ExecuteNonQuery always returns -1

Question

I have created a stored procedure for deleting record. In this stored procedure I am first checking for the usage of data which I am going to delete. If it is being used, then the stored procedure will return -2 otherwise it deletes the record.

But the problem is that even the record exists its return -1 instead of -2. I have also set the NOCOUNT OFF but don't know where is the problem.

I know this question is already answered by setting NOCOUNT OFF but its not working for me

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[spDeletePIDNumber]
    @Id int
AS
BEGIN
    SET NOCOUNT OFF;

    -- Insert statements for procedure here
    if(exists(select * from tblBills where PID = @Id))
    begin
        return -2
    end
    else
    begin
        Delete from HelperPIDNumber 
        where Id = @Id
    end
END

public int DeletePIDNumber(int Id)
{
        try
        {
            int result = 0;

            using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(Properties.Settings.Default.connection))
            {
                var cmd = new SqlCommand("spDeletePIDNumber", conn);
                cmd.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.StoredProcedure;
                cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Id", Id);

                conn.Open();
                result = cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
            }

            return result;
        }
        catch
        {
            throw;
        }
    }

Answer 1

From the ExecuteNonQuery documentation:

Executes a Transact-SQL statement against the connection and returns the number of rows affected .

Having SET NOCOUNT ON; in your procedure explicitely tells to SQL Server not to return a row count. In that case the return of the ExecuteNonQuery function is -1.

Also if the procedure does not affect any rows, it will not return a row count either even if NOCOUNT is OFF . In that case the return will also be -1.

---

What you appear to want to do is get the return value of the stored procedure. You will not get that from the result of ExecuteNonQuery . Please refer to this question on StackOverflow: Getting return value from stored procedure in ADO.NET

Answer 2

Generally ExecuteNonQuery will return number of affected records. It will return -1 in two cases:

1. When SET NOCOUNT ON has been set. From your code, its clear, you have SET NOCOUNT OFF and so this is not an issue at your case.

2. If number of affected rows is nothing, it will return -1 . In your case, it looks like you are checking the data exists from one table tblBills and delete from another table HelperPIDNumber . So there is more chance there will be no matching record and nothing deleted.

Please check the point # 2 above.

if( exists(select * from tblBills where PID = @Id))
begin
    return -2
end
else
begin
    Delete from HelperPIDNumber where Id = @Id
end

Answer 3

使用cmd.ExecuteScalar()代替cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()作为cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()仅返回受影响的行数，而不返回您选择的值。