CLR Stored Procedure

In
SQL Server 2005

Page 1 of 7 Clarion Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Pune Version 1.0

CLR Stored Procedure in SQL Server 2005

As we all know SQL Server 2005 has CLR integrated with it. This means one can write
a code in manage application and execute it SQL Server.
We all know SQL server has performance issue with cursor and looping. When we
use recursive functions or a cursor in stored procedures we have to compromise with
performance. While integrating CLR we can write the looping and recursive
functionalities in C# (or any other language). CLR stored procedures can take
advantage of the built-in functionality provided by the classes in the .NET Framework,
making it relatively easy to add functionality such as complex mathematical
expressions or data encryption. Plus, since CLR stored procedure are compiled rather
than interpreted like T-SQL, they can provide a significant performance advantage for
code that’s executed multiple times. We will see real time performance difference
between T-SQL statements and CLR Procedure in sample project. The second reason
can be most of the developers are really good at programming however when it
comes to deal with SQL sps and user defined functions they are not as smart as in
programming.

In this article we will see how to create a CLR stored procedure and how to use in
code.

1. Open visual studio, click on new project and select SQL Server project from C#
or VB projects and name it as LearnCLRIntegration

Fig - (1) Creating new project.

Page 2 of 7 Clarion Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Pune Version 1.0

 2. Right click on on project in solution explorer and select Add New Item and
select stored procedure.

Fig - (2) Create New Stored Procedure.

This will generate a new class as shown in code snippiest,

1: using System;
2: using System.Data;
3: using System.Data.SqlClient;
4: using System.Data.SqlTypes;
5: using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
6:
7:
8: public partial class StoredProcedures
9: {
10: [Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlProcedure]
11: public static void StoredProcedure1()
12: {
13: // Put your code here
14: }
15: };

Page 3 of 7 Clarion Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Pune Version 1.0

 [Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlProcedure] attributes tells the compiler that the
fuction StoredProcedure1() will be the CLR stored procedure. You can have
SqlFunction, Sqltrigger, SqlMethod, SqlUserDefinedType.. and more as options.
You may have understand what this class is however let me describe it more. In
this class we can write different methods as we write in normal class. The
attribute on method helps compiler to identify that whether this method is a
stored procedure or a function or a user defined type. So if you are creating a
trigger you need to set the attribute to [Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlTrigger].
Below code shows Insert SP,

1: using System;
2: using System.Data;
3: using System.Data.SqlClient;
4: using System.Data.SqlTypes;
5: using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
6:
7:
8: public partial class StoredProcedures
9: {
10: [Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlProcedure]
11: public static int sp_InsertEmployee(string FirstName, string LastName, string City)
12: {
13: using (SqlConnection cnn = new SqlConnection("context connection = true"))
14: {
15: cnn.Open();
16: SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("Insert into Employee values ('" + FirstName +
"','" + LastName + "','" + City + "')", cnn);
17: int intRowsAffetced = (int)cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
18: return intRowsAffetced;
19: }
20: }
21: };

We have used “context connection = true”. It means this CLR stored procedure will
be executed in same connection by which the data access layer code has called this
sp. Now, Compile the code, if it compiles successfully right click on project in
solution explorer and click on Deploy. This will create a assembly in SQL server and
creates a clr stored procedure automatically. You can do this task manually also. To
do this follow steps,

(1) Create a signed assembly from you code.

To do this, right click on project and click “properties”. Select the “Sign the
assembly” checkbox and select “<New>” from dropdown list. Give a
appropriate name to key and that’s it. Now when you compile the project it
will generate signed assembly.

Page 4 of 7 Clarion Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Pune Version 1.0

 (2) Enable CLR integration for selected database. To do this write following
commands in query analyzer,

1: sp_configure 'clr enabled',1

2: GO
3: reconfigure
4: GO
5: sp_configure 'clr enabled'

(3) Create assembly in SQL Server.

1: CREATE ASSEMBLY
2: LearnCLRIntegration -- Assembly name, you can write which you want
3: FROM
4: 'C:\LearnCLRIntegration.dll' -- write appropriate path and DLL name
5: WITH PERMISSION_SET = SAFE
6: Go

There are three modes for Permission Set: SAFE, UNSAFE,

EXTERNAL_ACCESS; SAFE - DLL can access only local resources (on
same machine), EXTERNAL_ACCESS - DLL can access any resource on
network and same machine. In both case it checks ACL for resource.
UNSAFE - DLL can access anything without restriction. Choose
appropriate permission set for your dll.

Page 5 of 7 Clarion Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Pune Version 1.0

 (4) Create a stored procedure from assembly
1: CREATE PROC clrsp_InsertEmployee
2: (
3: @FirstName varchar(50),
4: @LastName varchar(50),
5: @City varchar(50)
6: )
7: AS
8: EXTERNAL NAME LearnCLRIntegration.StoredProcedures.sp_InsertEmployee -- write name
as [assemblyName].[Namesace.ClassName].[FunctionName]
9: Go

Here you can see your DLL and stored procedure in SQL server as shown
below,

Fig - (9) CLR stored procedure and assembly in SQL Server.

You can use this SP as normal stored procedure in code or in query

analyzer. Below is the code that uses this SP for insert,

1: using System;
2: using System.Collections.Generic;
3: using System.Text;
4: using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data;
5: using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common;
6: using System.Data.Common;

Page 6 of 7 Clarion Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Pune Version 1.0

 7: using System.Data;
8:
9: namespace DAL
10: {
11: public static class EmployeeManagement
12: {
13: public static int InsertEmployee(string FirstName,string LastName,string City)
14: {
15: Database db = DatabaseFactory.CreateDatabase("ConnectionStr");
16: DbCommand cmd = db.GetStoredProcCommand("sp_InsertEmployee");
17: db.AddInParameter(cmd, "FirstName", DbType.AnsiString, FirstName);
18: db.AddInParameter(cmd, "LastName", DbType.AnsiString, LastName);
19: db.AddInParameter(cmd, "City", DbType.AnsiString, City);
20:
21: int intRetValue = (int)db.ExecuteNonQuery(cmd);
22:
23: return intRetValue;
24: }
25:
26:
27: }
28: }

Conclusion:
CLR stored procedures can not be used as replacement of T-SQL statements. Execution
of normal T-SQL statement is much faster than CLR Stored Procedure. We can use CLR
Stored Procedure to avoid cursors and complex computation.

Page 7 of 7 Clarion Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Pune Version 1.0