracle.db_fn_check_init_package 'fackta05', 'dbo', 'SP_PDIFFTRANSAKTIONHUVUD'
      EXECUTE dbo.SP_PDIFFTRANSAKTIONHUVUD$satt_status_start
      INSERT INTO newstorefp.dbo.PDIFFTRANSAKTIONHUVUD (
This is how I'm setting up parameters and doing the execution:Code: Select all
_ActiveConnection := _ADOConnection;
_ADOCommand.ActiveConnection := _ActiveConnection;
_ADOCommand.CommandText := Text004;
_ADOCommand.CommandType := 4;
_ADOCommand.CommandTimeout := 0;
_ADOParameter := _ADOCommand.CreateParameter('@return_value_argument2',5,2,64);
_ADOCommand.Parameters.Append(_ADOParameter);
_ADOCommand.Execute;
Of course the open connection and other stuff are working. The only thing, I can't figure out, is the line:Code: Select all
_ADOParameter := _ADOCommand.CreateParameter('@return_value_argument2',5,2,64);
I've tried a lot of possibilities. But I'm getting confused understanding the setup of SQL data types. I believe that the error
An exeption was raised in method Append. The OLE control or Automation server has returned error (HRESULT) -2147352567. The component did not provide the exception description.
is because data type mismatch. But how do I set the _ADOParameter to hold a float(53)? To change the SPs parameter data type has impact on other systems, so it is not easy to do this. I'm used to code NAV but not SQL._________________
Regards,
John Reinhold  
 
 
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Waldo   Post subject: Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:28 pm 
 
 
 
 Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2002 11:50 am
Posts: 3353
Location: Kontich, Belgium
Country:   Did you try it with different datatypes? 14 (Decimal) or 4 (Single precision floating point)? And did you try it without setting the size ? Or by setting 53 as size? Or something like
_ADOParameter := _ADOCommand.CreateParameter('@return_value_argument2',5,2,53,decMyResultParameter); Or, if possible, change the float to a text or decimal, which is (more) compliant to C/SIDE? Just a few ideas from the top of my head... _________________Eric Wauters
MVP - Microsoft Dynamics NAV
My blog
 
 
 
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boby   Post subject: Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:25 pm 
 
 Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 3:50 pm
Posts: 56
Location: LU
Country:   Hello everybody,
It's a great idea to use the "tiers" part of SQL to generate the data via stored procedure.. With your approach, do you think it's possible (and relevant) to read what the stored procedure is sending back, in an instream to be treated in an xmlport??
With stored procedure, you can send back XML by using the FORXML statement.. It's not a recordset anymore and I don't know how to get it back, but it's valid xml. ideas:?:  
 
 
 
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sixzag   Post subject: Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 5:40 pm 
 
 Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 3:56 pm
Posts: 2
Location: Swizerland  Hello, Waldo Your post is very interesting thank  I try to make one connection with ado but I meet some problem: I have one sql database with 4 record inside and I want to put this 4 record in one temporary Navision table. I try to follow your instruction, but when I execute my code only the first record is put i my Navision table. I made a LADORecordset.RecordCount(); and Navision show me -1 ????  I don't know if my T-sql or my navision code is wrong. My T-sql Code: Select all
create procedure [dbo].[SP_ProjetcView]
as
begin
   set nocount ondeclare project cursor for select Dossier
from [dbo].[tableVendor]open project
fetch next from project while  @@fetch_status = 0
beginfetch next from project
endclose project
deallocate projectend
My nav code
Code: Select all
CreatConnexion();IF ISCLEAR(LADOCommand) THEN
  CREATE(LADOCommand);lvarActiveConnection := LADOConnection;
LADOCommand.ActiveConnection := lvarActiveConnection;LADOCommand.CommandText := 'SP_ProjetcView';
LADOCommand.CommandType := 4;
LADOCommand.CommandTimeout := 0;LADOCommand.Execute;IF ISCLEAR(LADORecordset) THEN
  CREATE(LADORecordset);LADORecordset.ActiveConnection := lvarActiveConnection;
LADORecordset.Open(LADOCommand);WHILE NOT LADORecordset.EOF DO BEGIN  RecordProject.INIT;
  RecordProject.dossier := LADORecordset.Fields.Item('Dossier').Value;
  RecordProject.INSERT();LADORecordset.MoveNext;END;CloseConnexion(); 
Do you have any idea about the problem???