Get Return Value from SQL Stored Procedure using PHP

Question

So I have a php script that uses a stored procedure to interact with my SQL database. The stored procedure works just fine, the problem is I don't know how to get my php to echo the Return Value from the stored procedure. The stored procedure is basically activating an account using an activation key and sets the username and password.

It basically says "if the activation key provided does not have a username yet, set it to the one provided and RETURN 1, if it already has a username RETURN 2, and if the activation key does not exist RETURN 3". It works perfectly in SQL and even give the correct Return Value. Now how can I get my php to echo that? I have tried the following:

$link = sqlsrv_connect($myServer, array('Database' => $myDB, 'UID' => $myUser, 'PWD' => $myPass));
if($link === FALSE) {
    die('Could not connect: ' . sqlsrv_errors(SQLSRV_ERR_ALL));
}

$key = $_REQUEST['key'];
$username = $_REQUEST['username'];
$password = $_REQUEST['password'];

$query = "EXEC Activate_Account";
$query .=" @key = ";
$query .= $key;
$query .=", @user = ";
$query .= $username;
$query .=", @pass = ";
$query .= $password;

$result = sqlsrv_query($link, $query);

while($row = sqlsrv_fetch_array($result))
{
    echo $row[0];
}

sqlsrv_close($link);

and

while($row = sqlsrv_fetch_array($result))
{
    echo $row['Return Value'];
}

Neither of them echo anything.

Answer 1

The following example enables you to retrieve the RETURN value from a stored procedure and allows you to retrieve the OUTPUT values.

SQL:

CREATE PROCEDURE [ProcedureName]
    @input_parameter as int,
    @output_parameter as int out
AS
BEGIN
    -- Your SQL code
    SELECT @output_parameter = @input_parameter;
    RETURN 2
END

PHP:

// Connect.
$link = sqlsrv_connect($myServer, array('Database' => $myDB, 'UID' => $myUser, 'PWD' => $myPass));

$returnValue = 0;
$inputParameter = 10;
$outputParameter = 0;

$parameters = [
    [&$returnValue, SQLSRV_PARAM_OUT],
    [$inputParameter, SQLSRV_PARAM_IN],
    [&$outputParameter, SQLSRV_PARAM_OUT],
];

$sql = "EXEC ? = ProcedureName ? ?";
$stmt = sqlsrv_query($link, $sql, $parameters);

if ($stmt === false)
{
    // Throw/Handle Error.
}

// $returnValue and $outputParameter should be updated here because they were passed by Reference.

// Retrieve query rows if any.
$rows = [];
while (($row = sqlsrv_fetch_array($stmt, SQLSRV_FETCH_ASSOC) ?? false) !== false) {
    $rows[] = $row;
}

Some more reading about this topic can be found on the following links: How to retrieve input and output parameters using the sqlsrv driver and Sqlsrv query