SQL server stored procedure return a table

Consider creating a function which can return a table and be used in a query.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186755.aspx

The main difference between a function and a procedure is that a function makes no changes to any table. It only returns a value.

In this example I'm creating a query to give me the counts of all the columns in a given table which aren't null or empty.

There are probably many ways to clean this up. But it illustrates a function well.

USE Northwind

CREATE FUNCTION usp_listFields(@schema VARCHAR(50), @table VARCHAR(50))
RETURNS @query TABLE (
    FieldName VARCHAR(255)
    )
BEGIN
    INSERT @query
    SELECT
        'SELECT ''' + @table+'~'+RTRIM(COLUMN_NAME)+'~''+CONVERT(VARCHAR, COUNT(*)) '+
    'FROM '+@schema+'.'+@table+' '+
          ' WHERE isnull("'+RTRIM(COLUMN_NAME)+'",'''')<>'''' UNION'
    FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_NAME = @table and TABLE_SCHEMA = @schema
    RETURN
END

Then executing the function with

SELECT * FROM usp_listFields('Employees')

produces a number of rows like:

SELECT 'Employees~EmployeeID~'+CONVERT(VARCHAR, COUNT(*)) FROM dbo.Employees  WHERE isnull("EmployeeID",'')<>'' UNION
SELECT 'Employees~LastName~'+CONVERT(VARCHAR, COUNT(*)) FROM dbo.Employees  WHERE isnull("LastName",'')<>'' UNION
SELECT 'Employees~FirstName~'+CONVERT(VARCHAR, COUNT(*)) FROM dbo.Employees  WHERE isnull("FirstName",'')<>'' UNION

I do this frequently using Table Types to ensure more consistency and simplify code. You can't technically return "a table", but you can return a result set and using INSERT INTO .. EXEC ... syntax, you can clearly call a PROC and store the results into a table type. In the following example I'm actually passing a table into a PROC along with another param I need to add logic, then I'm effectively "returning a table" and can then work with that as a table variable.

/****** Check if my table type and/or proc exists and drop them ******/
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE type = 'P' AND name = 'returnTableTypeData')
DROP PROCEDURE returnTableTypeData
GO
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.types WHERE is_table_type = 1 AND name = 'myTableType')
DROP TYPE myTableType
GO

/****** Create the type that I'll pass into the proc and return from it ******/
CREATE TYPE [dbo].[myTableType] AS TABLE(
    [someInt] [int] NULL,
    [somenVarChar] [nvarchar](100) NULL
)
GO

CREATE PROC returnTableTypeData
    @someInputInt INT,
    @myInputTable myTableType READONLY --Must be readonly because
AS
BEGIN

    --Return the subset of data consistent with the type
    SELECT
        *
    FROM
        @myInputTable
    WHERE
        someInt < @someInputInt

END
GO


DECLARE @myInputTableOrig myTableType
DECLARE @myUpdatedTable myTableType

INSERT INTO @myInputTableOrig ( someInt,somenVarChar )
VALUES ( 0, N'Value 0' ), ( 1, N'Value 1' ), ( 2, N'Value 2' )

INSERT INTO @myUpdatedTable EXEC returnTableTypeData @someInputInt=1, @myInputTable=@myInputTableOrig

SELECT * FROM @myUpdatedTable


DROP PROCEDURE returnTableTypeData
GO
DROP TYPE myTableType
GO

A procedure can't return a table as such. However you can select from a table in a procedure and direct it into a table (or table variable) like this:

create procedure p_x
as
begin
declare @t table(col1 varchar(10), col2 float, col3 float, col4 float)
insert @t values('a', 1,1,1)
insert @t values('b', 2,2,2)

select * from @t
end
go

declare @t table(col1 varchar(10), col2 float, col3 float, col4 float)
insert @t
exec p_x

select * from @t