T-SQL Throw Exception

Question

I am facing the famous 'Incorrect syntax' while using a THROW statement in a T-SQL stored procedure. I have Googled it and checked the questions on StackOverflow but the solutions proposed (and strangely, accepted) do not work for me.

I am modifying a stored procedure as follows:

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[CONVERT_Q_TO_O]
    @Q_ID int = NULL,
    @IDENTITY INT = NULL OUTPUT
AS
BEGIN
    SET NOCOUNT ON;

    DECLARE @EXISTING_RECORD_COUNT [int];

    SELECT
        @EXISTING_RECORD_COUNT = COUNT (*)
    FROM
        [dbo].[O]
    WHERE
        [Q_ID] = @Q_ID

    IF @EXISTING_RECORD_COUNT = 0
    BEGIN
        -- DO SOME STUFF HERE

        -- RETURN NEW ID
        SELECT @IDENTITY = SCOPE_IDENTITY()
    END
    ELSE
    BEGIN
         THROW 99001, 'O associated with the given Q Id already exists', 1;
    END
END
GO

When I code this T-SQL I get an error saying

Incorrect statement near 'THROW'. Expecting CONVERSATION, DIALOG, DISTRIBUTED, or TRANSACTION

All solutions suggest to put a semi-colon either before 'THROW' or after 'ELSE BEGIN' statements. When I modify the T-SQL I simply get the "Incorrect statement near 'THROW'" error and can't seem to find a solution.

Any suggestions?

Solution 1

For SQL Server 2012 or later:

;THROW 60000, 'your message here', 1

If you wish to pass a variable to your message use this:

DECLARE
    @Errors INT = 2,
    @ErrMsg NVARCHAR(500)

SET @ErrMsg = 'You have '+CAST(@Errors AS NVARCHAR) + ' errors!'
;THROW 60000, @ErrMsg, 1

Note that THROW blocks further code execution unlike RAISERROR.

THROW documentation

Legacy option:

RAISERROR('your message here', 16, 1)

If you wish to pass a variable to your message use this:

DECLARE
    @Errors INT = 2,
    @ErrMsg NVARCHAR(500)

SET @ErrMsg = 'You have '+CAST(@Errors AS NVARCHAR) + ' errors!'
RAISERROR(@ErrMsg, 16, 1)

To check sql server version: SELECT @@VERSION

Solution 2

This continues to occur in SQL Server 2014.

I have found that putting the semi-colon at the end of BEGIN helps.

This approach has the error

IF 'A'='A'
BEGIN
   THROW 51000, 'ERROR', 1;
END;

And this approach does not have the error

IF 'A'='A'
BEGIN;
  THROW 51000, 'ERROR', 1;
END;

Solution 3

To solve your problem,

Incorrect statement near 'THROW'. Expecting CONVERSATION, DIALOG, DISTRIBUTED, or TRANSACTION

put semi-colon before your throw statement:

BEGIN
    ;THROW 99001, 'O associated with the given Q Id already exists', 1;
END

And about the

"Incorrect statement near 'THROW'".

Try to use this in case you're using a older version than SQL 2012:

RAISERROR('O associated with the given Q Id already exists',16,1);

Because THROW is a new feature of SQL 2012.

Solution 4

Put ; before THROW keyword and it will work.

Solution 5

This error can also occur if you incorrectly code this:

RAISEERROR('your message here',16,1)

I stared at that for four hours, putting semicolons all over the place, before I realized I'd misspelled "RAISERROR"

View more solutions

Comments

[Levi Botelho]

Statements that are not terminated with a semicolon are now deprecated, so even when not throwing, this is a good habit to get into.

[it2051229]

That was frustrating. I misspelled it also to RAISEERROR. Spent almot an hour finding solution.

[jkyadav]

Good info, Roger

[Storm Muller]

Please don't put semi colons before a statement. Put it after a statement on the previous line.

[René Nyffenegger]

Putting semicolons after BEGIN just looks weird, imho.

[Alexandre N.]

Semicolon just finish last instruction if you not. This ensures that the error doesn't occur.

[David]

Make sure the statement preceding THROW ends with semicolon ";". For example you could have a "PRINT 'Before Throw';" statement.

[WillC]

I think that it was the developer that named it RAISERROR was the one that misspelled it...

[LarryBud]

This has to be one of the dumbest things I've seen with SQL. And semicolons will NEVER be required, billions of lines of code aren't going to be updated. That ship has sailed.

[d219]

This also works if other keywords are having a problem e.g I had an ENABLE TRIGGER command after an END CATCH - adding the semi-colon resolved it.