Dynamic database selection?

I'm working on a script to convert data from one software package
to another. Greatly simplified, it looks something like

create procedure import_widget as
begin

insert into our_widget (foo, bar)
select baz, quux from their_db.dbo.their_widget

end
go

The problem is that the name of the source database varies from
one system to another, so I want to pass the database name as a
parameter. I think I could do the following, but is there a
better way to go about it?

create procedure import_widget (@.db_name sysname) as
begin

exec 'create view their_widget as select * from '
+ @.db_name + '.dbo.their_widget'

insert into our_widget (foo, bar)
select baz, quux from their_widget

drop view their_widget

end
goEd Murphy (emurphy42@.socal.rr.com) writes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by

The problem is that the name of the source database varies from
one system to another, so I want to pass the database name as a
parameter. I think I could do the following, but is there a
better way to go about it?

On SQL 2005 you could use synonyms:

CREATE SYNONYM mytable AS thatdatabase.dbo.hertable

When you move to a new database you only need to update the synonyms.

--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@.sommarskog.se
Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...oads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodin...ions/books.mspx|||Erland Sommarskog wrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by

Ed Murphy (emurphy42@.socal.rr.com) writes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by

>The problem is that the name of the source database varies from
>one system to another, so I want to pass the database name as a
>parameter. I think I could do the following, but is there a
>better way to go about it?

>
On SQL 2005 you could use synonyms:
>
CREATE SYNONYM mytable AS thatdatabase.dbo.hertable
>
When you move to a new database you only need to update the synonyms.

Alas, this is SQL 2000 (or at least I expect it will be in a
significant number of cases).|||Ed Murphy (emurphy42@.socal.rr.com) writes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by

Erland Sommarskog wrote:
>

Quote:

Originally Posted by

>Ed Murphy (emurphy42@.socal.rr.com) writes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by

>>The problem is that the name of the source database varies from
>>one system to another, so I want to pass the database name as a
>>parameter. I think I could do the following, but is there a
>>better way to go about it?

>>
>On SQL 2005 you could use synonyms:
>>
> CREATE SYNONYM mytable AS thatdatabase.dbo.hertable
>>
>When you move to a new database you only need to update the synonyms.

>
Alas, this is SQL 2000 (or at least I expect it will be in a
significant number of cases).

Then the best may be to have a stored procedure in the other database
to retreive that data. You still need to construct the procedure name
dynamically, but since EXEC accepts a variable for the procedure name,
you don't have to use dynamic SQL.

That is you can say:

SELECT @.sp_name = @.dbname + '..that_sp'
EXEC @.sp_name

--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@.sommarskog.se
Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...oads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodin...ions/books.mspx