Why should you care?

Your tutorial knowledge must map to how real services read and write DataVerse under load.

See it live — copy this example

Run in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or Azure Data Studio.

-- Connection string pattern (store secrets outside source control)
-- Server=localhost;Database=DataVerse;Trusted_Connection=True;Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=True;

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.usp_CreateOrder
    @CustomerId INT,
    @City NVARCHAR(50),
    @Amount DECIMAL(10,2),
    @OrderId INT OUTPUT
AS
BEGIN
    SET NOCOUNT ON;
    INSERT INTO dbo.Orders (CustomerId, City, Amount)
    VALUES (@CustomerId, @City, @Amount);
    SET @OrderId = SCOPE_IDENTITY();
END

What happened?

• The proc inserts one order and returns the new id via OUTPUT — a clean API contract.
• The connection string comment shows Encrypt settings for modern clients.

Practice next

1. Create usp_CreateOrder and test with DECLARE @id INT; EXEC … @OrderId=@id OUTPUT.
2. Call the same proc from a tiny C# or Python snippet later.
3. Keep connection strings in env vars / Key Vault.
4. Return the inserted row as a SELECT instead of OUTPUT.
5. Wrap insert + order item inserts in a transaction (next module).

Remember

APIs talk via parameters and clear contracts. OUTPUT/result sets return ids and rows. Secrets never live in git.

Checkout API → DataVerse

ASP.NET Core checkout calls usp_CreateOrder.

Outcome: Stable id returned to the client for payment confirmation.