SA0152 : THROW statement appears as a transaction name in ROLLBACK TRANSACTION

In T-SQL for SQL Server, a common issue arises when a THROW statement is unintentionally used as a transaction name in a ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement. This can lead to errors if the ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement is not properly terminated with a semicolon before the THROW statement.

For example:

 1-- Example of problematic code without semicolon
 2BEGIN TRY
 3    BEGIN TRANSACTION
 4    SELECT 1/0
 5    COMMIT TRANSACTION
 6END TRY
 7BEGIN CATCH
 8    IF XACT_STATE() <> 0 ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
 9    THROW
10END CATCH

This example generates a runtime error because SQL Server mistakenly tries to interpret THROW as a transaction name, resulting in a message: “Cannot roll back THROW. No transaction or savepoint of that name was found.”

• Transaction rollback failures when the semicolon is omitted.

• Misinterpretation of THROW as a transaction name, causing runtime errors.

Correctly terminate ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statements with a semicolon to prevent SQL Server from interpreting the THROW keyword as a transaction name.

Follow these steps to address the issue:

1. Locate the ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement within your T-SQL code.

2. Ensure the ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement is terminated with a semicolon (;) before the THROW statement.

3. Review the surrounding transaction logic to verify transaction consistency and correct error handling.

For example:

1BEGIN TRY
2    BEGIN TRANSACTION;
3    SELECT 1/0;
4    COMMIT TRANSACTION;
5END TRY
6BEGIN CATCH
7    IF XACT_STATE() <> 0 ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
8    THROW;
9END CATCH

The rule has a Batch scope and is applied only on the SQL script.

Rule has no parameters.

The rule does not need Analysis Context or SQL Connection.

Design Rules, Bugs

THROW (Transact-SQL)

Connect related issue

Other Resources