Stackoverflow Code Snippet starting with 'Declare' causes post submission to fail

Question

If I enter a code snippet in Stack Overflow, starting with the keyword 'declare' like this (for some TSQL question, etc.):

DECLARE @myVar int
SET @myVar = ...

And then click the Post Your Question button, the page hangs for about 15-30 seconds and then an error page comes up with a picture of a cat that says this isn't my fault, it's Stack Overflow's. This behavior has been consistent.

My work-around is simply to not start the code snippet with 'DECLARE' -- took a while to figure that out though.

---

EDIT Here are some specific details to help repro:

I had to change 'DECLARE' to 'ECLARE' to below to get this to post.

Although the message is for a connection timeout -- try again later, etc. -- I don't think high traffic / firewall / etc. is the problem, as all I have to do is remove the word DECLARE and it seems to work fine (even in this bug report here)

1) The post I attempted to answer is here: T-SQL String Concatenating multiple rows
2) This is the answer I tried to give:

You could turn this into a function...

DECLARE @PartNumber varchar(6)
DECLARE @ProductCodeCSV as varchar(max)    
SET @PartNumber = '111222'

select @ProductCodeCSV = COALESCE(@ProductCodeCSV + ', ', '') + [product_code]
from table
where [part_number] = @PartNumber

select @ProductCodeCSV 

3) This is the url for the error page: T-SQL String Concatenating multiple rows
4) doesn't seem to matter if it's a code block or not -- will not submit 5) Error from page source:

• title: The connection was reset
• short desc: The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.
• long desc:
  • The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments.
  • If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection.
  • If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.

Answer 1

DECLARE @This_is_SQL_Variable NVARCHAR(MAX)
SET @This_is_SQL_Variable = 'Test the issue OP mentioned in his question.'
PRINT 'I don''t see any issue in code starting with DECLARE. Do you?'

I don't see any issue in code starting with DECLARE.

Make sure that you indent the line starting with DECLARE with at least 4 spaces to indicate that it is a block of code. See the markdown formatting page for more information.

UPDATE: Based on OP's newly added information.

Did you try posting like this?

Answer 2

Answering my own question with a 'declare' code snippet:

DECLARE @
WHATEVER

asdf

Answer 3

Trying again... (copy/paste from the original post as normal text.)

You could turn this into a function...

ECLARE @PartNumber varchar(6) ECLARE @ProductCodeCSV as varchar(max) SET @PartNumber = '111222'

select @ProductCodeCSV = COALESCE(@ProductCodeCSV + ', ', '') + [product_code] from table where [part_number] = @PartNumber

select @ProductCodeCSV

Editing...(adding the D to ECLARE, still normal text.) You could turn this into a function...

DECLARE @PartNumber varchar(6) DECLARE @ProductCodeCSV as varchar(max) SET @PartNumber = '111222'

select @ProductCodeCSV = COALESCE(@ProductCodeCSV + ', ', '') + [product_code] from table where [part_number] = @PartNumber

select @ProductCodeCSV

Editing...(using a code block) You could turn this into a function...

ECLARE @PartNumber varchar(6) ECLARE @ProductCodeCSV as varchar(max)
SET @PartNumber = '111222'

select @ProductCodeCSV = COALESCE(@ProductCodeCSV + ', ', '') + [product_code] from table where [part_number] = @PartNumber

select @ProductCodeCSV 

Editing...(using a code block with D...) You could turn this into a function...

DECLARE @PartNumber varchar(6) DECLARE @ProductCodeCSV as varchar(max)
SET @PartNumber = '111222'

select @ProductCodeCSV = COALESCE(@ProductCodeCSV + ', ', '') + [product_code] from table where [part_number] = @PartNumber

select @ProductCodeCSV