You can use the RAISERROR statement to generate user-defined errors. The RAISERROR statement functions similar to the SIGNAL statement.

By itself, the RAISERROR statement does not cause an exit from the procedure, but it can be combined with a RETURN statement or a test of the @@error global variable to control execution following a user-defined error.

If you set the on_tsql_error database option to Continue, the RAISERROR statement no longer signals an execution-ending error. Instead, the procedure completes and stores the RAISERROR status code and message, and returns the most recent RAISERROR. If the procedure causing the RAISERROR was called from another procedure, the RAISERROR returns after the outermost calling procedure terminates. If you set the on_tsql_error option to the default (Conditional), the continue_after_raiserror option controls the behavior following the execution of a RAISERROR statement. If you set the on_tsql_error option to Stop or Continue, the on_tsql_error setting takes precedence over the continue_after_raiserror setting.

You lose intermediate RAISERROR statuses and codes after the procedure terminates. If, at return time, an error occurs along with the RAISERROR, then the error information is returned and you lose the RAISERROR information. The application can query intermediate RAISERROR statuses by examining @@error global variable at different execution points.

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