Stored Procedure sometimes returns short, sometimes returns int

Question

I'm working with a legacy codebase and need to call a stored procedure that I'm not allowed to modify. This stored procedure returns a row or multiple rows of validation data.

Example of result set (two columns, code and text):

0 "success"

OR

3 "short error"
4 "detailed error"

In the procedure itself, the message is selected simply as:

Select 0 as code, 'success' as text

Problem:

I'm using Entity Framework to map the result of this stored procedure to a custom class:

public class ValidationResult
{
    public int code { get; set; }
    public string text { get; set; }
}

The call itself:

var result = context.Database.SqlQuery<ValidationResult>(@"old_sproc").ToList();

I've written some integration tests, and have noticed that when the procedure returns the success message, the 0 comes across as a short. When it returns a non-zero message, it comes across as an int. I assumed that setting code as an int, the short would fit in. Unfortunately, I get the following exception for my success test:

The specified cast from a materialized 'System.Int16' type to the 'System.Int32' type is not valid.

When I switch code to a short to make my success test pass, my failure test fails with the following exception:

The specified cast from a materialized 'System.Int32' type to the 'System.Int16' type is not valid.

ADO.NET is an answer

One solution is to fall back to ADO.NET's SqlDataReader object, so I have that as a fallback solution. I'm wondering if there is something I can do on the EF side to get this working, though.

Answer 1

(This is a follow-up to my previous answer. It is only relevant for sql-server-2012 and later.)

Short answer:

var sql = "EXECUTE old_sproc WITH RESULT SETS ((code INT, text VARCHAR(MAX)))";
var result = context.Database.SqlQuery<ValidationResult(sql).ToList();

Approach taken in this answer:

This answer will follow in your footsteps and use SqlQuery to execute your stored procedure. (Why not an altogether different approach? Because there might not be any alternative. I'll go into this further below.)

Let's start with an observation about your current code:

var result = context.Database.SqlQuery<ValidationResult>(@"old_sproc").ToList();

The query text "old_sproc" is really abbreviated T-SQL for "EXECUTE old_sproc". I am mentioning this because it's easy to think that SqlQuery somehow treats the name of a stored procedure specially; but no, this is actually a regular T-SQL statement.

In this answer, we will modify your current SQL only a tiny bit.

Implicit type conversions with the WITH RESULT SETS clause:

So let's stay with what you're already doing: EXECUTE the stored procedure via SqlQuery. Starting with SQL Server 2012, the EXECUTE statement supports an optional clause called WITH RESULT SETS that allows you to specify what result sets you expect to get back. SQL Server will attempt to perform implicit type conversions if the actual result sets do not match that specification.

In your case, you might do this:

var sql = "EXECUTE old_sproc WITH RESULT SETS ((code INT, text VARCHAR(MAX)))";
var result = context.Database.SqlQuery<ValidationResult(sql).ToList();

The added clause states that you expect to get back one result set having a code INT and a text VARCHAR(MAX) column. The important bit is code INT: If the stored procedure happens to produce SMALLINT values for code, SQL Server will perform the conversion to INT for you.

Implicit conversions could take you even further: For example, you could specify code as VARCHAR(…) or even NUMERIC(…) (and change your C# properties to string or decimal, respectively).

If you're using Entity Framework's SqlQuery method, it's unlikely to get any neater than that.

For quick reference, here are some quotes from the linked-to MSDN reference page:

"The actual result set being returned during execution can differ from the result defined using the WITH RESULT SETS clause in one of the following ways: number of result sets, number of columns, column name, nullability, and data type."

"If the data types differ, an implicit conversion to the defined data type is performed."

Do I have to write a SQL query? Isn't there another (more ORM) way?

None that I am aware of.

Entity Framework has been evolving in a "Code First" direction in the recent past (it's at version 6 at this time of writing), and that trend is likely to continue.

The book "Programming Entity Framework Code First" by Julie Lerman & Rowan Miller (published in 2012 by O'Reilly) has a short chapter "Working with Stored Procedures", which contains two code examples; both of which use SqlQuery to map a stored procedure's result set.

I guess that if these two EF experts do not show another way of mapping stored procedures, then perhaps EF currently does not offer any alternative to SqlQuery.

(P.S.: Admittedly the OP's main problem is not stored procedures per se; it's making EF perform an automatic type conversion. Even then, I am not aware of another way than the one shown here.)

Answer 2

If you can't alter the stored procedure itself, you could create a wrapper stored procedure which alters the data in some way, and have EF call that.

Not ideal of course, but may be an option.

Answer 3

(Note: If you're working with SQL Server 2012 or later, see my follow-up answer, which shows a much shorter, neater way of doing the same thing described here.)

Here's a solution that stays in EF land and does not require any database schema changes.

Since you can pass any valid SQL to the SqlQuery method, nothing stops you from passing it a multi-statement script that:

1. DECLAREs a temporary table;
2. EXECUTEs the stored procedure and INSERTs its result into the temporary table;
3. SELECTs the final result from that temporary table.

The last step is where you can apply any further post-processing, such as a type conversion.

const string sql = @"DECLARE @temp TABLE ([code] INT, [text] VARCHAR(MAX));
                     INSERT INTO @temp EXECUTE [old_sproc];
                     SELECT CONVERT(INT, [code]) AS [code], [text] FROM @temp;";
                     //     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^      ^^^^^^^^^^^
                     // this conversion might not actually be necessary
                     // since @temp.code is already declared INT, i.e.
                     // SQL Server might already have coerced SMALLINT
                     // values to INT values during the INSERT.

var result = context.Database.SqlQuery<ValidationResult>(sql).ToList();

Answer 4

In the entity framework data modeler page (Model Browser), either change the functional mapping to a specific int which works for the ValidationResult class or create a new functional mapping result class which has the appropriate int and use that as the resulting DTO class.

I leave this process a touch vague because I do not have access to the actual database; instead I provide the process to either create a new functional mapping or modify an existing one. Trial and error will help you overcome the incorrect functional mapping.

---

Another trick to have EF generate the right information is temporarily drop the stored proc and have a new one return a stub select such as:

select  1 AS Code , 'Text' as text

RETURN @@ROWCOUNT

The reasoning for this is that sometimes EF can't determine what the stored procedure ultimately returns. If that is the case, temporarily creating the stub return and generating EF from it provides a clear picture for the mappings. Then returning the sproc to its original code after an update sometimes does the trick.

Answer 5

Ignore the int/short. the text is always the same for the same number right? get just the text. have a switch case. Yes its a hack but unless you can fix the root of the problem (and you say you are not allowed) then you should go with the hack that will take the least amount of time to create and will not cause problems down the road for the next person maintaining the code. if this stored proc is legacy it will not have any new kinds of results in the future. and this solution together with a nice comment solves this and lets you go back to creating value somewhere else.

Answer 6

Cast the static message code to an int:

Select cast(0 as int) as code, 'success' as text

This ensures the literal returned is consistent with the int returned by the other query. Leave the ValidationResult.code declared as an int.

Note: I know I missed the part in the question about the SP can't be modified, but given that this makes the answer quite complicated, I'm leaving this here for others who may have the same problem, but are able to solve it much more easily by modifying the SP. This does work if you have a return type inconsistency in the SP and modifying is an option.

Answer 7

There is a workaround you could use if you don't find a better solution. Let it be an int. It will work for all error codes. If you get an exception you know the result was a success so you can add a try/catch for that specific exception. It's not pretty and depending on how much this runs it might impact performance.

Another idea, have you tried changing the type of code to object?