CLR Triggers

What Are Triggers?

A trigger is a special type of stored procedure that automatically runs when a language event executes. SQL Server includes two general types of triggers: data manipulation language (DML) and data definition language (DDL) triggers. DML triggers can be used when INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements modify data in a specified table or view. DDL triggers fire stored procedures in response to a variety of DDL statements, which are primarily statements that begin with CREATE, ALTER, and DROP. DDL triggers can be used for administrative tasks, such as auditing and regulating database operations.

Unique Capabilities of CLR Triggers

Triggers written in Transact-SQL have the capability of determining which columns from the firing view or table have been updated by using the UPDATE(column) and COLUMNS_UPDATED() functions.

Triggers written in a CLR language differ from other CLR integration objects in several significant ways. CLR triggers can:

• Reference data in the INSERTED and DELETED tables

• Determine which columns have been modified as a result of an UPDATE operation

• Access information about database objects affected by the execution of DDL statements.

These capabilities are provided inherently in the query language, or by the SqlTriggerContext class. For information about the advantages of CLR integration and choosing between managed code and Transact-SQL, see Overview of CLR Integration.

Using the SqlTriggerContext Class

The SqlTriggerContext class cannot be publicly constructed and can only be obtained by accessing the SqlContext.TriggerContext property within the body of a CLR trigger. The SqlTriggerContext class can be obtained from the active SqlContext by calling the SqlContext.TriggerContext property:

SqlTriggerContext myTriggerContext = SqlContext.TriggerContext;

The SqlTriggerContext class provides context information about the trigger. This contextual information includes the type of action that caused the trigger to fire, which columns were modified in an UPDATE operation, and, in the case of a DDL trigger, an XML EventData structure which describes the triggering operation. For more information, see EVENTDATA (Transact-SQL).

SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection ("context connection = true");
connection.Open();
SqlCommand command = connection.CreateCommand();
command.CommandText = "SELECT * from " + "inserted";

Dim connection As New SqlConnection("context connection=true")
Dim command As SqlCommand
connection.Open()
command = connection.CreateCommand()
command.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM " + "inserted"

reader = command.ExecuteReader();
reader.Read();
for (int columnNumber = 0; columnNumber < triggContext.ColumnCount; columnNumber++)
{
   pipe.Send("Updated column "
      + reader.GetName(columnNumber) + "? "
   + triggContext.IsUpdatedColumn(columnNumber).ToString());
 }

 reader.Close();

reader = command.ExecuteReader()
reader.Read()
Dim columnNumber As Integer

For columnNumber=0 To triggContext.ColumnCount-1

   pipe.Send("Updated column " & reader.GetName(columnNumber) & _
   "? " & triggContext.IsUpdatedColumn(columnNumber).ToString() )
                 
Next

reader.Close()

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Sql;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using System.Xml;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

public class CLRTriggers
{
   public static void DropTableTrigger()
   {
       SqlTriggerContext triggContext = SqlContext.TriggerContext;           

       switch(triggContext.TriggerAction)
       {
           case TriggerAction.DropTable:
           SqlContext.Pipe.Send("Table dropped! Here's the EventData:");
           SqlContext.Pipe.Send(triggContext.EventData.Value);
           break;
                
           default:
           SqlContext.Pipe.Send("Something happened! Here's the EventData:");
           SqlContext.Pipe.Send(triggContext.EventData.Value);
           break;
       }
   }
}

Imports System
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Data.Sql
Imports System.Data.SqlTypes
Imports Microsoft.SqlServer.Server
Imports System.Data.SqlClient

'The Partial modifier is only required on one class definition per project.
Partial Public Class CLRTriggers 
    
    Public Shared Sub DropTableTrigger()
        Dim triggContext As SqlTriggerContext
        triggContext = SqlContext.TriggerContext

        Select Case triggContext.TriggerAction
           Case TriggerAction.DropTable
              SqlContext.Pipe.Send("Table dropped! Here's the EventData:")
              SqlContext.Pipe.Send(triggContext.EventData.Value)

           Case Else
              SqlContext.Pipe.Send("Something else happened! Here's the EventData:")
              SqlContext.Pipe.Send(triggContext.EventData.Value)
        
        End Select
    End Sub
End Class   

Sample CLR Trigger

In this example, consider the scenario in which you let the user choose any ID they want, but you want to know the users that specifically entered an e-mail address as an ID. The following trigger would detect that information and log it to an audit table.

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Sql;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using System.Xml;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

public class CLRTriggers
{
   [SqlTrigger(Name = @"EmailAudit", Target = "[dbo].[Users]", Event = "FOR INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE")]
   public static void EmailAudit()
   {
      string userName;
      string realName;
      SqlCommand command;
      SqlTriggerContext triggContext = SqlContext.TriggerContext;
      SqlPipe pipe = SqlContext.Pipe;
      SqlDataReader reader;

      switch (triggContext.TriggerAction)
      {
         case TriggerAction.Insert:
         // Retrieve the connection that the trigger is using
         using (SqlConnection connection
            = new SqlConnection(@"context connection=true"))
         {
            connection.Open();
            command = new SqlCommand(@"SELECT * FROM INSERTED;",
               connection);
            reader = command.ExecuteReader();
            reader.Read();
            userName = (string)reader[0];
            realName = (string)reader[1];
            reader.Close();

            if (IsValidEMailAddress(userName))
            {
               command = new SqlCommand(
                  @"INSERT [dbo].[UserNameAudit] VALUES ('"
                  + userName + @"', '" + realName + @"');",
                  connection);
               pipe.Send(command.CommandText);
               command.ExecuteNonQuery();
               pipe.Send("You inserted: " + userName);
            }
         }

         break;

         case TriggerAction.Update:
         // Retrieve the connection that the trigger is using
         using (SqlConnection connection
            = new SqlConnection(@"context connection=true"))
         {
            connection.Open();
            command = new SqlCommand(@"SELECT * FROM INSERTED;",
               connection);
            reader = command.ExecuteReader();
            reader.Read();

            userName = (string)reader[0];
            realName = (string)reader[1];

            pipe.Send(@"You updated: '" + userName + @"' - '"
               + realName + @"'");

            for (int columnNumber = 0; columnNumber < triggContext.ColumnCount; columnNumber++)
            {
               pipe.Send("Updated column "
                  + reader.GetName(columnNumber) + "? "
                  + triggContext.IsUpdatedColumn(columnNumber).ToString());
            }

            reader.Close();
         }

         break;

         case TriggerAction.Delete:
            using (SqlConnection connection
               = new SqlConnection(@"context connection=true"))
               {
                  connection.Open();
                  command = new SqlCommand(@"SELECT * FROM DELETED;",
                     connection);
                  reader = command.ExecuteReader();

                  if (reader.HasRows)
                  {
                     pipe.Send(@"You deleted the following rows:");
                     while (reader.Read())
                     {
                        pipe.Send(@"'" + reader.GetString(0)
                        + @"', '" + reader.GetString(1) + @"'");
                     }

                     reader.Close();

                     //alternately, to just send a tabular resultset back:
                     //pipe.ExecuteAndSend(command);
                  }
                  else
                  {
                     pipe.Send("No rows affected.");
                  }
               }

               break;
            }
        }

     public static bool IsValidEMailAddress(string email)
     {
         return Regex.IsMatch(email, @"^([\w-]+\.)*?[\w-]+@[\w-]+\.([\w-]+\.)*?[\w]+$");
     }
}

Visual Basic

Imports System
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Data.Sql
Imports System.Data.SqlTypes
Imports Microsoft.SqlServer.Server
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions

'The Partial modifier is only required on one class definition per project.
Partial Public Class CLRTriggers 
    
    <SqlTrigger(Name:="EmailAudit", Target:="[dbo].[Users]", Event:="FOR INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE")> _
    Public Shared Sub EmailAudit()
        Dim userName As String
        Dim realName As String
        Dim command As SqlCommand
        Dim triggContext As SqlTriggerContext
        Dim pipe As SqlPipe
        Dim reader As SqlDataReader  

        triggContext = SqlContext.TriggerContext    
        pipe = SqlContext.Pipe  

        Select Case triggContext.TriggerAction
           Case TriggerAction.Insert
              Using connection As New SqlConnection("context connection=true")
                 connection.Open()
                 command = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM INSERTED;", connection)
                            
                 reader = command.ExecuteReader()
                 reader.Read()

                 userName = CType(reader(0), String)
                 realName = CType(reader(1), String)

                 reader.Close()

                 If IsValidEmailAddress(userName) Then
                     command = New SqlCommand("INSERT [dbo].[UserNameAudit] VALUES ('" & _
                       userName & "', '" & realName & "');", connection)
                 
                    pipe.Send(command.CommandText)
                    command.ExecuteNonQuery()
                    pipe.Send("You inserted: " & userName)

                 End If
              End Using
              
           Case TriggerAction.Update
              Using connection As New SqlConnection("context connection=true")
                 connection.Open()
                 command = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM INSERTED;", connection)
                            
                 reader = command.ExecuteReader()
                 reader.Read()

                 userName = CType(reader(0), String)
                 realName = CType(reader(1), String)
                
                 pipe.Send("You updated: " & userName & " - " & realName)

                 Dim columnNumber As Integer

                 For columnNumber=0 To triggContext.ColumnCount-1

                    pipe.Send("Updated column " & reader.GetName(columnNumber) & _
                      "? " & triggContext.IsUpdatedColumn(columnNumber).ToString() )
                 
                 Next

                 reader.Close()
              End Using

           Case TriggerAction.Delete
              Using connection As New SqlConnection("context connection=true")
                 connection.Open()
                 command = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM DELETED;", connection)
                            
                 reader = command.ExecuteReader()
   
                 If reader.HasRows Then
                    pipe.Send("You deleted the following rows:")

                    While reader.Read()

                       pipe.Send( reader.GetString(0) & ", " & reader.GetString(1) )
                       
                    End While 
                    
                    reader.Close()

                    ' Alternately, just send a tabular resultset back:
                    ' pipe.ExecuteAndSend(command)

                 Else
                   pipe.Send("No rows affected.")
                 End If
              
              End Using 
        End Select
    End Sub

    Public Shared Function IsValidEMailAddress(emailAddress As String) As Boolean

       return Regex.IsMatch(emailAddress, "^([\w-]+\.)*?[\w-]+@[\w-]+\.([\w-]+\.)*?[\w]+$")
    End Function    
End Class

Assuming two tables exist with the following definitions:

CREATE TABLE Users
(
    UserName nvarchar(200) NOT NULL,
    RealName nvarchar(200) NOT NULL
);
GO CREATE TABLE UserNameAudit
(
    UserName nvarchar(200) NOT NULL,
    RealName nvarchar(200) NOT NULL
)

The Transact-SQL statement that creates the trigger in SQL Server is as follows, and assumes assembly SQLCLRTest is already registered in the current SQL Server database.

CREATE TRIGGER EmailAudit
ON Users
FOR INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE
AS
EXTERNAL NAME SQLCLRTest.CLRTriggers.EmailAudit

Validating and Canceling Invalid Transactions

Using triggers to validate and cancel invalid INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE transactions or to prevent changes to your database schema is common. This can be accomplished by incorporating validation logic into your trigger and then rolling back the current transaction if the action does not meet the validation criteria.

When called within a trigger, the Transaction.Rollback method or a SqlCommand with the command text "TRANSACTION ROLLBACK" throws an exception with an ambiguous error message and must be wrapped in a try/catch block. The error message you see is similar to the following:

Msg 6549, Level 16, State 1, Procedure trig_InsertValidator, Line 0
A .NET Framework error occurred during execution of user defined routine or aggregate 'trig_InsertValidator': 
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Transaction is not allowed to roll back inside a user defined routine, trigger or aggregate because the transaction is not started in that CLR level. Change application logic to enforce strict transaction nesting… User transaction, if any, will be rolled back.

This exception is expected and the try/catch block is necessary for code execution to continue. When the trigger code finishes execution, another exception is raised

Msg 3991, Level 16, State 1, Procedure trig_InsertValidator, Line 1 
The context transaction which was active before entering user defined routine, trigger or aggregate "trig_InsertValidator" has been ended inside of it, which is not allowed. Change application logic to enforce strict transaction nesting.
The statement has been terminated.

This exception is also expected, and a try/catch block around the Transact-SQL statement that performs the action that fires the trigger is necessary so that execution can continue. Despite the two exceptions thrown, the transaction is rolled back and the changes are not committed to the table. A major difference between CLR triggers and Transact-SQL triggers is that Transact-SQL triggers can continue to perform more work after the transaction is rolled back.

Example

using System;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
using System.Transactions;

public partial class Triggers
{
    // Enter existing table or view for the target and uncomment the attribute line
    // [Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlTrigger (Name="trig_InsertValidator", Target="Table1", Event="FOR INSERT")]
    public static void trig_InsertValidator()
    {
        using (SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(@"context connection=true"))
        {
            SqlCommand command;
            SqlDataReader reader;
            int value;

            // Open the connection.
            connection.Open();
            
            // Get the inserted value.
            command = new SqlCommand(@"SELECT * FROM INSERTED", connection);
            reader = command.ExecuteReader();
            reader.Read();
            value = (int)reader[0];
            reader.Close();
            
            // Rollback the transaction if a value of 1 was inserted.
            if (1 == value)
            {
                try
                {
                    // Get the current transaction and roll it back.
                    Transaction trans = Transaction.Current;
                    trans.Rollback();                    
                }
                catch (SqlException ex)
                {
                    // Catch the expected exception.                    
                }
            }
            else
            {
                // Perform other actions here.
            }

            // Close the connection.
            connection.Close();            
        }
    }
}

Imports System
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Imports System.Data.SqlTypes
Imports Microsoft.SqlServer.Server
Imports System.Transactions

Partial Public Class Triggers
' Enter existing table or view for the target and uncomment the attribute line
' <Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlTrigger(Name:="trig_InsertValidator", Target:="Table1", Event:="FOR INSERT")> _
Public Shared Sub  trig_InsertValidator ()
    Using connection As New SqlConnection("context connection=true")

        Dim command As SqlCommand
        Dim reader As SqlDataReader
        Dim value As Integer

        ' Open the connection.
        connection.Open()

        ' Get the inserted value.
        command = New SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM INSERTED", connection)
        reader = command.ExecuteReader()
        reader.Read()
        value = CType(reader(0), Integer)
        reader.Close()

        ' Rollback the transaction if a value of 1 was inserted.
        If value = 1 Then

            Try
                ' Get the current transaction and roll it back.
                Dim trans As Transaction
                trans = Transaction.Current
                trans.Rollback()

            Catch ex As SqlException

                ' Catch the exception.                    
            End Try
        Else

            ' Perform other actions here.
        End If

        ' Close the connection.
        connection.Close()
    End Using
End Sub
End Class

-- Create the test table, assembly, and trigger.
create table Table1(c1 int);
go

CREATE ASSEMBLY ValidationTriggers from 'E:\programming\ ValidationTriggers.dll';
go

CREATE TRIGGER trig_InsertValidator
ON Table1
FOR INSERT
AS EXTERNAL NAME ValidationTriggers.Triggers.trig_InsertValidator;
go

-- Use a Try/Catch block to catch the expected exception
BEGIN TRY
   insert into Table1 values(42)
   insert into Table1 values(1)
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
  SELECT ERROR_NUMBER() AS ErrorNum, ERROR_MESSAGE() AS ErrorMessage
END CATCH;

-- Clean up.
DROP TRIGGER trig_InsertValidator;
DROP ASSEMBLY ValidationTriggers;
drop table Table1;

See Also

Reference

Concepts

Other Resources