Pass Array Parameter in SqlCommand
I am trying to pass array parameter to SQL commnd in C# like below, but it does not work. Does anyone meet it before?
string sqlCommand = "SELECT * from TableA WHERE Age IN (@Age)";
SqlConnection sqlCon = new SqlConnection(connectString);
SqlCommand sqlComm = new SqlCommand();
sqlComm.Connection = sqlCon;
sqlComm.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.Text;
sqlComm.CommandText = sqlCommand;
sqlComm.CommandTimeout = 300;
sqlComm.Parameters.Add("@Age", SqlDbType.NVarChar);
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
foreach (ListItem item in ddlAge.Items)
{
if (item.Selected)
{
sb.Append(item.Text + ",");
}
}
sqlComm.Parameters["@Age"].Value = sb.ToString().TrimEnd(',');
Solution 1:
You will need to add the values in the array one at a time.
var parameters = new string[items.Length];
var cmd = new SqlCommand();
for (int i = 0; i < items.Length; i++)
{
parameters[i] = string.Format("@Age{0}", i);
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue(parameters[i], items[i]);
}
cmd.CommandText = string.Format("SELECT * from TableA WHERE Age IN ({0})", string.Join(", ", parameters));
cmd.Connection = new SqlConnection(connStr);
UPDATE: Here is an extended and reusable solution that uses Adam's answer along with his suggested edit. I improved it a bit and made it an extension method to make it even easier to call.
public static class SqlCommandExt
{
/// <summary>
/// This will add an array of parameters to a SqlCommand. This is used for an IN statement.
/// Use the returned value for the IN part of your SQL call. (i.e. SELECT * FROM table WHERE field IN ({paramNameRoot}))
/// </summary>
/// <param name="cmd">The SqlCommand object to add parameters to.</param>
/// <param name="paramNameRoot">What the parameter should be named followed by a unique value for each value. This value surrounded by {} in the CommandText will be replaced.</param>
/// <param name="values">The array of strings that need to be added as parameters.</param>
/// <param name="dbType">One of the System.Data.SqlDbType values. If null, determines type based on T.</param>
/// <param name="size">The maximum size, in bytes, of the data within the column. The default value is inferred from the parameter value.</param>
public static SqlParameter[] AddArrayParameters<T>(this SqlCommand cmd, string paramNameRoot, IEnumerable<T> values, SqlDbType? dbType = null, int? size = null)
{
/* An array cannot be simply added as a parameter to a SqlCommand so we need to loop through things and add it manually.
* Each item in the array will end up being it's own SqlParameter so the return value for this must be used as part of the
* IN statement in the CommandText.
*/
var parameters = new List<SqlParameter>();
var parameterNames = new List<string>();
var paramNbr = 1;
foreach (var value in values)
{
var paramName = string.Format("@{0}{1}", paramNameRoot, paramNbr++);
parameterNames.Add(paramName);
SqlParameter p = new SqlParameter(paramName, value);
if (dbType.HasValue)
p.SqlDbType = dbType.Value;
if (size.HasValue)
p.Size = size.Value;
cmd.Parameters.Add(p);
parameters.Add(p);
}
cmd.CommandText = cmd.CommandText.Replace("{" + paramNameRoot + "}", string.Join(",", parameterNames));
return parameters.ToArray();
}
}
It is called like this...
var cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM TableA WHERE Age IN ({Age})");
cmd.AddArrayParameters("Age", new int[] { 1, 2, 3 });
Notice the "{Age}" in the sql statement is the same as the parameter name we are sending to AddArrayParameters. AddArrayParameters will replace the value with the correct parameters.
Solution 2:
I wanted to expand on the answer that Brian contributed to make this easily usable in other places.
/// <summary>
/// This will add an array of parameters to a SqlCommand. This is used for an IN statement.
/// Use the returned value for the IN part of your SQL call. (i.e. SELECT * FROM table WHERE field IN (returnValue))
/// </summary>
/// <param name="sqlCommand">The SqlCommand object to add parameters to.</param>
/// <param name="array">The array of strings that need to be added as parameters.</param>
/// <param name="paramName">What the parameter should be named.</param>
protected string AddArrayParameters(SqlCommand sqlCommand, string[] array, string paramName)
{
/* An array cannot be simply added as a parameter to a SqlCommand so we need to loop through things and add it manually.
* Each item in the array will end up being it's own SqlParameter so the return value for this must be used as part of the
* IN statement in the CommandText.
*/
var parameters = new string[array.Length];
for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
{
parameters[i] = string.Format("@{0}{1}", paramName, i);
sqlCommand.Parameters.AddWithValue(parameters[i], array[i]);
}
return string.Join(", ", parameters);
}
You can use this new function as follows:
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand();
string ageParameters = AddArrayParameters(cmd, agesArray, "Age");
sql = string.Format("SELECT * FROM TableA WHERE Age IN ({0})", ageParameters);
cmd.CommandText = sql;
Edit: Here is a generic variation that works with an array of values of any type and is usable as an extension method:
public static class Extensions
{
public static void AddArrayParameters<T>(this SqlCommand cmd, string name, IEnumerable<T> values)
{
name = name.StartsWith("@") ? name : "@" + name;
var names = string.Join(", ", values.Select((value, i) => {
var paramName = name + i;
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue(paramName, value);
return paramName;
}));
cmd.CommandText = cmd.CommandText.Replace(name, names);
}
}
You can then use this extension method as follows:
var ageList = new List<int> { 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 };
var cmd = new SqlCommand();
cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE Age IN (@Age)";
cmd.AddArrayParameters("Age", ageList);
Make sure you set the CommandText before calling AddArrayParameters.
Also make sure your parameter name won't partially match anything else in your statement (i.e. @AgeOfChild)
Solution 3:
If you can use a tool like "dapper", this can be simply:
int[] ages = { 20, 21, 22 }; // could be any common list-like type
var rows = connection.Query<YourType>("SELECT * from TableA WHERE Age IN @ages",
new { ages }).ToList();
Dapper will handle unwrapping this to individual parameters for you.
Solution 4:
If you are using MS SQL Server 2008 and above you can use table-valued parameters like described here http://www.sommarskog.se/arrays-in-sql-2008.html.
1. Create a table type for each parameter type you will be using
The following command creates a table type for integers:
create type int32_id_list as table (id int not null primary key)
2. Implement helper methods
public static SqlCommand AddParameter<T>(this SqlCommand command, string name, IEnumerable<T> ids)
{
var parameter = command.CreateParameter();
parameter.ParameterName = name;
parameter.TypeName = typeof(T).Name.ToLowerInvariant() + "_id_list";
parameter.SqlDbType = SqlDbType.Structured;
parameter.Direction = ParameterDirection.Input;
parameter.Value = CreateIdList(ids);
command.Parameters.Add(parameter);
return command;
}
private static DataTable CreateIdList<T>(IEnumerable<T> ids)
{
var table = new DataTable();
table.Columns.Add("id", typeof (T));
foreach (var id in ids)
{
table.Rows.Add(id);
}
return table;
}
3. Use it like this
cmd.CommandText = "select * from TableA where Age in (select id from @age)";
cmd.AddParameter("@age", new [] {1,2,3,4,5});
Solution 5:
Since there is a method on
SqlCommand.Parameters.AddWithValue(parameterName, value)
it might be more convenient to create a method accepting a parameter (name) to replace and a list of values. It is not on the Parameters level (like AddWithValue) but on command itself so it's better to call it AddParametersWithValues and not just AddWithValues:
query:
SELECT * from TableA WHERE Age IN (@age)
usage:
sqlCommand.AddParametersWithValues("@age", 1, 2, 3);
the extension method:
public static class SqlCommandExtensions
{
public static void AddParametersWithValues<T>(this SqlCommand cmd, string parameterName, params T[] values)
{
var parameterNames = new List<string>();
for(int i = 0; i < values.Count(); i++)
{
var paramName = @"@param" + i;
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue(paramName, values.ElementAt(i));
parameterNames.Add(paramName);
}
cmd.CommandText = cmd.CommandText.Replace(parameterName, string.Join(",", parameterNames));
}
}