Control flow in T-SQL SP using IF..ELSE IF - are there other ways?

Also you can try to formulate your answer in the form of a SELECT CASE Statement. You can then later create simple if then's that use your results if needed as you have narrowed down the possibilities.

SELECT @Result =   
CASE @inputParam   
WHEN 1 THEN 1   
WHEN 2 THEN 2   
WHEN 3 THEN 1   
ELSE 4   
END  

IF @Result = 1   
BEGIN  
...  
END  

IF @Result = 2   
BEGIN   
....  
END  

IF @Result = 4   
BEGIN   
//Error handling code   
END   

IF...ELSE... is pretty much what we've got in T-SQL. There is nothing like structured programming's CASE statement. If you have an extended set of ...ELSE IF...s to deal with, be sure to include BEGIN...END for each block to keep things clear, and always remember, consistent indentation is your friend!


No, but you should be careful when using IF...ELSE...END IF in stored procs. If your code blocks are radically different, you may suffer from poor performance because the procedure plan will need to be re-cached each time. If it's a high-performance system, you may want to compile separate stored procs for each code block, and have your application decide which proc to call at the appropriate time.


The Transact-SQL control-of-flow language keywords are:

BEGIN...END
BREAK
CONTINUE
GOTO label
IF...ELSE
RETURN
THROW
TRY...CATCH
WAITFOR
WHILE