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SqlCommand.ExecuteScalar Method

  • Reference

Definition

Namespace:
System.Data.SqlClient
Assembly:
System.Data.SqlClient.dll
Assembly:
System.Data.dll
Package:
System.Data.SqlClient v4.9.0
Source:
System.Data.SqlClient.notsupported.cs

Executes the query, and returns the first column of the first row in the result set returned by the query. Additional columns or rows are ignored.

C# 
public override object ExecuteScalar();
C# 
public object ExecuteScalar();

Returns

Object

The first column of the first row in the result set, or a null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic) if the result set is empty. Returns a maximum of 2033 characters.

Implements

ExecuteScalar()

Exceptions

InvalidCastException

A SqlDbType other than Binary or VarBinary was used when Value was set to Stream. For more information about streaming, see SqlClient Streaming Support.

-or-

A SqlDbType other than Char, NChar, NVarChar, VarChar, or Xml was used when Value was set to TextReader.

-or-

A SqlDbType other than Xml was used when Value was set to XmlReader.

SqlException

An exception occurred while executing the command against a locked row. This exception is not generated when you are using Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.0.

-or-

A timeout occurred during a streaming operation. For more information about streaming, see SqlClient Streaming Support.

InvalidOperationException

The SqlConnection closed or dropped during a streaming operation. For more information about streaming, see SqlClient Streaming Support.

IOException

An error occurred in a Stream, XmlReader or TextReader object during a streaming operation. For more information about streaming, see SqlClient Streaming Support.

ObjectDisposedException

The Stream, XmlReader or TextReader object was closed during a streaming operation. For more information about streaming, see SqlClient Streaming Support.

Examples

The following example creates a SqlCommand and then executes it using ExecuteScalar. The example is passed a string representing a new value to be inserted into a table, and a string to use to connect to the data source. The function returns the new Identity column value if a new row was inserted, 0 on failure.

C# 
static public int AddProductCategory(string newName, string connString)
{
    Int32 newProdID = 0;
    string sql =
        "INSERT INTO Production.ProductCategory (Name) VALUES (@Name); "
        + "SELECT CAST(scope_identity() AS int)";
    using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connString))
    {
        SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(sql, conn);
        cmd.Parameters.Add("@Name", SqlDbType.VarChar);
        cmd.Parameters["@name"].Value = newName;
        try
        {
            conn.Open();
            newProdID = (Int32)cmd.ExecuteScalar();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
        }
    }
    return (int)newProdID;
}

Remarks

Use the ExecuteScalar method to retrieve a single value (for example, an aggregate value) from a database. This requires less code than using the ExecuteReader method, and then performing the operations that you need to generate the single value using the data returned by a SqlDataReader.

A typical ExecuteScalar query can be formatted as in the following C# example:

C# 
cmd.CommandText = "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM dbo.region";
Int32 count = (Int32) cmd.ExecuteScalar();

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, 6 (package-provided), 7 (package-provided), 8 (package-provided), 9 (package-provided), 10 (package-provided)
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 2.0 (package-provided)

See also