CREATE PROCEDURE Statement

To create external procedure interfaces, see CREATE PROCEDURE Statement (External Procedures).

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Syntax

CREATE [ OR REPLACE | TEMPORARY ] PROCEDURE [ owner.]procedure-name ( [ parameter, …] ) { 
   [ SQL SECURITY { INVOKER | DEFINER } ]
   [ RESULT ( result-column, …) | NO RESULT SET ]  
   [ ON EXCEPTION RESUME ] compound statement | AT location-string

parameter - (back to Syntax)
   parameter_mode parameter-name data-type [ DEFAULT expression ] | SQLCODE | SQLSTATE

parameter_mode - (back to parameter)
   IN | OUT | INOUT

result-column - (back to Syntax)
   column-name data-type

Parameters

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parameter-name – parameter names must conform to the rules for other database identifiers, such as column names, and must be a valid SQL data type. The keywords have the following meanings:
Parameters can be prefixed by one of the keywords IN, OUT or INOUT. If no keyword is specified, parameters are INOUT by default. The keywords have the following meanings:
- IN – parameter is an expression that provides a value to the procedure.
- OUT – parameter is a variable that could be given a value by the procedure.
- INOUT – parameter is a variable that provides a value to the procedure, and could be given a new value by the procedure.

SQLSTATE and SQLCODE – special parameters that output the SQLSTATE or SQLCODE value when the procedure ends (they are OUT parameters). Whether or not an SQLSTATE and SQLCODE parameter is specified, the SQLSTATE and SQLCODE special values can always be checked immediately after a procedure call to test the return status of the procedure.
The SQLSTATE and SQLCODE special values are modified by the next SQL statement. Providing SQLSTATE or SQLCODE as procedure arguments allows the return code to be stored in a variable.

CREATE – creates a new procedure.

OR REPLACE – replaces an existing procedure with the same name. This clause changes the definition of the procedure, but preserves existing permissions.
You cannot use the OR REPLACE clause with temporary procedures. Also, an error is returned if the procedure being replaced is already in use.

TEMPORARY – the stored procedure is visible only by the connection that created it, and that it is automatically dropped when the connection is dropped. You can also explicitly drop temporary stored procedures. You cannot perform ALTER, GRANT, or REVOKE on them, and, unlike other stored procedures, temporary stored procedures are not recorded in the catalog or transaction log.
Temporary procedures execute with the permissions of their creator (current user), or specified owner. You can specify an owner for a temporary procedure when:
- The temporary procedure is created within a permanent stored procedure
- The temporary and permanent procedure both have the same owner
To drop the owner of a temporary procedure, drop the temporary procedure first.

You can create and drop temporary stored procedures when you are connected to a read-only database; they cannot be external procedures.

For example, the following temporary procedure drops the table called CustRank, if it exists. For this example, the procedure assumes that the table name is unique and can be referenced by the procedure creator without specifying the table owner:
```
CREATE TEMPORARY PROCEDURE drop_table( IN @TableName char(128) )
BEGIN
	IF EXISTS  ( SELECT 1 FROM SYS.SYSTAB WHERE
	table_name = @TableName ) 
	THEN EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 
	'DROP TABLE "' || @TableName || '"';
	MESSAGE 'Table "' || @TableName || 
	'" dropped' to client;
	END IF;
END;
CALL drop_table( 'CustRank' )
```

RESULT – declares the number and type of columns in the result set. The parenthesized list following the RESULT keyword defines the result column names and types. This information is returned by the Embedded SQL DESCRIBE or by ODBC SQLDescribeCol when a CALL statement is being described. Allowed data types are listed in Reference: Building Blocks, Tables, and Procedures > SQL Data Types.
Some procedures can produce more than one result set, depending on how they are executed. For example, this procedure returns two columns under some circumstances, and one in others.
```
CREATE PROCEDURE names( IN formal char(1))
BEGIN
  IF formal = 'n' THEN
    SELECT GivenName 
    FROM Employees
  ELSE
    SELECT Surname,GivenName 
    FROM Employees
  END IF
END
```
Procedures with variable result sets must be written without a RESULT clause, or in Transact-SQL. Their use is subject to these limitations:
- Embedded SQL – you must DESCRIBE the procedure call after the cursor for the result set is opened, but before any rows are returned, in order to get the proper shape of result set. The CURSOR cursor-name clause on the DESCRIBE statement is required.
- ODBC, OLE DB, ADO.NET – variable result-set procedures can be used by ODBC applications. The proper description of the result sets is carried out by the driver or provider.
- Open Client applications – variable result-set procedures can be used by Open Client applications.
If your procedure returns only one result set, use a RESULT clause. The presence of this clause prevents ODBC and Open Client applications from describing the result set again after a cursor is open.

To handle multiple result sets, ODBC must describe the currently executing cursor, not the procedure’s defined result set. Therefore, ODBC does not always describe column names as defined in the RESULT clause of the procedure definition. To avoid this problem, use column aliases in the SELECT statement that generates the result set.

NO RESULT SET – declares that this procedure returns no result set. This is useful when an external environment needs to know that a procedure does not return a result set.

SQL SECURITY – defines whether the procedure is executed as the INVOKER (the user who is calling the procedure), or as the DEFINER (the user who owns the procedure). The default is DEFINER.
Extra memory is used when you specify SQL SECURITY INVOKER, because annotation must be done for each user that calls the procedure. Also, name resolution is performed as the invoker as well. Therefore, qualify all object names (tables, procedures, and so on) with their appropriate owner. For example, suppose user1 creates this procedure:
```
 CREATE PROCEDURE user1.myProcedure()
	RESULT( columnA INT )
	SQL SECURITY INVOKER
	BEGIN
		SELECT columnA FROM table1;
	END;
```
If user2 attempts to run this procedure and a table user2.table1 does not exist, a table lookup error results. Additionally, if a user2.table1 does exist, that table is used instead of the intended user1.table1. To prevent this situation, qualify the table reference in the statement (user1.table1, instead of just table1).

ON EXCEPTION RESUME – the procedure takes an action that depends on the setting of the ON_TSQL_ERROR option. If ON_TSQL_ERROR option is set to CONDITIONAL (which is the default) the execution continues if the next statement handles the error; otherwise, it exits.
Error-handling statements include:
- IF
- SELECT @variable =
- CASE
- LOOP
- LEAVE
- CONTINUE
- CALL
- EXECUTE
- SIGNAL
- RESIGNAL
- DECLARE
- SET VARIABLE
Do not use explicit error-handling code with an ON EXCEPTION RESUME clause.

See ON_TSQL_ERROR Option [TSQL].

AT location-string – creates a proxy stored procedure on the current database for a remote procedure specified by location-string. The AT clause supports the semicolon (;) as a field delimiter in location-string. If no semicolon is present, a period is the field delimiter. This allows file names and extensions to be used in the database and owner fields.

Examples

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Example 1 – uses a case statement to classify the results of a query:

CREATE PROCEDURE ProductType (IN product_id INT, OUT type CHAR(10))
BEGIN
  DECLARE prod_name CHAR(20) ;
  SELECT name INTO prod_name FROM "GROUPO"."Products"
  WHERE ID = product_id;
  CASE prod_name
  WHEN 'Tee Shirt' THEN
    SET type = 'Shirt'			
  WHEN 'Sweatshirt' THEN
    SET type = 'Shirt'
  WHEN 'Baseball Cap' THEN
    SET type = 'Hat'
  WHEN 'Visor' THEN
    SET type = 'Hat'
  WHEN 'Shorts' THEN
    SET type = 'Shorts'
  ELSE
    SET type = 'UNKNOWN'
  END CASE ;
END

Example 2 – uses a cursor and loop over the rows of the cursor to return a single value:

CREATE PROCEDURE TopCustomer (OUT TopCompany CHAR(35), OUT TopValue INT)
BEGIN
  DECLARE err_notfound EXCEPTION
 	FOR SQLSTATE '02000' ;
  DECLARE curThisCust CURSOR FOR
  SELECT CompanyName, CAST( 	  sum(SalesOrderItems.Quantity *
  Products.UnitPrice) AS INTEGER) VALUE
  FROM Customers
  LEFT OUTER JOIN SalesOrders
  LEFT OUTER JOIN SalesorderItems
  LEFT OUTER JOIN Products
  GROUP BY CompanyName ;


  DECLARE ThisValue INT ;
  DECLARE ThisCompany CHAR(35) ;
  SET TopValue = 0 ;
  OPEN curThisCust ;
  CustomerLoop:
  LOOP
    FETCH NEXT curThisCust
    INTO ThisCompany, ThisValue ;
    IF SQLSTATE = err_notfound THEN
      LEAVE CustomerLoop ;
    END IF ;
    IF ThisValue > TopValue THEN
      SET TopValue = ThisValue ;
      SET TopCompany = ThisCompany ;
      END IF ;
  END LOOP CustomerLoop ;
  CLOSE curThisCust ;
END

Usage

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CREATE PROCEDURE creates a procedure in the database. A procedure is invoked with a CALL statement. You can create permanent or temporary (TEMPORARY) stored procedures. You can use PROC as a synonym for PROCEDURE.

Note: There are two ways to create stored procedures: ISO/ANSI SQL and T-SQL. BEGIN TRANSACTION, for example, is T-SQL-specific when using CREATE PROCEDURE syntax. Do not mix syntax when creating stored procedures. See CREATE PROCEDURE Statement [T-SQL].

When procedures are executed using CALL, not all parameters need to be specified. If a default value is provided in the CREATE PROCEDURE statement, missing parameters are assigned the default values. If an argument is not provided in the CALL statement, and no default is set, an error is given.

Remote procedures can return only up to 254 characters in output variables.

If a remote procedure can return a result set, even if it does not return one in all cases, then the local procedure definition must contain a RESULT clause.

For information on remote servers, see CREATE SERVER Statement.

Side Effects

Automatic commit

Standards

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SQL—ISO/ANSI SQL compliant.
SAP Sybase Database product—The Transact-SQL CREATE PROCEDURE statement is different.
SQLJ—The syntax extensions for Java result sets are as specified in the proposed SQLJ1 standard.

Permissions

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Watcom SQL or Transact SQL procedure to be owned by self – Requires CREATE PROCEDURE system privilege.

Watcom SQL or Transact SQL procedure to be owned by any user – Requires one of:

CREATE ANY PROCEDURE system privilege.
CREATE ANY OBJECT system privilege.

Remote procedure to be owned by self – Requires all of:

CREATE EXTERNAL REFERENCE system privilege.
CREATE PROCEDURE system privilege.

Remote procedure to be owned by any user – Requires CREATE EXTERNAL REFERENCE system privilege. Also requires one of:

CREATE ANY PROCEDURE system privilege.
CREATE ANY OBJECT system privilege.