Tag: UDF

Select Data via a Table-Valued Function in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

The SELECT statement is probably the most commonly used statement in SQL Server. Most of the time this statement is run against a view or directly against a table to retrieve rows of tabular data.

But views and tables aren’t the only objects you can run a SELECT statement on. The SELECT statement can also be used on other objects such as rowset functions, OPENXML, and user-defined functions.

This article provides an example of selecting data via a table-valued function.

Continue reading →

What is a Table-Valued Function in SQL Server?

Posted on by Ian

In SQL Server, a table-valued function (TVF) is a user-defined function that returns a table. This is in contrast to a scalar function, which returns a single value.

You can invoke a table-valued function in the same way that you can query a table. For example, you can use it in a SELECT statement. In some cases, table-valued functions can also be used to update, delete, and insert data.

Continue reading →