Optional Input Parameter in Stored Proc kills performance

Kind of hard to say without seeing the rest of the procedure.  Only one thing I can ask, are you setting ANSI NULLS OFF at procedure creation?  

Here is some more code.  I'll just say that I can change the input parameter's value from "Null" to "-1" and the thing works in seconds ... that's why I gave the limited code sample.  

USE [DataWarehouse]
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[TEST]
   (
	@ReturnValue As int OUTPUT,
	@RecordCount As int OUTPUT,
	@ErrMsg AS nVarChar(MAX) OUTPUT,
	@AcctgPeriod int = NULL
	--@AcctgPeriod int = -1   --works fine!
	--@AcctgPeriod int
	)
AS
BEGIN

	SET @ReturnValue = 0
	SET @ErrMsg = 'No Errors'

	IF (@ReturnValue = 0)
	BEGIN TRY
	    
		--DECLARE @AcctgPeriod int = NULL; when removed from the parameter list, the stored proc executes fine.

		--IF COALESCE(@AcctgPeriod, 0) = 0 -- hangs or takes forever
		--IF @AcctgPeriod = NULL -- evaluates to false and doesn't execute the begin/end
		--IF @AcctgPeriod = -1 -- works fine
		--IF (1=1)
		IF (@AcctgPeriod IS NULL) -- hangs or takes forever
		BEGIN
			SELECT	@AcctgPeriod = CAST(MAX(AcctgPeriod) AS int)
			FROM	ArchRe.dbo.Trandetl;
			SET @AcctgPeriod =	CASE
								WHEN CAST(RIGHT(@AcctgPeriod,2) AS smallint) IN (1,2,3) THEN CAST((CAST(LEFT(@AcctgPeriod,4) AS nvarchar(4)) + '03') AS int)
								WHEN CAST(RIGHT(@AcctgPeriod,2) AS smallint) IN (4,5,6) THEN CAST((CAST(LEFT(@AcctgPeriod,4) AS nvarchar(4)) + '06') AS int)
								WHEN CAST(RIGHT(@AcctgPeriod,2) AS smallint) IN (7,8,9) THEN CAST((CAST(LEFT(@AcctgPeriod,4) AS nvarchar(4)) + '09') AS int)
								ELSE CAST((CAST(LEFT(@AcctgPeriod,4) AS nvarchar(4)) + '12') AS int)
								END;
		END

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Thanks dbaSQL, I'll give it a try.

Mark

dbaSQL -

Gave it a try and it works.  Thanks for the solution.

I'm also thinking of using
@AcctgPeriod int = -1 (and not @AcctgPeriod int = Null)
so that I have minimal changes in the stored proc (i.e., I won't have to change all of the @AcctgPeriod references to AcctgPeriod_i)

Butif "=Null" makes it optional but "= -1" I makes it required then I'll have to go with the solution in your post.

Thanks again, Mark

Excellent!  Glad it worked out.

It is interesting that the issue has been around since the 2000 version, but does not appear to be addressed by 2005 or 2008.