SQL SERVER – Insert Values of Stored Procedure in Table – Use Table Valued Function

Different ways to insert the values from a stored procedure into a table. Let us quickly look at the conventional way of doing the same.

Please note that this only works with the stored procedure with only one resultset. Let us create a stored procedure that returns one resultset.

/* Create Stored Procedure */
CREATE PROCEDURE TestSP
AS
SELECT GETDATE() AS MyDate, 1 AS IntValue
UNION ALL
SELECT GETDATE()+1 AS MyDate, 2 AS IntValue
GO

Traditional Method:

/* Create TempTable */
CREATE TABLE #tempTable (MyDate SMALLDATETIME, IntValue INT)
GO
/* Run SP and Insert Value in TempTable */
INSERT INTO #tempTable (MyDate, IntValue)
EXEC TestSP
GO
/* SELECT from TempTable */
SELECT *
FROM #tempTable
GO
/* Clean up */
DROP TABLE #tempTable
GO

Alternate Method: Table Valued Function

/* Create table valued function*/
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.TestFn()
RETURNS @retTestFn TABLE
(
MyDate SMALLDATETIME,
IntValue INT
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @MyDate SMALLDATETIME
DECLARE @IntValue INT
INSERT INTO @retTestFn
SELECT GETDATE() AS MyDate, 1 AS IntValue
UNION ALL
SELECT GETDATE()+1 AS MyDate, 2 AS IntValue
RETURN;
END
GO
/* Select data from Table Valued Function */
SELECT *
FROM dbo.TestFn()
GO

It is clear from the resultset that option 2, where I have converted stored procedures logic into the table valued function, is much better in terms of logic as it saves a large number of operations. However, this option should be used carefully. Performance of the stored procedure is “usually” better than that of functions.