In this article I will explain with an example, how to work with Stored Procedure in ADO.Net using C# and VB.Net in ASP.Net.
 
 

What is Stored Procedure?

A Stored Procedure is a group of SQL queries that can be saved and reused multiple times.
It is nothing but a group of SQL statements that accepts some input in the form of parameters, performs some task, and may or may not return a value.
It is very useful as it reduces the need for rewriting SQL queries. It enhances efficiency, reusability, and security in database management.
Users can also pass parameters to Stored Procedure so that the Stored Procedure can act on the passed parameter values.
Stored Procedure are created to perform one or more DML operations on the database.
 

Syntax to Create a Stored Procedure

CREATE PROCEDURE PROCEDURE_NAME
     parameter1 data_type
    ,parameter2 data_type
    ,…
AS
BEGIN
     -- SQL statements to be executed.
END
 

Syntax to Execute the Stored Procedure

EXEC PROCEDURE_NAME parameter1_value, parameter2_value,..
 
 

Benefits of Using Stored Procedures

1. Performance: Stored procedures are precompiled and optimized, which often results in better performance compared to executing individual SQL statements from the application.
2. Reduced Network Traffic: Since stored procedures execute on the server side, only the call to execute the procedure and the parameters need to be sent over the network, reducing the amount of data transferred.
3. Code Reusability: Stored procedures can be reused across multiple applications or different parts of the same application, promoting consistency and reducing code duplication.
4. Security: By using stored procedures, you can encapsulate the database logic and control access more effectively. Users can be granted permission to execute the stored procedure without direct access to the underlying tables.
5. Maintainability: Changes to database logic can be made in one place (the stored procedure) rather than updating multiple application codebases.
Note: For more details on using Stored Procedures in SQL Server, please refer my article Using Stored Procedures in SQL Server Database.
 
 

Database

I have made use of the following table Customers with the schema as follows.
Working with Stored Procedures in ADO.Net
 
I have already inserted few records in the table.
Working with Stored Procedures in ADO.Net
 
Note: You can download the database table SQL by clicking the download link below.
          Download SQL file
 
 

Implementing Stored Procedure

The following Stored Procedure is used to display the records from SQL Server database.
CREATE PROCEDURE [Customers_GetCustomers]
AS
BEGIN
    SET NOCOUNT ON;
    SELECT [CustomerId]
          ,[Name]
          ,[Country]
    FROM [Customers]
END
 
 

HTML Markup

The HTML Markup consists of following controls:
GridView – For displaying data.

Columns

The GridView consists of fouor BoundField columns
<asp:GridView ID="gvCustomers" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false">
    <Columns>
        <asp:BoundField DataField="CustomerId" HeaderText="Customer Id" />
        <asp:BoundField DataField="Name" HeaderText="Name" />
        <asp:BoundField DataField="Country" HeaderText="Country" />
    </Columns>
</asp:GridView>
 
 

Namespaces

You will need to import the following namespaces.
C#
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Configuration;
 
VB.Net
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Imports System.Configuration
 
 

Working with Stored Procedure in C# and VB.Net

Inside the Page_Load event handler, the records are fetched from the Customers Table of SQL Server database using Stored Procedure and DataTable is filled.
Finally, the DataTable is assigned to the DataSource property of GridView and GridView is populated.
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!this.IsPostBack)
    {
        string spName = "Customers_GetCustomers";
        string constr = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["constr"].ConnectionString;
        using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(constr))
        {
            using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(spName, con))
            {
                cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
                using (SqlDataAdapter sda = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd))
                {
                    using (DataTable dt = new DataTable())
                    {
                        sda.Fill(dt);
                        gvCustomers.DataSource = dt;
                        gvCustomers.DataBind();
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
 
VB.Net
Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    If Not Me.IsPostBack Then
        Dim spName As String = "Customers_GetCustomers"
        Dim constr As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("constr").ConnectionString
        Using con As New SqlConnection(constr)
            Using cmd As New SqlCommand(spName, con)
                cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
                Using sda As New SqlDataAdapter(cmd)
                    Using dt As New DataTable()
                        sda.Fill(dt)
                        gvCustomers.DataSource = dt
                        gvCustomers.DataBind()
                    End Using
                End Using
            End Using
        End Using
    End If
End Sub
 
 

Screenshot

Working with Stored Procedures in ADO.Net
 
 

Downloads

Download Code