Create a Plan Guide for Parameterized Queries

A TEMPLATE plan guide matches stand-alone queries that parameterize to a specified form.

The following example creates a plan guide that matches any query that parameterizes to a specified form, and directs SQL Server to force parameterization of the query. The following two queries are syntactically equivalent, but differ only in their constant literal values.

SELECT * FROM AdventureWorks2012.Sales.SalesOrderHeader AS h
INNER JOIN AdventureWorks2012.Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS d 
    ON h.SalesOrderID = d.SalesOrderID
WHERE h.SalesOrderID = 45639;

SELECT * FROM AdventureWorks2012.Sales.SalesOrderHeader AS h
INNER JOIN AdventureWorks2012.Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS d 
    ON h.SalesOrderID = d.SalesOrderID
WHERE h.SalesOrderID = 45640;

Here is the plan guide on the parameterized form of the query:

EXEC sp_create_plan_guide 
    @name = N'TemplateGuide1',
    @stmt = N'SELECT * FROM AdventureWorks2012.Sales.SalesOrderHeader AS h
              INNER JOIN AdventureWorks2012.Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS d 
                  ON h.SalesOrderID = d.SalesOrderID
              WHERE h.SalesOrderID = @0',
    @type = N'TEMPLATE',
    @module_or_batch = NULL,
    @params = N'@0 int',
    @hints = N'OPTION(PARAMETERIZATION FORCED)';

In the previous example, the value for the @stmt parameter is the parameterized form of the query. The only reliable way to obtain this value for use in sp_create_plan_guide is to use the sp_get_query_template system stored procedure. The following script can be used both to obtain the parameterized query and then create a plan guide on it.

DECLARE @stmt nvarchar(max);
DECLARE @params nvarchar(max);
EXEC sp_get_query_template 
    N'SELECT * FROM AdventureWorks2012.Sales.SalesOrderHeader AS h
      INNER JOIN AdventureWorks2012.Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS d 
          ON h.SalesOrderID = d.SalesOrderID
      WHERE h.SalesOrderID = 45639;',
    @stmt OUTPUT, 
    @params OUTPUT
EXEC sp_create_plan_guide N'TemplateGuide1', 
    @stmt, 
    N'TEMPLATE', 
    NULL, 
    @params, 
    N'OPTION(PARAMETERIZATION FORCED)';

You can also use TEMPLATE plan guides together with SQL plan guides. For example, you can create a TEMPLATE plan guide to make sure that a class of queries is parameterized. You can then create an SQL plan guide on the parameterized form of that query.