Hi Martina,

Thank you for your prompt reply. I didn't know that SQL does not fill the value of the variables if the SQL Select does not find a record.

>Hi,
>
>Pleas, put all relevant code.
>
>

>DECLARE @TestPk INT
>declare @testreq char(20)
>set @testreq = 'XYZABC123' --  value is 'XYZABC123           ' because datatype is char(20)
>
>SET @TestPk=-1
>-- T-SQL engine don't fill @TestPk variable
>SELECT  @TestPk = RECORD_PK FROM MyTable WHERE REQUESTOR = @testreq -- no record for this condition
>SELECT @@ROWCOUNT -- show: 0
>SELECT @TestPk --  show: -1
>
>-- T-SQL engine do fill @TestPk variable
>SET @TestPk=(SELECT  RECORD_PK FROM MyTable WHERE REQUESTOR = @testreq) -- no record for this condition
>SELECT @@ROWCOUNT -- show: 0
>SELECT @TestPk --  show: NULL
>
>

>
>MartinaJ
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I realize that this is a very newbie question. But I would like to know why or at least to know that I understand this correctly.
>>
>>The following SQL Select should find a record.
>>
>>

>>declare @testreq char(20)
>>set @testreq = 'XYZABC123'
>>SELECT  @TestPk = RECORD_PK FROM MyTable WHERE REQUESTOR = @testreq
>>

>>
>>The value assigned to the variable @TestPk is 0 (zero) (since the record not found in the table).
>>
>>Why not NULL? Is this because at the top of the stored procedure the @TestPk is declared as an INT and it cannot be NULL?
>>
>>TIA