Insert multiple parent child records into SQL Server 2008 in a stored procedure

Question

I have two tables Portfolio and Trades . Once the portfolio data has been inserted, using that Id, I insert the trades details into the Trades table.

I will get multiple portfolio in a single request, for example, if I get two portfolio P1 and P2, I need to insert two records into the Portfolio table, and the corresponding trades details into the Trades table once for every portfolio.

How to pass this entire data in a single stored procedure call in order to maintain the transaction?

Answer 1

Starting with sql server 2008, you can use table valued parameter s to pass a table structured data in a single call to a stored procedure.
However, Not every client supports this. It's easy to use with .Net, but I doubt it's possible with VBScript, for instance.

In order to use a table valued parameter you must first create a user defined table type:

CREATE TYPE UDT_Portfolio As Table
(
    Portfolio_Id int,
    Portfolio_Name varchar(10),
    .....
) 

in your case, since you want to pass 2 tables, you need 2 types:

CREATE TYPE UDT_Trades As Table
(
    Trade_Id int,
    Trade_Portfolio_Id int,
    Trade_Name varchar(10),
    ....
)

Now, to use them in a stored procedure is very easy:

CREATE PROCEDURE stp_InsertPortfoliosAndTrades
(
     @Portfolio UDT_Portfolio readonly, -- Note: Readonly is a must
     @Trade UDT_Trades readonly
)
AS

-- stored procedure logic here

Note #1: : Table valued parameters are readonly. meaning you can't use update, insert or delete statements on them. However, you can declare a table valued variable inside a stored procedure and use insert, update, and deletes on that.

Note #2: If your portfolio id is an identity column, then when inserting the data to the portfolio table you will need to use an output clause to get the new id values.