SQL Server: Using SQL Profiler to Capture Stored Procedure Call from Application

SQL Profiler is a high-quality tool to figure out different database issues, like “Which are costliest queries running”, “Which quires acquired exclusive locks”, “Which indexes are missing” and so on. But in development environment and on production when solving a problem, developers like to use SQL Profiler to get exact procedure call which is being generated by front end application.

Worst practice is, that developers like to use existing built in templates for this purpose and normally use default one i.e. STANDARD.  If you are also using SQL Profiler for this procedure call purpose, then selecting STANDARD trace template is not a good choice, as on production server it affects its performance and even on development server it returns much more extra information.

Good practice is, if you have not created your own template then always select TUNING.

 It also has some extra information so when you only need to catch procedure calls generated from your application then click on “Event Selection” tab and keep only “RPC:Completed” event. You need not to select “Sp: stmt Completed” as you just need to capture “execute procedure calls” and not all the statement inside this procedure. You can also omit “SP: Batch Completed” as we need calls that are only generated from application. If you also need to capture calls from SSMS then you can keep it.

To avoid extra work pressure on server and to get your required results only, you must also apply filters on “Database Name” and “Text”

 Use % sign, just like you use in LIKE operator.

Now run your trace and you will find your required results quickly and clearly, even without putting extra work load on database server.