[sql] Procedure or function !!! has too many arguments specified

I am developing my very first stored procedure in SQL Server 2008 and need advice concerning the errors message.

Procedure or function xxx too many arguments specified

which I get after executing the stored procedure [dbo].[M_UPDATES] that calls another stored procedure called etl_M_Update_Promo.

When calling [dbo].[M_UPDATES] (code see below) via right-mouse-click and ‘Execute stored procedure’ the query that appears in the query-window is:

USE [Database_Test]
GO

DECLARE @return_value int

EXEC    @return_value = [dbo].[M_UPDATES]

SELECT  'Return Value' = @return_value

GO

The output is

Msg 8144, Level 16, State 2, Procedure etl_M_Update_Promo, Line 0
Procedure or function etl_M_Update_Promo has too many arguments specified.

QUESTION: What does this error message exactly mean, i.e. where are too many arguments? How to identify them?

I found several threads asking about this error message, but the codes provided were all different to mine (if not in another language like C# anyway). So none of the answers solved the problem of my SQL query (i.e. SPs).

Note: below I provide the code used for the two SPs, but I changed the database names, table names and column names. So, please, don’t be concerned about naming conventions, these are only example names!

(1) Code for SP1 [dbo].[M_UPDATES]

USE [Database_Test]
GO

SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[ M_UPDATES] AS
declare @GenID bigint
declare @Description nvarchar(50)

Set @GenID = SCOPE_IDENTITY()
Set @Description = 'M Update'

BEGIN
EXEC etl.etl_M_Update_Promo @GenID, @Description
END

GO

(2) Code for SP2 [etl_M_Update_Promo]

USE [Database_Test]
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

ALTER PROCEDURE [etl].[etl_M_Update_Promo]
@GenId bigint = 0
as

declare @start datetime = getdate ()
declare @Process varchar (100) = 'Update_Promo'
declare @SummeryOfTable TABLE (Change varchar (20))
declare @Description nvarchar(50)
declare @ErrorNo int
, @ErrorMsg varchar (max)
declare @Inserts int = 0
, @Updates int = 0
, @Deleted int = 0
, @OwnGenId bit = 0

begin try


if @GenId = 0 begin
INSERT INTO Logging.dbo.ETL_Gen (Starttime)
VALUES (@start)

SET @GenId = SCOPE_IDENTITY()
SET @OwnGenId = 1
end


MERGE [Database_Test].[dbo].[Promo] AS TARGET
USING OPENQUERY( M ,'select * from m.PROMO' ) AS SOURCE 
ON (TARGET.[E] = SOURCE.[E]) 


WHEN MATCHED AND  TARGET.[A] <> SOURCE.[A]
  OR TARGET.[B] <> SOURCE.[B]
  OR TARGET.[C] <> SOURCE.[C]
  THEN 
UPDATE SET TARGET.[A] = SOURCE.[A]
  ,TARGET.[B] = SOURCE.[B]
  , TARGET.[C] = SOURCE.[c]

WHEN NOT MATCHED BY TARGET THEN 
INSERT ([E]
  ,[A]
  ,[B]
  ,[C]
  ,[D]
  ,[F]
  ,[G]
  ,[H]
  ,[I]
  ,[J]
  ,[K]
  ,[L]  
  ) 
VALUES (SOURCE.[E]
  ,SOURCE.[A]
  ,SOURCE.[B]
  ,SOURCE.[C]
  ,SOURCE.[D]
  ,SOURCE.[F]
  ,SOURCE.[G]
  ,SOURCE.[H]
  ,SOURCE.[I]
  ,SOURCE.[J]
  ,SOURCE.[K]
  ,SOURCE.[L]
)

OUTPUT $ACTION  INTO @SummeryOfTable; 


with cte as (
SELECT
Change,
COUNT(*) AS CountPerChange
FROM @SummeryOfTable
GROUP BY Change
)

SELECT
@Inserts =
    CASE Change
        WHEN 'INSERT' THEN CountPerChange ELSE @Inserts
    END,
@Updates =
    CASE Change
        WHEN 'UPDATE' THEN CountPerChange ELSE @Updates
    END,
@Deleted =
    CASE Change
        WHEN 'DELETE' THEN CountPerChange ELSE @Deleted
    END
FROM cte


INSERT INTO Logging.dbo.ETL_log (GenID, Startdate, Enddate, Process, Message, Inserts, Updates, Deleted,Description)
VALUES (@GenId, @start, GETDATE(), @Process, 'ETL succeded', @Inserts, @Updates,     @Deleted,@Description)


if @OwnGenId = 1
UPDATE Logging.dbo.ETL_Gen
SET Endtime = GETDATE()
WHERE ID = @GenId

end try
begin catch

SET @ErrorNo = ERROR_NUMBER()
SET @ErrorMsg = ERROR_MESSAGE()

INSERT INTO Logging.dbo.ETL_Log (GenId, Startdate, Enddate, Process, Message, ErrorNo, Description)
VALUES (@GenId, @start, GETDATE(), @Process, @ErrorMsg, @ErrorNo,@Description)


end catch
GO

Use the following command before defining them:

cmd.Parameters.Clear()

This answer is based on the title and not the specific case in the original post.

I had an insert procedure that kept throwing this annoying error, and even though the error says, "procedure....has too many arguments specified," the fact is that the procedure did NOT have enough arguments.

The table had an incremental id column, and since it is incremental, I did not bother to add it as a variable/argument to the proc, but it turned out that it is needed, so I added it as @Id and viola like they say...it works.

Yet another cause of this error is when you are calling the stored procedure from code, and the parameter type in code does not match the type on the stored procedure.

For those who might have the same problem as me, I got this error when the DB I was using was actually master, and not the DB I should have been using.

Just put use [DBName] on the top of your script, or manually change the DB in use in the SQL Server Management Studio GUI.

In addition to all the answers provided so far, another reason for causing this exception can happen when you are saving data from list to database using ADO.Net.

Many developers will mistakenly use for loop or foreach and leave the SqlCommand to execute outside the loop, to avoid that make sure that you have like this code sample for example:

public static void Save(List<myClass> listMyClass)
    {
        using (var Scope = new System.Transactions.TransactionScope())
        {
            if (listMyClass.Count > 0)
            {
                for (int i = 0; i < listMyClass.Count; i++)
                {
                    SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("dbo.SP_SaveChanges", myConnection);
                    cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
                    cmd.Parameters.Clear();

                    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@ID", listMyClass[i].ID);
                    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@FirstName", listMyClass[i].FirstName);
                    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@LastName", listMyClass[i].LastName);

                    try
                    {
                        myConnection.Open();
                        cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
                    }
                    catch (SqlException sqe)
                    {
                        throw new Exception(sqe.Message);
                    }
                    catch (Exception ex)
                    {
                        throw new Exception(ex.Message);
                    }
                    finally
                    {
                        myConnection.Close();
                    }
                }
            }
            else
            {
                throw new Exception("List is empty");
            }

            Scope.Complete();
        }
    }