Exam DP-203 topic 2 question 130 discussion

"Lookup activity reads and returns the content of a configuration file or table. It also returns the result of executing a query or stored procedure" - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-factory/control-flow-lookup-activity#:~:text=returns%20the%20result%20of%20executing%20a%20query%20or%20stored%20procedure "When the stored procedure has Output parameters, instead of using stored procedure activity, use lookup acitivty and Script activity. Stored procedure activity does not support calling SPs with Output parameter yet" - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-factory/transform-data-using-stored-procedure#:~:text=stored%20procedure%20activity%2C-,use%20lookup%20acitivty,-and%20Script%20activity

When the stored procedure has Output parameters, instead of using stored procedure activity, use lookup acitivty and Script activity. Stored procedure activity does not support calling SPs with Output parameter yet.

The Stored Procedure Activity does not allow to return an output, so Lookup is the correct one. Refer to: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-factory/transform-data-using-stored-procedure

Also ChatGPT: For your specific requirement: Retrieve the Number of Sales Invoices for the Current Date: If you simply need to call a stored procedure that returns the count and you want to use this count directly in your pipeline (e.g., for further processing or branching logic), the Lookup activity is preferable. If the stored procedure's primary purpose is to perform operations (e.g., insert/update/delete) and the output is not directly needed within the pipeline, the Stored Procedure activity is more appropriate. Given that your stored procedure returns the number of sales invoices and does not require input parameters, and assuming you want to use this count directly in the pipeline, the Lookup activity would be a good fit.

Chatgpt: The Stored Procedure activity in Azure Data Factory is specifically designed to execute SQL stored procedures. It is the most suitable activity when you need to run a stored procedure and handle the results or output of that procedure. The other options do not fit the requirements: B. Get Metadata is used to retrieve metadata information from data stores, not to execute stored procedures. C. Append Variable is used to append a value to an existing variable, not for executing stored procedures. D. Lookup is used to retrieve a dataset from a data store but is not typically used to execute stored procedures that return a single value without parameters.