Invoke a stored procedure

The SQL CALL statement calls a stored procedure.

On the CALL statement, the name of the stored procedure and any arguments are specified. Arguments may be constants, special registers, or host variables. The external stored procedure specified in the CALL statement does not need to have a corresponding CREATE PROCEDURE statement. Programs created by SQL procedures can only be called by invoking the procedure name specified on the CREATE PROCEDURE statement.

Although procedures are system program objects, using the CALL CL command will not typically work to call a procedure. The CALL CL command does not use the procedure definition to map the input and output parameters, nor does it pass parameters to the program using the procedure's parameter style.

There are three types of CALL statements which need to be addressed since DB2^® SQL for iSeries™ has different rules for each type. They are:

Embedded or dynamic CALL statement where a procedure definition exists
Embedded CALL statement where no procedure definition exists
Dynamic CALL statement where no CREATE PROCEDURE exists

Notes:

Dynamic here refers to:

A dynamically prepared and executed CALL statement.
A CALL statement issued in an interactive environment (for example, through STRSQL or Query Manager).
A CALL statement executed in an EXECUTE IMMEDIATE statement.

Use CALL statement where procedure definition exists
This type of CALL statement reads all the information about the procedure and the argument attributes from the CREATE PROCEDURE catalog definition.
Use embedded CALL statement where no procedure definition exists
A static CALL statement without a corresponding CREATE PROCEDURE statement is processed with the following rules.
Use embedded CALL statement with an SQLDA
In either type of embedded CALL (where a procedure definition may or may not exist), an SQLDA may be passed rather than a parameter list.
Use dynamic CALL statement where no CREATE PROCEDURE exists
The following rules pertain to the processing of a dynamic CALL statement when there is no CREATE PROCEDURE definition.
Examples of CALL statements
These examples show how the arguments of the CALL statement are passed to the procedure for several languages. They also show how to receive the arguments into local variables in the procedure.

Parent topic: Stored procedures