Override rows number affected returned by stored procedure that uses cursor inside

Question

I have a stored procedure simplified to the following code:

SET NOCOUNT ON

DECLARE @count INT
DECLARE @temp TABLE
INSERT INTO @temp
SELECT @count = count(*) FROM @temp

DECLARE [cursor] FOR SELECT id FROM @temp
OPEN [cursor] FETCH NEXT FROM [cursor] INTO @id WHILE @@fetch_status = 0
BEGIN
    exec anoterStoredProc @id
FETCH NEXT FROM [cursor] INTO @id
END
CLOSE [cursor]
DEALLOCATE [cursor]

SET NOCOUNT OFF

RETURN @count

But ExecuteNonQuery() still returns -1!

I can use select @count and ExecuteScalar() but want understand why my code doesn't work.

Seems that NOCOUNT OFF doesn't reset the server behavior, and NOCOUNT ON is still in-place.

Answer 1

First, don't mess with SET ROWCOUNT - that does something very dangerous (if used incorrectly).

Return values are actually handled by adding a parameter with "direction" of ReturnValue. Alternatively, SELECT the value, and use ExecuteScalar.