Get the generated SQL statement from a SqlCommand object?

Question

I have the following code:

Using cmd As SqlCommand = Connection.CreateCommand
    cmd.CommandText = "UPDATE someTable SET Value = @Value"
    cmd.CommandText &= " WHERE Id = @Id"
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Id", 1234)
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Value", "myValue")
    cmd.ExecuteNonQuery
End Using

I wonder if there is any way to get the final SQL statment as a String, which should look like this:

UPDATE someTable SET Value = "myValue" WHERE Id = 1234

If anyone wonders why I would do this:

for logging (failed) statements
for having the possibility to copy & paste it to the Enterprise Manager for testing purposes

Why you marked answer http://stackoverflow.com/a/265261/206730 if not distinguish between different datatypes, Sql Injection, parameters names similar (replace problem)... ? — Kiquenet, Jun 28 '16 at 10:47
@Kiquenet I could have sworn, that I tried that but it did'nt let me. Now it works. Thank you for this. — dummy, Jun 28 '16 at 12:37
If you want to generate accurately the SQL that would be run then take a look at TdsParser.TdsExecuteRPC (https://github.com/Microsoft/referencesource/blob/master/System.Data/System/Data/SqlClient/TdsParser.cs) and be a little afraid. — Rory, Nov 13 '16 at 22:02

score 149 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 07 '18 at 20:25

149

For logging purposes, I'm afraid there's no nicer way of doing this but to construct the string yourself:

string query = cmd.CommandText;

foreach (SqlParameter p in cmd.Parameters)
{
    query = query.Replace(p.ParameterName, p.Value.ToString());
}

edited Nov 07 '18 at 20:25

user3071284

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answered Nov 05 '08 at 14:24

Kon

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If I do that, I'll have to distinguish between different datatypes. Then I could skip the parameterized query all together and execute that. – dummy Nov 05 '08 at 14:37
2

dummy: not really. if you execute a prepared statement, you are at risk for sql injection attack. +1 for the answer. – Sunny Milenov Nov 05 '08 at 15:05
If i replace in my example @value with someString, it would not be quoted. About the sql injection: I am absolutely with you, I don't want a homebrewn solution. Thanks anyway. +1 for your time. – dummy Nov 05 '08 at 17:16
13

Theres a gotcha Here. If I have "Param", and "differentParam" as parameters, it renders the differentParam useless as it replaces it to "ValueParam". assuming Param=Value. – Alok Aug 30 '12 at 04:47
5

The question doesn't deal with defensive coding techniques, therefore null reference checks are not part of the answer. The fact that it should be implemented is implied, therefore I don't see this as a constructive comment. – Kon Mar 11 '13 at 14:49
I came across this and stumbled(just my luck) on what @Alok mentions. Any way to have the replace function "match whole word" only? – pkExec Mar 13 '13 at 13:58
@Kon added a modified version of your answer. Handles parameters of similar names where as Replace simply breaks them. – HouseCat Mar 16 '15 at 20:54
3

a slightly better approach to eliminate the problem with similar param names pointed out by @Alok might be to use to use `query = Regex.Replace(query, @"\b" + p.ParameterName + @"\b", p.Value.ToString());` for replacing the params in the string. This will replace the 'whole word'. It mightn't be an universal solution though as the \b marks a position between a word character and a non-word character so in case your parameters names start with @, you should use `p.ParameterName + @"\b"` to replace the param in the query string. – stambikk Aug 17 '15 at 13:01
Unfortunately @"\b@param\b" doesn't work. However there is a solution: http://stackoverflow.com/a/2544643/1970317 – EvZ Mar 07 '16 at 12:25
@Kon what of a blob field or byte array – Smith Jul 25 '16 at 17:10
easiest solution for the Regex issue is to use \B (capital B) at start of regex and \b (small b) at the end, explained at the "Update:" section of https://stackoverflow.com/a/2544661/903783 – George Birbilis Sep 19 '18 at 15:49

score 132 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 09 '19 at 10:05

Whilst not perfect, here's something I knocked up for TSQL - could be easily tweaked for other flavors... If nothing else it will give you a start point for your own improvements :)

This does an OK job on data types and output parameters etc similar to using "execute stored procedure" in SSMS. We mostly used SPs so the "text" command doesn't account for parameters etc

    public static String ParameterValueForSQL(this SqlParameter sp)
    {
        String retval = "";

        switch (sp.SqlDbType)
        {
            case SqlDbType.Char:
            case SqlDbType.NChar:
            case SqlDbType.NText:
            case SqlDbType.NVarChar:
            case SqlDbType.Text:
            case SqlDbType.Time:
            case SqlDbType.VarChar:
            case SqlDbType.Xml:
            case SqlDbType.Date:
            case SqlDbType.DateTime:
            case SqlDbType.DateTime2:
            case SqlDbType.DateTimeOffset:
                retval = "'" + sp.Value.ToString().Replace("'", "''") + "'";
                break;

            case SqlDbType.Bit:
                retval = (sp.Value.ToBooleanOrDefault(false)) ? "1" : "0";
                break;

            default:
                retval = sp.Value.ToString().Replace("'", "''");
                break;
        }

        return retval;
    }

    public static String CommandAsSql(this SqlCommand sc)
    {
        StringBuilder sql = new StringBuilder();
        Boolean FirstParam = true;

        sql.AppendLine("use " + sc.Connection.Database + ";");
        switch (sc.CommandType)
        {
            case CommandType.StoredProcedure:
                sql.AppendLine("declare @return_value int;");

                foreach (SqlParameter sp in sc.Parameters)
                {
                    if ((sp.Direction == ParameterDirection.InputOutput) || (sp.Direction == ParameterDirection.Output))
                    {
                        sql.Append("declare " + sp.ParameterName + "\t" + sp.SqlDbType.ToString() + "\t= ");

                        sql.AppendLine(((sp.Direction == ParameterDirection.Output) ? "null" : sp.ParameterValueForSQL()) + ";");

                    }
                }

                sql.AppendLine("exec [" + sc.CommandText + "]");

                foreach (SqlParameter sp in sc.Parameters)
                {
                    if (sp.Direction != ParameterDirection.ReturnValue)
                    {
                        sql.Append((FirstParam) ? "\t" : "\t, ");

                        if (FirstParam) FirstParam = false;

                        if (sp.Direction == ParameterDirection.Input)
                            sql.AppendLine(sp.ParameterName + " = " + sp.ParameterValueForSQL());
                        else

                            sql.AppendLine(sp.ParameterName + " = " + sp.ParameterName + " output");
                    }
                }
                sql.AppendLine(";");

                sql.AppendLine("select 'Return Value' = convert(varchar, @return_value);");

                foreach (SqlParameter sp in sc.Parameters)
                {
                    if ((sp.Direction == ParameterDirection.InputOutput) || (sp.Direction == ParameterDirection.Output))
                    {
                        sql.AppendLine("select '" + sp.ParameterName + "' = convert(varchar, " + sp.ParameterName + ");");
                    }
                }
                break;
            case CommandType.Text:
                sql.AppendLine(sc.CommandText);
                break;
        }

        return sql.ToString();
    }

this generates output along these lines...

use dbMyDatabase;
declare @return_value int;
declare @OutTotalRows   BigInt  = null;
exec [spMyStoredProc]
    @InEmployeeID = 1000686
    , @InPageSize = 20
    , @InPage = 1
    , @OutTotalRows = @OutTotalRows output
;
select 'Return Value' = convert(varchar, @return_value);
select '@OutTotalRows' = convert(varchar, @OutTotalRows);

Nice job actually trying to tackle the problem here, up-voted for effort alone. — Adam Tolley, Apr 05 '11 at 15:36
@Benoittr, you can see an implementation of `ToBooleanOrDefault` here: [Question #3244850](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3244850/visual-studio-2010-compiler-error-for-base-class-extensions) — Alexandre Marcondes, Nov 04 '13 at 13:33
@Smith see http://forums.asp.net/t/1755373.aspx?How+to+insert+byte+array+into+SQL+table for an example - then update the case statements as needed — Flapper, Sep 22 '16 at 11:34
I had parameters without an `@`. Like this: `cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("Id", 1234)` which work in code. But the output of `CommandAsSql` would not be pastable/executable in SSMS due to the missing `@` and floats `ToString()` gave me comma's instead of a point as decimal seperator since it is culture specific. That casued an error (for me) Perhaps this addition saves some people time :) — JP Hellemons, Jul 27 '17 at 10:00
Made some minor adjustments and added table value parameters. It's all up on GitHub and a .Net Standard 2.0 Nuget package https://github.com/jphellemons/CommandAsSql Thank you Flapper! Can I add you as collaborator? — JP Hellemons, Aug 25 '17 at 14:27
I've sent in a PR that implements the case where the Type of the SQLCommand is Text, can find it here: https://github.com/jphellemons/CommandAsSql/pull/3/commits/527d696dc6055c5bcf858b9700b83dc863f04896 — George Birbilis, Sep 19 '18 at 15:45
do you feel the retval = "'" + sp.Value.ToString().Replace("'", "''") + "'"; is correct for DateTime? I'm getting localized Dates in Greek when I use it via SQLCommand library. In the CommandAsSQL library code it also uses later on sb.Append("'").Append(Convert.ToDateTime(dr[colIndex]).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm")).Append("'"); for handling structure types which seems more logical to use everywhere - I mean the .ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm") - not sure about the DateTimeOffset and DateTime2, guess for those too — George Birbilis, Sep 19 '18 at 16:22
...oops, meant to write CommandAsSQL library in the comment above — George Birbilis, Sep 19 '18 at 16:37
Its worth noting that text command can (and should) take parameters not just stored procedures — apc, Sep 21 '20 at 15:01

score 59 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 05 '08 at 14:21

59

You can't, because it does not generate any SQL.

The parameterized query (the one in CommandText) is sent to the SQL Server as the equivalent of a prepared statement. When you execute the command, the parameters and the query text are treated separately. At no point in time a complete SQL string is generated.

You can use SQL Profiler to take a look behind the scenes.

answered Nov 05 '08 at 14:21

Tomalak

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12

SQL is generated - look in Profiler - that's the text I'd like to have for logging purposes – kpkpkp Jul 20 '17 at 21:17
apart from SQL Profiler (which is being deprecated for newer SQL Server if I understood some MS comment correctly) can also use Activity Monitor according to other answer here – George Birbilis Sep 19 '18 at 16:40

score 38 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 15 '21 at 17:22

I needed a similar command to string transformer to allow for more verbose logging, so I wrote this one. It will produce the text needed to re-execute the command in a new session including output parameters and structured parameters. It is lightly tested, but caveat emptor.

Example:

SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("GetEntity", con);
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@foobar", 1);
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter(){
    ParameterName = "@outParam",
    Direction = ParameterDirection.Output,
    SqlDbType = System.Data.SqlDbType.Int
});
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter(){
    Direction = ParameterDirection.ReturnValue
});
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;

Will produce:

-- BEGIN COMMAND
DECLARE @foobar INT = 1;
DECLARE @outParam INT = NULL;
DECLARE @returnValue INT;
-- END PARAMS
EXEC @returnValue = GetEntity @foobar = @foobar, @outParam = @outParam OUTPUT
-- RESULTS
SELECT 1 as Executed, @returnValue as ReturnValue, @outParam as [@outParam];
-- END COMMAND

Implementation:

public class SqlCommandDumper
{
    public static string GetCommandText(SqlCommand sqc)
    {
        StringBuilder sbCommandText = new StringBuilder();

        sbCommandText.AppendLine("-- BEGIN COMMAND");

        // params
        for (int i = 0; i < sqc.Parameters.Count; i++)
            logParameterToSqlBatch(sqc.Parameters[i], sbCommandText);
        sbCommandText.AppendLine("-- END PARAMS");

        // command
        if (sqc.CommandType == CommandType.StoredProcedure)
        {
            sbCommandText.Append("EXEC ");

            bool hasReturnValue = false;
            for (int i = 0; i < sqc.Parameters.Count; i++)
            {
                if (sqc.Parameters[i].Direction == ParameterDirection.ReturnValue)
                    hasReturnValue = true;
            }
            if (hasReturnValue)
            {
                sbCommandText.Append("@returnValue = ");
            }

            sbCommandText.Append(sqc.CommandText);

            bool hasPrev = false;
            for (int i = 0; i < sqc.Parameters.Count; i++)
            {
                var cParam = sqc.Parameters[i];
                if (cParam.Direction != ParameterDirection.ReturnValue)
                {
                    if (hasPrev)
                        sbCommandText.Append(",");
                    sbCommandText.Append(" ");

                    sbCommandText.Append(cParam.ParameterName);
                    sbCommandText.Append(" = ");
                    sbCommandText.Append(cParam.ParameterName);

                    if (cParam.Direction.HasFlag(ParameterDirection.Output))
                        sbCommandText.Append(" OUTPUT");

                    hasPrev = true;
                }
            }
        }
        else
        {
            sbCommandText.AppendLine(sqc.CommandText);
        }

        sbCommandText.AppendLine("-- RESULTS");
        sbCommandText.Append("SELECT 1 as Executed");
        for (int i = 0; i < sqc.Parameters.Count; i++)
        {
            var cParam = sqc.Parameters[i];

            if (cParam.Direction == ParameterDirection.ReturnValue)
            {
                sbCommandText.Append(", @returnValue as ReturnValue");
            }
            else if (cParam.Direction.HasFlag(ParameterDirection.Output))
            {
                sbCommandText.Append(", ");
                sbCommandText.Append(cParam.ParameterName);
                sbCommandText.Append(" as [");
                sbCommandText.Append(cParam.ParameterName);
                sbCommandText.Append(']');
            }
        }
        sbCommandText.AppendLine(";");

        sbCommandText.AppendLine("-- END COMMAND");
        return sbCommandText.ToString();
    }

    private static void logParameterToSqlBatch(SqlParameter param, StringBuilder sbCommandText)
    {
        sbCommandText.Append("DECLARE ");
        if (param.Direction == ParameterDirection.ReturnValue)
        {
            sbCommandText.AppendLine("@returnValue INT;");
        }
        else
        {
            sbCommandText.Append(param.ParameterName);

            sbCommandText.Append(' ');
            if (param.SqlDbType != SqlDbType.Structured)
            {
                logParameterType(param, sbCommandText);
                sbCommandText.Append(" = ");
                logQuotedParameterValue(param.Value, sbCommandText);

                sbCommandText.AppendLine(";");
            }
            else
            {
                logStructuredParameter(param, sbCommandText);
            }
        }
    }

    private static void logStructuredParameter(SqlParameter param, StringBuilder sbCommandText)
    {
        sbCommandText.AppendLine(" {List Type};");
        var dataTable = (DataTable)param.Value;

        for (int rowNo = 0; rowNo < dataTable.Rows.Count; rowNo++)
        {
            sbCommandText.Append("INSERT INTO ");
            sbCommandText.Append(param.ParameterName);
            sbCommandText.Append(" VALUES (");

            bool hasPrev = false;
            for (int colNo = 0; colNo < dataTable.Columns.Count; colNo++)
            {
                if (hasPrev)
                {
                    sbCommandText.Append(", ");
                }
                logQuotedParameterValue(dataTable.Rows[rowNo].ItemArray[colNo], sbCommandText);
                hasPrev = true;
            }
            sbCommandText.AppendLine(");");
        }
    }

    const string DATETIME_FORMAT_ROUNDTRIP = "o";
    private static void logQuotedParameterValue(object value, StringBuilder sbCommandText)
    {
        try
        {
            if (value == null)
            {
                sbCommandText.Append("NULL");
            }
            else
            {
                value = unboxNullable(value);

                if (value is string
                    || value is char
                    || value is char[]
                    || value is System.Xml.Linq.XElement
                    || value is System.Xml.Linq.XDocument)
                {
                    sbCommandText.Append("N'");
                    sbCommandText.Append(value.ToString().Replace("'", "''"));
                    sbCommandText.Append('\'');
                }
                else if (value is bool)
                {
                    // True -> 1, False -> 0
                    sbCommandText.Append(Convert.ToInt32(value));
                }
                else if (value is sbyte
                    || value is byte
                    || value is short
                    || value is ushort
                    || value is int
                    || value is uint
                    || value is long
                    || value is ulong
                    || value is float
                    || value is double
                    || value is decimal)
                {
                    sbCommandText.Append(value.ToString());
                }
                else if (value is DateTime)
                {
                    // SQL Server only supports ISO8601 with 3 digit precision on datetime,
                    // datetime2 (>= SQL Server 2008) parses the .net format, and will 
                    // implicitly cast down to datetime.
                    // Alternatively, use the format string "yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss'.'fffK"
                    // to match SQL server parsing
                    sbCommandText.Append("CAST('");
                    sbCommandText.Append(((DateTime)value).ToString(DATETIME_FORMAT_ROUNDTRIP));
                    sbCommandText.Append("' as datetime2)");
                }
                else if (value is DateTimeOffset)
                {
                    sbCommandText.Append('\'');
                    sbCommandText.Append(((DateTimeOffset)value).ToString(DATETIME_FORMAT_ROUNDTRIP));
                    sbCommandText.Append('\'');
                }
                else if (value is Guid)
                {
                    sbCommandText.Append('\'');
                    sbCommandText.Append(((Guid)value).ToString());
                    sbCommandText.Append('\'');
                }
                else if (value is byte[])
                {
                    var data = (byte[])value;
                    if (data.Length == 0)
                    {
                        sbCommandText.Append("NULL");
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        sbCommandText.Append("0x");
                        for (int i = 0; i < data.Length; i++)
                        {
                            sbCommandText.Append(data[i].ToString("x"));
                        }
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    sbCommandText.Append("/* UNKNOWN DATATYPE: ");
                    sbCommandText.Append(value.GetType().ToString());
                    sbCommandText.Append(" *" + "/ N'");
                    sbCommandText.Append(value.ToString());
                    sbCommandText.Append('\'');
                }
            }
        }

        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            sbCommandText.AppendLine("/* Exception occurred while converting parameter: ");
            sbCommandText.AppendLine(ex.ToString());
            sbCommandText.AppendLine("*/");
        }
    }

    private static object unboxNullable(object value)
    {
        var typeOriginal = value.GetType();
        if (typeOriginal.IsGenericType
            && typeOriginal.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(Nullable<>))
        {
            // generic value, unboxing needed
            return typeOriginal.InvokeMember("GetValueOrDefault",
                System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Public |
                System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Instance |
                System.Reflection.BindingFlags.InvokeMethod,
                null, value, null);
        }
        else
        {
            return value;
        }
    }

    private static void logParameterType(SqlParameter param, StringBuilder sbCommandText)
    {
        switch (param.SqlDbType)
        {
            // variable length
            case SqlDbType.Char:
            case SqlDbType.NChar:
            case SqlDbType.Binary:
                {
                    sbCommandText.Append(param.SqlDbType.ToString().ToUpper());
                    sbCommandText.Append('(');
                    sbCommandText.Append(param.Size);
                    sbCommandText.Append(')');
                }
                break;
            case SqlDbType.VarBinary:
            case SqlDbType.Image:
                    {
                            sbCommandText.Append("VARBINARY");
                            sbCommandText.Append("(MAX /* Specified as ");
                            sbCommandText.Append(param.Size);
                            sbCommandText.Append(" */)");
                    }
                    break;
            case SqlDbType.VarChar:
            case SqlDbType.Text:
                    {
                            sbCommandText.Append("VARCHAR");
                            sbCommandText.Append("(MAX /* Specified as ");
                            sbCommandText.Append(param.Size);
                            sbCommandText.Append(" */)");
                    }
                    break;
            case SqlDbType.NVarChar:
            case SqlDbType.NText:
                    {
                            sbCommandText.Append("NVARCHAR");
                            sbCommandText.Append("(MAX /* Specified as ");
                            sbCommandText.Append(param.Size);
                            sbCommandText.Append(" */)");
                    }
                    break;
            // fixed length
            case SqlDbType.Bit:
            case SqlDbType.TinyInt:
            case SqlDbType.SmallInt:
            case SqlDbType.Int:
            case SqlDbType.BigInt:
            case SqlDbType.SmallMoney:
            case SqlDbType.Money:
            case SqlDbType.Decimal:
            case SqlDbType.Real:
            case SqlDbType.Float:
            case SqlDbType.Date:
            case SqlDbType.DateTime:
            case SqlDbType.DateTime2:
            case SqlDbType.DateTimeOffset:
            case SqlDbType.UniqueIdentifier:
                {
                    sbCommandText.Append(param.SqlDbType.ToString().ToUpper());
                }
                break;
            // Unknown
            case SqlDbType.Timestamp:
            default:
                {
                    sbCommandText.Append("/* UNKNOWN DATATYPE: ");
                    sbCommandText.Append(param.SqlDbType.ToString().ToUpper());
                    sbCommandText.Append(" *" + "/ ");
                    sbCommandText.Append(param.SqlDbType.ToString().ToUpper());
                }
                break;
        }
    }
}

I used this as a starting point for a version of it that used sp_executesql to handle the parameters in a single statement rather than declaring variables separately. This code really took care of all the tedious work and I just had to rearrange the pieces. Big thanks! — pettys, May 19 '16 at 15:02
Doesn't this require an "N" prefix for the SQL string literals? Otherwise you might get many "?"s. Silently. Bad. (At least with SQL Server 2005 - haven't checked with less ancient versions.) — Paul Groke, Aug 10 '16 at 20:05
@PaulGroke, good catch. I have updated to include the `N` prefix. — Mitch, Aug 11 '16 at 00:29
@Mitch, great :) Something else that I just noticed: `value.ToString()` for `float, double, decimal` could be problematic if the current locale uses "," for the decimal mark. Also I'm not sure if `ToString` without parameters produces a representation that round trips exactly (some implementations truncate/round in a way that can sacrifice the LSB by default - not sure what .NET does). — Paul Groke, Aug 11 '16 at 15:45
@PaulGroke, I am not aware of a culture insensitive decimal separator for T-SQL, so I do assume that the current culture is the same as the SQL User's language. Since there is a round-trip through text, I do expect some loss of precision in floating-point values. I'm also not sure how it would handle NaN, Inf, -0 and other values. — Mitch, Aug 11 '16 at 16:15
@Mitch: AFAIK SQL Server always uses (and expects) a decimal point, never a comma. Am I mistaken? Also round tripping of normal values should work. I think `ToString("G17", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)` should be fine for `float` and `double`, and `ToString("G", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)` for `decimal`. (MSDN says the "R" format doesn't always round trip `double`s on x64 systems. Which is kind-of cute, because "R" actually stands for "round trip".) Special values are a problem though. But then again SQL Server seems to have problems with them anyway. — Paul Groke, Aug 12 '16 at 00:03

Jeroen Pot · Answer 5 · 2015-09-09T09:33:48.320

I also had this issue where some parameterized queries or sp's would give me a SqlException (mostly the string or binary data would be truncated), and the statements where hard to debug (As far as i know there currently is no sql-profiler support for SQL Azure)

I see a lot of simular code in reactions here. I ended up putting my solution in a Sql-Library project for future use.

The generator is available here: https://github.com/jeroenpot/SqlHelper/blob/master/Source/Mirabeau.MsSql.Library/SqlGenerator.cs

It supports both CommandType.Text and CommandType.StoredProcedure

And if you install the nuget-package you can generate it with this statement:

SqlDebugHelper.CreateExecutableSqlStatement(sql, parameters);

Not too bad, it at least list the values for each param, but still doesn't actually fill in the values. At least I can use notepad to do that myself, thanks! — Harvey Lin, Jan 21 '19 at 19:38

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 05 '08 at 14:18

5

If you're using SQL Server, you could use SQL Server Profiler (if you have it) to view the command string that is actually executed. That would be useful for copy/paste testing purpuses but not for logging I'm afraid.

answered Nov 05 '08 at 14:18

Rockcoder

8,289
3
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score 5 · Answer 7 · answered May 22 '19 at 21:07

Late answer, I know but I too wanted this so I could log the SQL. The following is short and meets my needs.

The following produces SQL you can copy/paste in SSMS (it replaces the parameters with the values properly). You can add more types but this meets all I use in this case.

    private static void LogSQL(SqlCommand cmd)
        {
            string query = cmd.CommandText;

            foreach (SqlParameter prm in cmd.Parameters)
            {
                switch (prm.SqlDbType)
                {
                    case SqlDbType.Bit:
                        int boolToInt = (bool)prm.Value ? 1 : 0;
                        query = query.Replace(prm.ParameterName, string.Format("{0}", (bool)prm.Value ? 1 : 0));
                        break;
                    case SqlDbType.Int:
                        query = query.Replace(prm.ParameterName, string.Format("{0}", prm.Value));
                        break;
                    case SqlDbType.VarChar:
                        query = query.Replace(prm.ParameterName, string.Format("'{0}'", prm.Value));
                        break;
                    default:
                        query = query.Replace(prm.ParameterName, string.Format("'{0}'", prm.Value));
                        break;
                }
            }

            // the following is my how I write to my log - your use will vary
            logger.Debug("{0}", query);

            return;
        }

Now I can log the SQL just before I execute it:

LogSQL(queryCmd)
queryCmd.ExecuteNonQuery()

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 21 '14 at 15:47

I had the same exact question and after reading these responses mistakenly decided it wasn't possible to get the exact resulting query. I was wrong.

Solution: Open Activity Monitor in SQL Server Management Studio, narrow the processes section to the login username, database or application name that your application is using in the connection string. When the call is made to the db refresh Activity Monitor. When you see the process, right click on it and View Details.

Note, this may not be a viable option for a busy db. But you should be able to narrow the result considerably using these steps.

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 05 '08 at 14:23

2

Profiler is hands-down your best option.

You might need to copy a set of statements from profiler due to the prepare + execute steps involved.

answered Nov 05 '08 at 14:23

Ed Guiness

34,602
16
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score 2 · Answer 10 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

Used part of Flapper's code for my solution, which returns the entire SQL string including parameter values to run in MS SQL SMS.

public string ParameterValueForSQL(SqlParameter sp)
    {
        string retval = "";

        switch (sp.SqlDbType)
        {
            case SqlDbType.Char:
            case SqlDbType.NChar:
            case SqlDbType.NText:
            case SqlDbType.NVarChar:
            case SqlDbType.Text:
            case SqlDbType.Time:
            case SqlDbType.VarChar:
            case SqlDbType.Xml:
            case SqlDbType.Date:
            case SqlDbType.DateTime:
            case SqlDbType.DateTime2:
            case SqlDbType.DateTimeOffset:
                if (sp.Value == DBNull.Value)
                {
                    retval = "NULL";
                }
                else
                {
                    retval = "'" + sp.Value.ToString().Replace("'", "''") + "'";
                }
                break;

            case SqlDbType.Bit:
                if (sp.Value == DBNull.Value)
                {
                    retval = "NULL";
                }
                else
                {
                    retval = ((bool)sp.Value == false) ? "0" : "1";
                }
                break;

            default:
                if (sp.Value == DBNull.Value)
                {
                    retval = "NULL";
                }
                else
                {
                    retval = sp.Value.ToString().Replace("'", "''");
                }
                break;
        }

        return retval;
    }


    public string CommandAsSql(SqlCommand sc)
    {
        string sql = sc.CommandText;

        sql = sql.Replace("\r\n", "").Replace("\r", "").Replace("\n", "");
        sql = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(sql, @"\s+", " ");

        foreach (SqlParameter sp in sc.Parameters)
        {
            string spName = sp.ParameterName;
            string spValue = ParameterValueForSQL(sp);
            sql = sql.Replace(spName, spValue);
        }

        sql = sql.Replace("= NULL", "IS NULL");
        sql = sql.Replace("!= NULL", "IS NOT NULL");
        return sql;
    }

Your 'solution' doesn't work. You replaced \r and \n with "" when you should have used " ". Further, it doesn't work if you have more than 9 parameters since replacing '@p1' replaces both '@p1' and '@p10' with all kinds of crazy results. Copying the parameter list and reversing it was a quick fix for what I'm doing. — B H, May 02 '18 at 18:57
Also, your code will not work for an update command because of the 'is null' replacement. — B H, May 02 '18 at 19:03
indeed Flapper's code doesn't handle DBNull, there is an issue here for the CommandAsSQL library that is based on it: https://github.com/jphellemons/CommandAsSql/issues/1 — George Birbilis, Sep 19 '18 at 17:01

score 2 · Answer 11 · edited Feb 08 '17 at 19:23

2

My Solution:

public static class DbHelper
{
    public static string ToString(this DbParameterCollection parameters, string sqlQuery)
    {
        return parameters.Cast<DbParameter>().Aggregate(sqlQuery, (current, p) => current.Replace(p.ParameterName, p.Value.ToString()));
    }
}

edited Feb 08 '17 at 19:23

Arithmomaniac

4,604
3
38
58

answered Jun 15 '16 at 18:12

Martin.Martinsson

1,894
21
25

score 2 · Answer 12 · answered Jul 28 '17 at 16:20

I wrote this method for me. I use some part of Bruno Ratnieks's code. Maybe it is useful to someone.

 public static string getQueryFromCommand(SqlCommand cmd)
    {
        StringBuilder CommandTxt = new StringBuilder();
        CommandTxt.Append("DECLARE ");
        List<string> paramlst = new List<string>();
        foreach (SqlParameter parms in cmd.Parameters)
        {
            paramlst.Add(parms.ParameterName);
            CommandTxt.Append(parms.ParameterName + " AS ");
            CommandTxt.Append(parms.SqlDbType.ToString());
            CommandTxt.Append(",");
        }

        if (CommandTxt.ToString().Substring(CommandTxt.Length-1, 1) == ",")
            CommandTxt.Remove(CommandTxt.Length-1, 1);
        CommandTxt.AppendLine();
        int rownr = 0;
        foreach (SqlParameter parms in cmd.Parameters)
        {
            string val = String.Empty;
            if (parms.DbType.Equals(DbType.String) || parms.DbType.Equals(DbType.DateTime))
                val = "'" + Convert.ToString(parms.Value).Replace(@"\", @"\\").Replace("'", @"\'") + "'";
            if (parms.DbType.Equals(DbType.Int16) || parms.DbType.Equals(DbType.Int32) || parms.DbType.Equals(DbType.Int64) || parms.DbType.Equals(DbType.Decimal) || parms.DbType.Equals(DbType.Double))
                val = Convert.ToString(parms.Value);

            CommandTxt.AppendLine();
            CommandTxt.Append("SET " + paramlst[rownr].ToString() + " = " + val.ToString());
            rownr += 1;
        }
        CommandTxt.AppendLine();
        CommandTxt.AppendLine();
        CommandTxt.Append(cmd.CommandText);
        return CommandTxt.ToString();
    }

score 2 · Answer 13 · answered Jan 16 '21 at 19:13

If your database was Oracle and the sql text contains dynamic variables named like :1,:2 ,... then you can use:

string query = cmd.CommandText;
int i = 1;
foreach (OracleParameter p in cmd.Parameters)
  {
    query = query.Replace(":"+i.ToString(),((p.Value==null)?"":p.Value.ToString()));
    i++;
  }

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Jan 16 '14 at 15:49

If it's only to check how a parameter is formatted in the result query, most DBMS's will allow querying literals from nothing. Thus:

Using cmd As SqlCommand = Connection.CreateCommand
    cmd.CommandText = "SELECT @Value"
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Value", "myValue")
    Return cmd.ExecuteScalar
End Using

That way you can see if quotes are doubled, etc.

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Sep 25 '14 at 16:45

This is what I use to output parameter lists for a stored procedure into the debug console:

string query = (from SqlParameter p in sqlCmd.Parameters where p != null where p.Value != null select string.Format("Param: {0} = {1},  ", p.ParameterName, p.Value.ToString())).Aggregate(sqlCmd.CommandText, (current, parameter) => current + parameter);
Debug.WriteLine(query);

This will generate a console outputt simlar to this:

Customer.prGetCustomerDetails: @Offset = 1,  Param: @Fetch = 10,  Param: @CategoryLevel1ID = 3,  Param: @VehicleLineID = 9,  Param: @SalesCode1 = bce,

I place this code directly below any procedure I wish to debug and is similar to a sql profiler session but in C#.

score 1 · Answer 16 · edited Sep 03 '19 at 19:13

Modified version of Kon's answer as it only partially works with similar named parameters. The down side of using String Replace function. Other than that, I give him full credit on the solution.

private string GetActualQuery(SqlCommand sqlcmd)
{
    string query = sqlcmd.CommandText;
    string parameters = "";
    string[] strArray = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Split(query, " VALUES ");

    //Reconstructs the second half of the SQL Command
    parameters = "(";

    int count = 0;
    foreach (SqlParameter p in sqlcmd.Parameters)
    {
        if (count == (sqlcmd.Parameters.Count - 1))
        {
            parameters += p.Value.ToString();
        }
        else
        {
            parameters += p.Value.ToString() + ", ";
        }
        count++;
    }

    parameters += ")";

    //Returns the string recombined.
    return strArray[0] + " VALUES " + parameters;
}

JotaSantana · Answer 17 · 2015-07-15T13:13:36.063

As @pkExec and @Alok mentioned, use Replace does not work in 100% of cases. This is the solution I've used in our DAL that uses RegExp to "match whole word" only and format the datatypes correctly. Thus the SQL generated can be tested directly in MySQL Workbench (or SQLSMS, etc ...) :)

(Replace the MySQLHelper.EscapeString() function according to the DBMS used.)

Dim query As String = cmd.CommandText
query = query.Replace("SET", "SET" & vbNewLine)
query = query.Replace("WHERE", vbNewLine & "WHERE")
query = query.Replace("GROUP BY", vbNewLine & "GROUP BY")
query = query.Replace("ORDER BY", vbNewLine & "ORDER BY")
query = query.Replace("INNER JOIN", vbNewLine & "INNER JOIN")
query = query.Replace("LEFT JOIN", vbNewLine & "LEFT JOIN")
query = query.Replace("RIGHT JOIN", vbNewLine & "RIGHT JOIN")
If query.Contains("UNION ALL") Then
    query = query.Replace("UNION ALL", vbNewLine & "UNION ALL" & vbNewLine)
ElseIf query.Contains("UNION DISTINCT") Then
    query = query.Replace("UNION DISTINCT", vbNewLine & "UNION DISTINCT" & vbNewLine)
Else
    query = query.Replace("UNION", vbNewLine & "UNION" & vbNewLine)
End If

For Each par In cmd.Parameters
    If par.Value Is Nothing OrElse IsDBNull(par.Value) Then
        query = RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(query, par.ParameterName & "\b", "NULL")
    ElseIf TypeOf par.Value Is Date Then
        query = RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(query, par.ParameterName & "\b", "'" & Format(par.Value, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss") & "'")
    ElseIf TypeOf par.Value Is TimeSpan Then
        query = RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(query, par.ParameterName & "\b", "'" & par.Value.ToString & "'")
    ElseIf TypeOf par.Value Is Double Or TypeOf par.Value Is Decimal Or TypeOf par.Value Is Single Then
        query = RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(query, par.ParameterName & "\b", Replace(par.Value.ToString, ",", "."))
    ElseIf TypeOf par.Value Is Integer Or TypeOf par.Value Is UInteger Or TypeOf par.Value Is Long Or TypeOf par.Value Is ULong Then
        query = RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(query, par.ParameterName & "\b", par.Value.ToString)
    Else
        query = RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(query, par.ParameterName & "\b", "'" & MySqlHelper.EscapeString(CStr(par.Value)) & "'")
    End If
Next

Example:

SELECT * FROM order WHERE order_status = @order_status AND order_date = @order_date

Will be generated:

SELECT * FROM order WHERE order_status = 'C' AND order_date = '2015-01-01 00:00:00'

o_link · Answer 18 · 2016-12-06T11:05:46.227

the sql command queries will be executed with exec sp_executesql, so here's another way to get the statement as a string (SqlCommand extension method):

public static string ToSqlStatement(this SqlCommand cmd)
{
    return $@"EXECUTE sp_executesql N'{cmd.CommandText.Replace("'", "''")}'{cmd.Parameters.ToSqlParameters()}";
}

private static string ToSqlParameters(this SqlParameterCollection col)
{
    if (col.Count == 0)
        return string.Empty;
    var parameters = new List<string>();
    var parameterValues = new List<string>();
    foreach (SqlParameter param in col)
    {
        parameters.Add($"{param.ParameterName}{param.ToSqlParameterType()}");
        parameterValues.Add($"{param.ParameterName} = {param.ToSqlParameterValue()}");
    }
    return $",N\'{string.Join(",", parameters)}\',{string.Join(",", parameterValues)}";
}

private static object ToSqlParameterType(this SqlParameter param)
{
    var paramDbType = param.SqlDbType.ToString().ToLower();
    if (param.Precision != 0 && param.Scale != 0)
        return $"{paramDbType}({param.Precision},{param.Scale})";
    if (param.Precision != 0)
        return $"{paramDbType}({param.Precision})";
    switch (param.SqlDbType)
    {
        case SqlDbType.VarChar:
        case SqlDbType.NVarChar:
            string s = param.SqlValue?.ToString() ?? string.Empty;
            return paramDbType + (s.Length > 0 ? $"({s.Length})" : string.Empty);
        default:
            return paramDbType;
    }
}

private static string ToSqlParameterValue(this SqlParameter param)
{
    switch (param.SqlDbType)
    {
        case SqlDbType.Char:
        case SqlDbType.Date:
        case SqlDbType.DateTime:
        case SqlDbType.DateTime2:
        case SqlDbType.DateTimeOffset:
        case SqlDbType.NChar:
        case SqlDbType.NText:
        case SqlDbType.NVarChar:
        case SqlDbType.Text:
        case SqlDbType.Time:
        case SqlDbType.VarChar:
        case SqlDbType.Xml:
            return $"\'{param.SqlValue.ToString().Replace("'", "''")}\'";
        case SqlDbType.Bit:
            return param.SqlValue.ToBooleanOrDefault() ? "1" : "0";
        default:
            return param.SqlValue.ToString().Replace("'", "''");
    }
}

public static bool ToBooleanOrDefault(this object o, bool defaultValue = false)
{
    if (o == null)
        return defaultValue;
    string value = o.ToString().ToLower();
    switch (value)
    {
        case "yes":
        case "true":
        case "ok":
        case "y":
            return true;
        case "no":
        case "false":
        case "n":
            return false;
        default:
            bool b;
            if (bool.TryParse(o.ToString(), out b))
                return b;
            break;
    }
    return defaultValue;
}

George Birbilis · Answer 19 · 2018-09-19T16:47:17.777

needed to cover non-Stored procedures too so I augmented CommandAsSql library (see comments under @Flapper's answer above) with this logic:

    private static void CommandAsSql_Text(this SqlCommand command, System.Text.StringBuilder sql)
    {
        string query = command.CommandText;

        foreach (SqlParameter p in command.Parameters)
            query = Regex.Replace(query, "\\B" + p.ParameterName + "\\b", p.ParameterValueForSQL()); //the first one is \B, the 2nd one is \b, since ParameterName starts with @ which is a non-word character in RegEx (see https://stackoverflow.com/a/2544661)

        sql.AppendLine(query);
    }

the pull request is at: https://github.com/jphellemons/CommandAsSql/pull/3/commits/527d696dc6055c5bcf858b9700b83dc863f04896

the Regex idea was based on @stambikk's and EvZ's comments above and the "Update:" section of https://stackoverflow.com/a/2544661/903783 that mentions "negative look-behind assertion". The use of \B instead of \b for word boundary detection at the start of the regular expression is because the p.parameterName will always start with a "@" which is not a word character.

note that ParameterValueForSQL() is an extension method defined at the CommandAsSql library to handle issues like single-quoting string parameter values etc.

btw, other promising piece of code is at https://github.com/jeroenpot/SqlHelper/blob/master/Source/Mirabeau.MsSql.Library/SqlGenerator.cs (mentioned at an answer in this thread). Probably could merge code from SQLCommand and SqlGenerator if you find something not working at one or the other — George Birbilis, Sep 19 '18 at 15:59
...meant to say CommandAsSQL library instead of SQLCommand in the last comment — George Birbilis, Sep 19 '18 at 16:48

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Apr 06 '11 at 08:45

This solution works for me right now. Maybe it is usefull to someone. Please excuse all the redundancy.

    Public Shared Function SqlString(ByVal cmd As SqlCommand) As String
    Dim sbRetVal As New System.Text.StringBuilder()
    For Each item As SqlParameter In cmd.Parameters
        Select Case item.DbType
            Case DbType.String
                sbRetVal.AppendFormat("DECLARE {0} AS VARCHAR(255)", item.ParameterName)
                sbRetVal.AppendLine()
                sbRetVal.AppendFormat("SET {0} = '{1}'", item.ParameterName, item.Value)
                sbRetVal.AppendLine()

            Case DbType.DateTime
                sbRetVal.AppendFormat("DECLARE {0} AS DATETIME", item.ParameterName)
                sbRetVal.AppendLine()
                sbRetVal.AppendFormat("SET {0} = '{1}'", item.ParameterName, item.Value)
                sbRetVal.AppendLine()

            Case DbType.Guid
                sbRetVal.AppendFormat("DECLARE {0} AS UNIQUEIDENTIFIER", item.ParameterName)
                sbRetVal.AppendLine()
                sbRetVal.AppendFormat("SET {0} = '{1}'", item.ParameterName, item.Value)
                sbRetVal.AppendLine()

            Case DbType.Int32
                sbRetVal.AppendFormat("DECLARE {0} AS int", item.ParameterName)
                sbRetVal.AppendLine()
                sbRetVal.AppendFormat("SET {0} = {1}", item.ParameterName, item.Value)
                sbRetVal.AppendLine()

            Case Else
                Stop

        End Select
    Next

    sbRetVal.AppendLine("")
    sbRetVal.AppendLine(cmd.CommandText)

    Return sbRetVal.ToString()
End Function

score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Sep 04 '19 at 00:49

If you will convert the commandtext:

Private Function ConvToNonParm(ByRef Cmd As SqlClient.SqlCommand) As String
    For myCnt As Int16 = 1 To Cmd.Parameters.Count
        Dim myVal As String = Cmd.Parameters(myCnt - 1).Value
        Select Case Cmd.Parameters(myCnt - 1).SqlDbType
            Case SqlDbType.Char, SqlDbType.NChar, SqlDbType.VarChar, SqlDbType.NChar, SqlDbType.NVarChar 'and so on
                myVal = "'" & myVal & "'"
                'Case "others...."

            Case Else
                'please assing
        End Select
        Cmd.CommandText = Replace(Cmd.CommandText, Cmd.Parameters(myCnt - 1).ToString, myVal)
    Next
    Cmd.Parameters.Clear()
    Return Cmd.CommandText
End Function

Now you can get the non parameter commandtext as follows:

    myCmd.CommandText = "UPDATE someTable SET Value = @Value"
    myCmd.CommandText &= " WHERE Id = @Id"
    myCmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Id", 1234)
    myCmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Value", "myValue")

    myCmd.CommandText = ConvToNonParm(myCmd)

and the Result is "UPDATE someTable SET Value = 'myValue' WHERE Id = 1234" without parameter anymore

CAK2 · Answer 22 · 2019-10-01T20:22:34.717

Extended Kon's code to help debug a stored procedure:

    private void ExtractSqlCommandForDebugging(SqlCommand cmd)
    {
        string sql = "exec " + cmd.CommandText;
        bool first = true;
        foreach (SqlParameter p in cmd.Parameters)
        {
            string value = ((p.Value == DBNull.Value) ? "null"
                            : (p.Value is string) ? "'" + p.Value + "'"
                            : p.Value.ToString());
            if (first)
            {
                sql += string.Format(" {0}={1}", p.ParameterName, value);
                first = false;
            }
            else
            {
                sql += string.Format("\n , {0}={1}", p.ParameterName, value);
            }
        }
        sql += "\nGO";
        Debug.WriteLine(sql);
    }

In my first test case, it generated:

exec dbo.MyStoredProcName @SnailMail=False
 , @Email=True
 , @AcceptSnailMail=False
 , @AcceptEmail=False
 , @DistanceMiles=-1
 , @DistanceLocationList=''
 , @ExcludeDissatisfied=True
 , @ExcludeCodeRed=True
 , @MinAge=null
 , @MaxAge=18
 , @GenderTypeID=-1
 , @NewThisYear=-1
 , @RegisteredThisYear=-1
 , @FormersTermGroupList=''
 , @RegistrationStartDate=null
 , @RegistrationEndDate=null
 , @DivisionList='25'
 , @LocationList='29,30'
 , @OneOnOneOPL=-1
 , @JumpStart=-1
 , @SmallGroup=-1
 , @PurchasedEAP=-1
 , @RedeemedEAP=-1
 , @ReturnPlanYes=False
 , @MinNetPromoter=-1
 , @MinSurveyScore=-1
 , @VIPExclusionTypes='-2'
 , @FieldSelectionMask=65011584
 , @DisplayType=0
GO

You will probably need to add some more conditional "..is..." type assignments, e.g. for dates and times.

score -1 · Answer 23 · answered Oct 29 '22 at 00:14

//For Oracle db in the sql text the parameters could be like :ID,:NAME etc.
//This is same as above Seyed Hossein Mirheydari, but slightly improved, 
//this works with parameter names well.
//Further is straight simple one, you need to format for datatypes 
//after query is generated.
    private string GetFullOraQuery(OracleCommand cmd)
    {
        string query = cmd.CommandText;
        foreach (OracleParameter p in cmd.Parameters)
        {
            query = query.Replace(":" + p.ParameterName, ((p.Value == null) ? "" : p.Value.ToString()));
        }
        return query;
    }

score -2 · Answer 24 · answered Feb 22 '17 at 17:34

-2

One liner:

string.Join(",", from SqlParameter p in cmd.Parameters select p.ToString())

answered Feb 22 '17 at 17:34

CheesusCrust

87
1
2

score -2 · Answer 25 · answered Sep 04 '19 at 00:15

From parameter command to non parameter command, You Can change this one

Using cmd As SqlCommand = Connection.CreateCommand
    cmd.CommandText = "UPDATE someTable SET Value = @Value"
    cmd.CommandText &= " WHERE Id = @Id"
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Id", 1234)
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Value", "myValue")
    cmd.ExecuteNonQuery
End Using

To

Private sub Update( byval myID as Int32, byval myVal as String)
    Using cmd As SqlCommand = Connection.CreateCommand
        cmd.CommandText = "UPDATE someTable SET Value = '" & myVaL & "'" & _
                          " WHERE Id = " & myID  
        cmd.ExecuteNonQuery
    End Using
End sub

This does not answer the question of converting a generic SqlCommand object to string, it replaces it with hardcoded strings. It also is EXECUTING the resulting string, instead of returning it (e.g. for logging) - such string must never be executed and should be considered vulnerable to SQL injections. — Ekus, Aug 25 '20 at 20:40

Get the generated SQL statement from a SqlCommand object?

25 Answers25

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