Binding in MS SQL

atcs2152 · December 28th, 2005, 10:28 PM

I'm trying to learn how to most efficiently access MS SQL databases. I have a stored procedure that I can call using the format:

Code:

$Result = mssql_query("sp_MyProc varA varB");

This seems to work OK but I wonder if it would be more efficient to use

Code:

$stmt = mssql_init('myProc');
mssql_bind($stmt, '@varA', $varA, SQLINT4, 0);
mssql_bind($stmt, '@varB', $varB, SQLINT4, 0);
$Result = mssql_execute($stmt);

Is this second method any more efficient for executing queries that get executed a lot? If not, what advantage does it offer? I really don't understand this second method, especially the fourth parameter (SQINT4).