Calling SQL Functions directly from C#

Question

I have a requirement to run a query against a database that will return either a zero or one (Checking for existance of specific criteria). The Tech specs I've been given for review state that I should be creating a stored procedure, that will return a single row, with a single column called "result" that will contain a bit value of 0 or 1. However, I'm not sure that a stored procedure would be the best approach, but am a little unsure so thought I'd ask for you opinions. The two options I can think of are:

1: Create a SQL scalar-valued function that performs the query and returns a bit. This could then be called directly from within the .Net client application using a "TEXT" SqlCommand object, and it would return a bool from the "ExecuteScalar()" method.

2: Create a stored procedure as described in the tech specs. This would then be called from the .Net Client app in the normal manner, and would return a DataTable with a single row and single column, that contains the bit value.

To me, option one seems the best. However, something in the back of my head is saying this isn't such a good idea.

Please could you give your opinions and help relieve my concerns? :)

Cheers, Ian

Answer 1

Execute the Stored Procedure using the ExecuteScalar() method. You can then cast the result of this to a boolean.

e.g

   SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(connectionString);
    SqlCommand com = new SqlCommand("Execute dbo.usp_MyStoredProc", con);
    return (Boolean)com.ExecuteScalar();