Testing whether a SQL statement is valid - SQL Server 2000

[InvisibleDuncan]

I have a bit of an odd problem. Within our SQL Server 2000 database, we have a table that holds default values for given IDs. However, in some circumstances, the default value held in the table will actually be a SQL command. For example:

DatePart(YYYY, GetDate())

Currently, this is all handled within the VB application that calls the SP that looks at this table; within a Try Catch block, it tries to run the SQL command, and if it returns a value rather than an error, it uses the returned value rather than literally putting the text of "DatePart(YYYY, GetDate())" as the value.

The VB code looks like this, where RunSQLGetString is a function that runs the SQL against the database:

                        Dim DefaultValue As String
                        Try
                            DefaultValue = RunSQLGetString("Select " & Attribute.DefaultValue)
                        Catch ex As Exception
                            DefaultValue = Attribute.DefaultValue
                        End Try

I would rather handle this in the SQL stored procedure, but I'm not sure of the best way to go about it. I really don't like the idea of using error handling for coding purposes, and besides, as it's SQL 2000, I'm limited to using @@Error:

    Select @Default = IsNull(DefaultValue,'') From Attributes Where AttrID = @AttrID
    If IsNull (@Default, '') <> ''
        Begin
            Insert Into #Converted
            Execute ('Select ' + @Default)
            If @@Error = 0
                Begin
                    Set @Default = (Select Top 1 Converted From #Converted)
                End
            Select  @AttrValue  =   @Default
        End

Can anyone see a tidier way around this?