Microsoft KB Archive/69993

INF: Documentation Unclear on “sp_dboption ‘select’,true” ID Number: Q69993

1.10 1.11 OS/2 docerr

Summary:

Page 159 in the “Microsoft SQL Server System Administrator’s Guide” for versions 1.1 and 1.11 states the following about the optname parameter of the sp_dboption stored procedure:

For the optname parameter, SQL Server understands any unique string that is part of the option name… If you enter a value of optname that is ambiguous, an error message is displayed.

Because “select” is a keyword, the SELECT INTO/BULKCOPY option (that is, SELECT) also must be in single quotation marks to prevent a syntax error. The documentation should be clarified to include this exception to the above rule. The following example should be added to the documentation to illustrate setting this option:

sp_dboption pubs, select,true /* syntax error */

sp_dboption pubs, ‘select’,true /* this works */

This documentation error exists in the documentation for versions 1.1 and 1.11 only. The documentation for version 4.2 of the same manual clearly specifies that SELECT must be enclosed in quotation marks.

Additional reference words: 1.10 1.11 4.20