I usually show folks the SQLCLR streaming table-valued functions and using SqlDataRecord with SqlPipe.SendResultsStart/SendResultsRow/SendResultsEnd on the same day. This sometimes brings up the question "which is better"? Since you can synthesize rowsets with both mechanisms and they both stream rows back to the client one buffer-worth at a time, its an interesting choice. However, with SqlPipe/SqlDataRecord, you can synthesize multiple rowsets in the same stored procedure. Just cruft up two different SqlDataRecord With multiple SendStart/SendRow/SendEnd blocks. Can't do that with any kind of table-valued function. You must "finish" one rowset (SendResultsEnd) before "starting" the next (SendResultsStart), though, you can't have interleaved output any more than you would with an ordinary cursorless rowset. Example follows:
[Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlProcedure]
public static void MultiRowset()
{
SqlMetaData[] m = new SqlMetaData[1] {new SqlMetaData("colname", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 5) };
SqlDataRecord rec = new SqlDataRecord(m);
rec.SetSqlString(0, "Hello");
SqlMetaData[] m2 = new SqlMetaData[2] { new SqlMetaData("another", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 5), new SqlMetaData("number", SqlDbType.Int) };
SqlDataRecord rec2 = new SqlDataRecord(m2);
rec2.SetSqlString(0, "Goodbye");
rec2.SetSqlInt32(1, 42);
SqlPipe p = SqlContext.Pipe;
p.SendResultsStart(rec); // first rowset
for (int i=0;i<10;i++)
p.SendResultsRow(rec);
p.SendResultsEnd();
p.SendResultsStart(rec2); // next rowset
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
p.SendResultsRow(rec2);
p.SendResultsEnd();
}