Adding table style in this stored procedure?

Question

The other day I found a great stored procedure in this symantec link that converts the results of a TSQL table into an HTML table. Without any CSS parameters, the result works great. I tend to send tons of emails with SQL server results, so this is very helpful.

Now that I was able to make it work, I'm trying to add some style to the table. The problem is that I'm not sure how sending the CSS class as parameter works.

For example, here's how I should call the SP:

EXEC dbo.CustomTable2HTMLv3 'Buffy',@HTML1 OUTPUT,'class="horizontal"',0

The problem is that I have no idea where the CSS class horizontal comes from. In the link I can see the actual CSS , but how does the stored procedure read this?

The css looks like this:

table.horizontal tr:first-child {
background-color: Gray!important;
font-weight: bold;
color: #fff;
}

And this is the stored procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[CustomTable2HTMLv3] (  
@TABLENAME  NVARCHAR(500),  
@OUTPUT   NVARCHAR(MAX) OUTPUT,  
@TBL_STYLE NVARCHAR(1024) = '',  
@ALIGNMENT INT =0 )  
AS  


-- Author:        Ian Atkin (ian.atkin@ict.ox.ac.uk)  

-- Description  
--                      Stored Procedure to take an arbitraty temporary table and return  
--                      the equivalent HTML string .  

-- Version History  
--                1.0 - v1 Release For Symantec Connect  
--      3.0 - v3 Release for Symantec connect.   
--      Table to be outputed both horizonally and vertically. IsNull used  
--      on cell value output to prevent NULLs creaping into HTML string  


-- @exec_str stores the dynamic SQL Query  
-- @ParmDefinition stores the parameter definition for the dynamic SQL  
DECLARE @exec_str  NVARCHAR(MAX)  
DECLARE @ParmDefinition NVARCHAR(500)  



IF @ALIGNMENT=0   
BEGIN  
--We need to use Dynamic SQL at this point so we can expand the input table name parameter  
SET @exec_str= N'  
DECLARE @exec_str  NVARCHAR(MAX)  
DECLARE @ParmDefinition NVARCHAR(500)  
DECLARE @DEBUG INT  
SET @DEBUG=0  

IF @DEBUG=1 Print ''Table2HTML -Horizontal alignment''  

--Make a copy of the original table adding an indexing column. We need to add an index column to the table to facilitate sorting so we can maintain the  
--original table order as we iterate through adding HTML tags to the table fields.  
--New column called CustColHTML_ID (unlikely to be used by someone else!)  
--  

select CustColHTML_ID=0,* INTO #CustomTable2HTML FROM ' + @TABLENAME + '  
IF @DEBUG=1 PRINT ''Created temporary custom table''  

--Now alter the table to add the auto-incrementing index. This will facilitate row finding  
DECLARE @COUNTER INT  
SET @COUNTER=0  
UPDATE #CustomTable2HTML SET @COUNTER = CustColHTML_ID=@COUNTER+1  
IF @DEBUG=1 PRINT ''Added counter column to custom table''  

-- @HTMLROWS will store all the rows in HTML format  
-- @ROW will store each HTML row as fields on each row are iterated through  
-- using dymamic SQL and a cursor  
-- @FIELDS will store the header row for the HTML Table  

DECLARE @HTMLROWS NVARCHAR(MAX) DECLARE @FIELDS NVARCHAR(MAX)  
SET @HTMLROWS='''' DECLARE @ROW NVARCHAR(MAX)  

-- Create the first HTML row for the table (the table header). Ignore our indexing column!  

SELECT @FIELDS=COALESCE(@FIELDS, '' '','''')+''<td>'' + name + ''</td>''  
FROM tempdb.sys.Columns  
WHERE object_id=object_id(''tempdb..#CustomTable2HTML'')  
AND name not like ''CustColHTML_ID''  
SET @FIELDS=@FIELDS + ''</tr>''  
IF @DEBUG=1 PRINT ''table fields: '' + @FIELDS  


-- @ColumnName stores the column name as found by the table cursor  
-- @maxrows is a count of the rows in the table, and @rownum is for marking the  
-- ''current'' row whilst processing  

DECLARE @ColumnName  NVARCHAR(500)  
DECLARE @maxrows INT  
DECLARE @rownum INT  


--Find row count of our temporary table  
SELECT @maxrows=count(*) FROM  #CustomTable2HTML  


--Create a cursor which will look through all the column names specified in the temporary table  
--but exclude the index column we added (CustColHTML_ID)  
DECLARE col CURSOR FOR  
SELECT name FROM tempdb.sys.Columns  
WHERE object_id=object_id(''tempdb..#CustomTable2HTML'')  
AND name not like ''CustColHTML_ID''  
ORDER BY column_id ASC  

--For each row, generate dymanic SQL which requests the each column name in turn by  
--iterating through a cursor  
SET @rowNum=1  
SET @ParmDefinition=N''@ROWOUT NVARCHAR(MAX) OUTPUT,@rowNum_IN INT''  

While @rowNum <= @maxrows  
BEGIN  
  SET @HTMLROWS=@HTMLROWS + ''<tr>''  
  OPEN col  
  FETCH NEXT FROM col INTO @ColumnName  
  IF @DEBUG=1 Print ''@ColumnName: '' + @ColumnName  
  WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS=0  
    BEGIN  
      --Get nth row from table  
      --SET @exec_str=''SELECT @ROWOUT=(select top 1 ['' + @ColumnName + ''] from (select top '' + cast(@rownum as varchar) + '' * from #CustomTable2HTML order by CustColHTML_ID ASC) xxx order by CustColHTML_ID DESC)''  
      SET @exec_str=''SELECT @ROWOUT=(select ['' + @ColumnName + ''] from #CustomTable2HTML where CustColHTML_ID=@rowNum_IN)''  
      IF @DEBUG=1 PRINT ''@exec_str: '' + @exec_str    
   EXEC      sp_executesql  
                  @exec_str,  
                  @ParmDefinition,  
                  @ROWOUT=@ROW OUTPUT,  
            @rowNum_IN=@rownum  

      IF @DEBUG=1 SELECT @ROW as ''@Row''  

      SET @HTMLROWS =@HTMLROWS +  ''<td>'' + IsNull(@ROW,'''') + ''</td>''  
      FETCH NEXT FROM col INTO @ColumnName  
    END  
  CLOSE col  
  SET @rowNum=@rowNum +1  
  SET @HTMLROWS=@HTMLROWS + ''</tr>''  
END  

SET @OUTPUT=''''  
IF @maxrows>0  
SET @OUTPUT= ''<table ' + @TBL_STYLE + '>'' + @FIELDS + @HTMLROWS + ''</table>''  

DEALLOCATE col  
'  
END  
ELSE  
BEGIN  
--This is the SQL String for table columns to be aligned on the vertical  
--So we select a table column, and then iterate through all the rows for that column, this forming  
--one row of our html table.  

SET @exec_str= N'  
DECLARE @exec_str  NVARCHAR(MAX)  
DECLARE @ParmDefinition NVARCHAR(500)  
DECLARE @DEBUG INT  
SET @DEBUG=0  

IF @DEBUG=1 Print ''Table2HTML -Vertical alignment''  

--Make a copy of the original table adding an indexing column. We need to add an index column to the table to facilitate sorting so we can maintain the  
--original table order as we iterate through adding HTML tags to the table fields.  
--New column called CustColHTML_ID (unlikely to be used by someone else!)  
--  

select CustColHTML_ID=0,* INTO #CustomTable2HTML FROM ' + @TABLENAME + '  

IF @DEBUG=1 PRINT ''CustomTable2HTMLv2: Modfied temporary table''   

--Now alter the table to add the auto-incrementing index. This will facilitate row finding  
DECLARE @COUNTER INT  
SET @COUNTER=0  
UPDATE #CustomTable2HTML SET @COUNTER = CustColHTML_ID=@COUNTER+1  

-- @HTMLROWS will store all the rows in HTML format  
-- @ROW will store each HTML row as fields on each row are iterated through  
-- using dymamic SQL and a cursor  

DECLARE @HTMLROWS NVARCHAR(MAX)   
DECLARE @ROW NVARCHAR(MAX)  

SET @HTMLROWS=''''   


-- @ColumnName stores the column name as found by the table cursor  
-- @maxrows is a count of the rows in the table  

DECLARE @ColumnName  NVARCHAR(500)  
DECLARE @maxrows INT  

--Find row count of our temporary table  
--This is used here purely to see if we have any data to output  
SELECT @maxrows=count(*) FROM  #CustomTable2HTML  

--Create a cursor which will iterate through all the column names in the temporary table  
--(excepting the one we added above)  

DECLARE col CURSOR FOR  
SELECT name FROM tempdb.sys.Columns  
WHERE object_id=object_id(''tempdb..#CustomTable2HTML'')  
AND name not like ''CustColHTML_ID''  
ORDER BY column_id ASC  

--For each **HTML** row, we need to for each iterate through each table column as the outer loop.  
--Once the column name is identified, we use Coalesc to combine all the column values into a single string.  

SET @ParmDefinition=N''@COLOUT NVARCHAR(MAX) OUTPUT''  

OPEN col  
FETCH NEXT FROM col INTO @ColumnName  
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS=0  
  BEGIN  

   --Using current column name, grab all column values and combine into an HTML cell string using COALESCE  
     SET @ROW=''''  
     SET @exec_str='' SELECT @COLOUT=COALESCE(@COLOUT + ''''</td>'''','''''''') + ''''<td>'''' + Cast(IsNull(['' + @ColumnName + ''],'''''''') as nvarchar(max))  from  #CustomTable2HTML ''  
     IF @DEBUG=1 PRINT ''@exec_str: '' + @exec_str  
   EXEC      sp_executesql  
             @exec_str,  
             @ParmDefinition,  
             @COLOUT=@ROW OUTPUT  

   SET @HTMLROWS =@HTMLROWS +  ''<tr>'' + ''<td>'' + @ColumnName + ''</td>''  + @ROW + ''</tr>''  
   IF @DEBUG=1 SELECT @ROW as ''Current Row''  
   IF @DEBUG=1 SELECT @HTMLROWS as ''HTML so far..''  

  FETCH NEXT FROM col INTO @ColumnName  
  END  
CLOSE col  


SET @OUTPUT=''''  
IF @maxrows>0  
SET @OUTPUT= ''<table ' + @TBL_STYLE + '>'' + @HTMLROWS + ''</table>''  

DEALLOCATE col  
'  
END  



DECLARE @ParamDefinition nvarchar(max)  
SET @ParamDefinition=N'@OUTPUT NVARCHAR(MAX) OUTPUT'  



--Execute Dynamic SQL. HTML table is stored in @OUTPUT which is passed back up (as it's  
--a parameter to this SP)  
EXEC sp_executesql @exec_str,  
@ParamDefinition,  
@OUTPUT=@OUTPUT OUTPUT  

RETURN 1  

Answer 1

So, the following is mentioned in the link you have provided:

"In order to help you style your tables, in the zip download I've also included an HTML file which has an embedded style sheet in the head element."

So, if you open the html file they mention there, you will see they have declared the style inside the html itself. You can only create the table via SQL and if you like, attach the class name passing it as a parameter, BUT you will need to generate a full HTML file containing the CSS (or having it referenced, it doesn't matter) in order to have your table styled.

As I mentioned in the comment, if the table will be printed horizontally or vertically is only defined by the @alignment attribute, not by the CSS class . (You can see this in the stored procedure code)