Product Suggestion: Allow parameter-name = expression in function calls

Both the CALL statement and the FROM clause allow the following syntax for a procedure call (although that fact is not apparent from the latter Help topic:

   procedure-name ( parameter-name = expression , ... )

That might be a legacy holdover from The Time Before SQL Anywhere, but like beer is a holdover from The Time Before The Industrial Revolution, it is a good thing. Consider a call to sa_rowgenerator... suppose the author wishes to make sure the reader understands exactly what the call is doing without appealing to the docs...

SELECT * FROM sa_rowgenerator ( 1, 7, 1 )

Go ahead, without looking it up, tell me what that does.

... I'll wait.

... waiting.

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Here's the answer:

SELECT * FROM sa_rowgenerator ( rstart = 1, rend = 7, rstep = 1 )

row_num
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

The rules for expressions should be extended to allow the same thing, instead of throwing Syntax error near '=' on line 1:

CREATE FUNCTION function_name ( 
   parameter_1 INTEGER, 
   parameter_2 INTEGER )
RETURNS INTEGER
BEGIN
   RETURN parameter_1 + parameter_2;
END;

SELECT function_name ( parameter_1 = 2, parameter_2 = 2 );

Of course, authors who don't care about the reader (and they are in the vast majority) would not need to use this syntax.

(Yes, the ambiguity was intended... both readers, and authors who don't care, vastly outnumber authors who care... I see the code every day.)

Does it already work in SQL Server?

What do you think?

Let's see... of course not!

1> CREATE FUNCTION function_name (
2>    @parameter_1 INTEGER,
3>    @parameter_2 INTEGER )
4> RETURNS INTEGER
5> BEGIN
6>    RETURN @parameter_1 + @parameter_2;
7> END
8> GO
CREATE FUNCTION function_name (
   @parameter_1 INTEGER,
   @parameter_2 INTEGER )
RETURNS INTEGER
BEGIN
   RETURN @parameter_1 + @parameter_2;
END
1>
2> SELECT dbo.function_name ( @parameter_1 = 2, @parameter_2 = 2 )
3> GO
Msg 137, Level 15, State 2, Server ENVY, Line 2
Must declare the scalar variable "@parameter_1".

Just to prove it wasn't a problem with the CREATE FUNCTION...

1> SELECT dbo.function_name ( 2, 2 )
2> GO
SELECT dbo.function_name ( 2, 2 )

 -----------
           4

(1 row affected)

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