Local Temporary Table and Table Variable

There are lots of articles, blogs, forums discussed the differences and similarities between

table variables and local temporary tables (ref. as temp tables hereafter).

E.g.:

• Sql server table variable vs. local temporary table

  talks more about

  the difference from execution perspective.

• Should

  I use a #temp table or a @table variable? talks more about how to use them.

• And the recent article

  in SQLServerCentral.com

A

summarization of table variable vs. temp table is attached in the appendix.

Instead of repeating those well known facts, I'll focus on several differences

that are hardly mentioned so far between table variable and temp table

definitions.

XML Collection

The AdventureWorks

sample database has an xml collection HumanResources.HRResumeSchemaCollection, which is used by the [Resume] column in the

table HumanResources.JobCandidate.

The following script queries

all the resumes into a table variable:

USE AdventureWorks
GO
DECLARE @TestXmls TABLE
(JobCandidateID int NOT NULL, [Resume] xml(HumanResources.HRResumeSchemaCollection) PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED(JobCandidateID))
INSERT @TestXmls (JobCandidateID,[Resume])
SELECT JobCandidateID,[Resume] FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
SELECT * FROM @TestXmls
GO
USE AdventureWorks
GO

It works perfectly. However, if you change the table variable to a temp table:

CREATE TABLE #TestXmls (JobCandidateID int NOT NULL,
  [Resume] xml(HumanResources.HRResumeSchemaCollection) 
  PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED(JobCandidateID))

You will get the following error:

Msg 6314, Level 16, State

1, Line 2

Collection specified does not exist in metadata : 'HumanResources.HRResumeSchemaCollection'

This is because a temp table

is created in TempDB, which does not have the

xml collection HumanResources.HRResumeSchemaCollection. Though

you can create the xml collection in the TempDB, it's not practical

because:

• TempDB is recreated whenever SQL server restarts;
• TempDB is shared by all user/system databases and it

  is easily to have naming conflicts;

The work around is to use

un-typed xml in the temporary table.

CREATE TABLE #TestXmls (JobCandidateID int NOT NULL,
  [Resume] xml PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED(JobCandidateID))
INSERT #TestXmls (JobCandidateID,[Resume])
SELECT JobCandidateID,[Resume] FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
SELECT * FROM #TestXmls
GO

User Defined DataTypes and User Defined Types (UDTs)

A user defined data type and

UDT (CLR type) is similar to xml collection. It only resides in the database it

is created. The AdventureWorks sample database

has a user defined data type dbo.name, whose native data type is nvarchar(50).

The following script queries all the address type names:

USE AdventureWorks
GO
DECLARE @TestUDTs TABLE (AddressTypeID int NOT NULL,
  [Name] dbo.Name NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED(AddressTypeID))
INSERT @TestUDTs(AddressTypeID,[Name])
SELECT AddressTypeID,[Name]
 FROM Person.AddressType
SELECT * FROM @TestUDTs

It works fine. If you change

to use temp table:

CREATE TABLE #TestUDTs (AddressTypeID int NOT NULL,
[Name] nvarchar(50) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED(AddressTypeID))

It will fail with the

following error:

Msg 2715, Level 16,

State 7, Line 1

Column, parameter, or variable #2: Cannot

find data type dbo.Name.

The work around is to use

the native data type of the user defined data type:

CREATE TABLE #TestUDTs (AddressTypeID int
NOT NULL,
[Name] nvarchar(50) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED(AddressTypeID))

UDTs

are also scoped to a single database. If

you use UDTs in a table variable, they are used in

the same way as native data types.

However since there is no equivalent native data type, if you need to use a UDT in a temp table, the UDT must be

registered in tempdb the same way as for a user database, i.e. you need

to CREATE the ASSEMLY and CREATE the TYPE in the TempDB. Due to the reasons

mentioned in XML Collection

Collation

The collations for the

string type (char, nchar, varchar,

nvarchar) columns, if not given explicitly, will take

the database collation of TempDB in a temp

table, and inherit the collation of the current user database in a table

variable. If not handled correctly, string comparing will fail.

Let's first find out the

collation of the TempDB:

SELECT collation_name FROM sys.databases
WHERE database_id = DB_ID('tempdb')

To list all available

collations:

SELECT * FROM fn_helpcollations()

Now

let's create a test database, remember to use a different collation than the TempDB:

CREATE DATABASE CollateTest COLLATE Albanian_BIN
GO
USE CollateTest
GO

Create a table and populate some data:

CREATE TABLE dbo.Test1 (C2 int NOT NULL, C1 nvarchar(100)

NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED(C2))

GO

INSERT dbo.Test1 (C1,C2) SELECT N'R1',100 UNION ALL SELECT N'R2',200

GO

Now use a table variable to join with the table:

DECLARE @TestCollations TABLE (RID int identity not null, [Name] nvarchar(100) NOT NULL
    PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED(RID))
INSERT @TestCollations ([Name]) VALUES (N'R2')
INSERT @TestCollations ([Name]) VALUES (N'R3')
SELECT A.* FROM dbo.Test1 A, @TestCollations B WHERE A.C1=B.[Name]
GO

It works fine. If you change to use temp table:

CREATE TABLE #TestCollations (RID int identity not null, [Name] nvarchar(100) NOT NULL
    PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED(RID))
INSERT #TestCollations ([Name]) VALUES (N'R2')
INSERT #TestCollations ([Name]) VALUES (N'R3')
SELECT A.* FROM dbo.Test1 A, #TestCollations B WHERE A.C1=B.[Name]
GO

You get the following error:

Msg 468, Level 16,

State 9, Line 6

Cannot resolve the

collation conflict between "Latin1_General_CI_AI" and "Albanian_BIN" in the equal to operation.

There are two workarounds. One is to force the collation conversion in the string comparing:

SELECT A.* 
 FROM dbo.Test1 A, #TestCollations B 
  WHERE A.C1=B.[Name] collate database_default

However it's a little bit annoying if you have lots of string comparing in your database. A better solution is to explicitly give the collation for the string column in the temp table:

IF object_id('tempdb..#TestCollations') IS NOT NULL
 DROP TABLE #TestCollations
GO
CREATE TABLE #TestCollations (
  RID int identity not null, 
  [Name] nvarchar(100) collate database_default NOT NULL 
  PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED(RID))
INSERT #TestCollations ([Name]) VALUES (N'R2')
INSERT #TestCollations ([Name]) VALUES (N'R3')
SELECT A.* FROM dbo.Test1 A, #TestCollations B WHERE A.C1=B.[Name]
GO

The

"collate

database_default"

clause in the column definition forces SQL Server to take current database(CollateTest)'s

collation instead of TempDB's

for the temp table.

If

a SQL Server hosts multiple databases, or you need to restore external

databases to the server, you can easily run into the collation conflict issue

if the user databases use temp tables and string columns do not declare

collations properly.

Conclusion

If

you use table variables, you are free to use user defined data types, user

defined types (UDTs), and xml collections that are

defined in your database. You don't need to worry about collation conflicts. If

you have to use a temp table due to various reasons, please keep in mind the

following best practices:

• Always attach "collate database_default" clause for string columns in a temp

  table.

• Always use un-typed xml for xml columns in a

  temp table.

• Always use the equivalent native data type for a

  user defined data type in a temp table.

• If you need to use UDTs

  in a temp table, you have to register the type in TempDB.

 Appendix

Table

Variable vs. Temp Table Summary: