Execute a stored procedure in another database with params

Question

I need to get the column names of a table that's located in another database. The following script works for the active database but I need to run it against another database in the same server instance: ``` SELECT @ColumnList = CASE WHEN @ColumnList IS NULL THEN name WHEN @ColumnList IS NOT NULL THEN @ColumnList + ',' + name END FROM sys.columns WHERE object_id = Object_Id(@TableName); ``` Here's the issue... the database isn't known at compile time. Its passed into a stored procedure at runtime. So I see no alternative but to use dynamic sql. In the past I've tried using `Use [DBName]` in a dynamic sql script but always ran into problems until I realized I could do this: ``` SET @SQL = 'SELECT Foo FROM Bar' SET @sp_executesql = quotename(@DatabaseName) + '..sp_executesql' EXECUTE @sp_executesql @SQL ``` But I'm having difficulty figuring out how to do this with the script I mentioned above. My first attempt looked like: ``` -- @DatabaseName and @TableName are parameters of the -- st…

Accepted Answer

I'm not sure where you picked up that syntax, but here is how I would do it:

```
-- I assume these are parameters, so declaring them separately:
DECLARE 
    @DatabaseName SYSNAME = N'db_name',
    @TableName SYSNAME = N'table_name';

DECLARE 
    @sql NVARCHAR(MAX), 
    @columnList NVARCHAR(MAX);

SELECT @sql = N'SELECT @ColumnList = COALESCE(@ColumnList + '','', '''') 
    + c.name
    FROM [$db$].sys.columns AS c
    INNER JOIN [$db$].sys.tables AS o
    ON c.[object_id] = o.[object_id]
    WHERE o.name = @TableName;';

SET @sql = REPLACE(@sql, '$db$', @DatabaseName);

EXEC sp_executesql @sql, 
    N'@ColumnList NVARCHAR(MAX) OUTPUT, @TableName SYSNAME',
    @ColumnList OUTPUT, @TableName;

SELECT @ColumnList
```

Execute a stored procedure in another database with params

Solution

Problem