I have a table filled with data and one of the columns - TrackingNumber - is an integer value. I have gotten a request to change it to auto-increment and to have it start the identity seed at 1000000. I know that I cannot alter a column to be an identity column in an existing table with data, so I have two options: either create an entirely new table and then move data from the old table into that new table or add an new identity column and update it with data from the old column.
The problem is that I need to retain all the existing values in column TrackingNumber. I have tried the following:
1) ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Table1]
ADD [TrackingNumber2] [bigint] IDENTITY (1000000, 1) NOT NULL
2) UPDATE [dbo].[Table1]
SET [TrackingNumber2]=[TrackingNumber]
3) ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Table1]
DROP COLUMN [TrackingNumber]
GO
4) EXEC sp_rename 'Table1.TrackingNumber2', 'TrackingNumber','COLUMN'
I got an error on step 2 - Updating new column with the value from the old column: "Cannot update identity column 'TrackingNumber2'"
Can anyone recommend a workaround?
You just need to set identity_insert on for this table so you can update the values. Make sure you turn it back off when you complete the update. :)
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188059.aspx
Are you sure you need to use an identity column? There are alternatives. For example, since SQL Server 2012 (and azure, too), there are these things called sequences. You can define a sequence to start at any number you like:
create sequence dbo.TrackingSequence
as int
start with 1000000
increment by 1
no maxvalue
no cycle
no cache
Then, you can alter the table such that the default value for the column in question defaults from the sequence:
alter table dbo.MyTable
add constraint [MyTable.TrackingNumber.Default.TrackingSequence]
default( next value for dbo.TrackingSequence ) for TrackingNumber
(If the column already has a default value, you need to remove that first - in a separate statement.)
A sequence works a lot like an identity, but you don't have to disrupt existing values or the column definition per se.
The only trick is to remember to not specify the value for TrackingNumber, and let the DB do its thing.
Sequences are cool in that you can have one sequence that is used by multiple tables, giving you somewhat shorter db-wide unique IDs than alternatives in the past. For such an application, you'd probably be better off with a bigint column - or know that the tables in question aren't going to be terribly long.
I ended up creating a new table and moving data in there
Related
I have a script for microsoft sql server database which has hundreds of tables and tables contains data as well. This is the database of a web application.what I want to do is to delete the previous records and reset the primary key to 1 or 0.
I have tried
`DBCC CHECKIDENT ('dbo.tbl',RESEED,0); `
but it does not work for me as in most of the tables the primary key is not identity.
I can not truncate the table as its primary key is being used as FK in many other tables.
I have also tried to add the identity specification in the primary key of the table and run the checkident query and then changing it back to non-identity spec, but after adding the record again it starts from where it left.
Making changes in the code is not an option for me.
please help.
According with your question I am not sure about the main objective, Why? If you need truncate a lot of tables and change their structures to have an Identity property why you can't disabled the FK? . In the past I have used an standard process for rebuild a table and migrate all the information, this represent a group of steps, I would try to help you but you should follow the next steps.
Steps:
1) Disable FK for alter the structure of your tables. You can get the solution for this task in the next link:
Temporarily disable all foreign key constraints
2) Alter the table with the new property Identity, this is a classic process of ALTER TABLE xxxxxx.
3) Execute the syntax that previously posted :
DBCC CHECKIDENT ('dbo.tbl',RESEED,0);
Try to follow this path and if you have any problem only ask us.
You can not truncate table that have relation. You shoud remove relation firstly.
My understanding of this question:
You have a database with tables that you want to empty and next have them use primary key values starting at 0 or 1.
Some of these tables use an identity value and you already have a solution for those (you know you can find out which columns have an identity by using the sys.columns view? Look for the is_identity column).
Some tables do not use an identity but get their pk values from an unknown source, which we can't modify.
The only solution I see, is creating an after insert trigger (or modifying) on those tables that subtracts from the new pk value.
E.g.: your "hidden generator" will generate a next value 5254, but you want the next pk value to become one:
CREATE TRIGGER trg_sometable_ai
ON sometable
AFTER INSERT
AS
BEGIN
UPDATE st
SET st.pk_col = st.pk_col - 5253
FROM sometable AS st
INNER JOIN INSERTED AS i
ON i.pk_col = th.pk_col
END
You'll have to determine the next value and thus the "subtract value" for each table.
If the code also inserts child records into tables with a foreign key to this table, and uses the previously generated value, you have to modify those triggers as well...
This is a "last resort" solution and something I would recommend against in any scenario that has other options. Manipulating primary key values is generally not a good idea.
I have set some script that inserts data from an XML file into a SQL database. I am getting the following error.
Cannot insert the value NULL into column 'fighterID', table 'MMA Database.dbo.FIGHTERStemp'; column does not allow nulls. INSERT fails.
I have fighterID set as the primary key and will not allow NULLS. My intention is to have it number each row as they are inserted. I found one answer that advises to modify the column properties to be the identifier. However it will not let me adjust the columns properties without dropping and adding the table again.
I can do that - but what is the SQL syntax to set the identity specification settings? Am I going about this the right way?
It's pretty simple, just set the field with datatype INT (integer) and follow it with keyword IDENTITY. You can include the seed and increment values; e.g. start at 1, increment by 1, or just use the keyword IDENTITY for a 1,1 default.
CREATE TABLE MMA (FighterID INT IDENTITY (1,1), FighterInfo VARCHAR(MAX))
While inserting data into Primary key you can check the previous max id value and then increment it to next value before you insert a new row.
In SQL, you need to drop table before altering its specification. You can do this by taking backup into temp table then drop your main table and then re insert data from temp table.
We have a production table with 770 million rows and change. We want(/need?) to change the Primary ID column from int to bigint to allow for future growth (and to avoid the sudden stop when the 32bit integer space is exhausted)
Experiments in DEV have shown that this is not as simple as altering the column as we would need to drop the index and then re-create it. So far in DEV (which is a bit humbler than PROD) the dropping of the index has not finished after 1 and a half hours. This table is hit 24/7 and having it offline for such a long time is not an option.
Has anyone else had to deal with a similar situation? How did you get it done?
Are there alternatives?
Edit: Additional Info:
The Primary key is clustered.
You could attempt a staged approach.
Create a new bigint column
Create an insert trigger to keep new entries in sync with the 2 columns
Execute an update to populate all the empty values in the bigint column with the converted value
Change the primary index on the table from your old id column to the new one
Point any FK's and queries to use the new column
Change the new column to become your identity column and remove the insert trigger from #2
Delete the old ID column
You should end up spreading the pain out over these 7 steps instead of hitting it all at once.
Create a parallel table with the longer data type for new rows and UNION the results?
What I had to do was copy the data into a new table with the desired structure (primary/clustered key only, non-clustered/FK once complete). If you don't have the room, you could bcp out the data and back in. You may need an application outage to make this happen.
What doesn't work: alter table Orderhistory alter column ID bigint because of the primary key. Don't drop the key and alter column as you will just fill your log file and take much longer than copy/bcp.
Never use the SSMS tools designer to change a column property, it copies table into temp table then does a rename once done. Lookup the alter table alter column syntax and use it and possibly defrag once complete if you modified a column wider that sits in middle of table.
Is there any way of changing the identity seed for an identity column permanently? Using DBCC CHECKIDENT just seems to set the last_value. If the table is truncated all values are reset.
dbcc checkident ('__Test_SeedIdent', reseed, 1000)
select name, seed_value, increment_value, last_value
from sys.identity_columns
where [object_id] = OBJECT_ID('__Test_SeedIdent');
returns
name seed_value increment_value last_value
-------------------------------------------------
idIdent 1 1 1000
I was hoping that some syntax like
alter table dbo.__Test_SeedIdent alter column idIdent [int] identity(1000,1) NOT NULL
would exist.
Is it necessary to create a new column, move the values across, drop the original column and rename the new?
From Books Online:
"To change the original seed value and reseed any existing rows, you must drop the identity column and recreate it specifying the new seed value. When the table contains data, the identity numbers are added to the existing rows with the specified seed and increment values. The order in which the rows are updated is not guaranteed."
MSSQL does not allow you to add or alter an Identity on an existing column via TSQL very easily. You would have to drop the column and re-add it. Needless to say this can play hell with FK relations. You can do it directly in the enterprise manager. However that won't be fun if you have to do this to a LOT of columns.
Is it necessary to create a new
column, move the values across, drop
the original column and rename the
new?
Yup, and don't forget to fix/update all indexes, foreign key relationships, etc. that are tied to that column
You can use DBCC CHECKIDENT('tablename', RESEED, seedvalue)
example: DBCC CHECKIDENT('Customers',RESEED, 1350)
run DBCC CHECKIDENT('Customers') again to check if current seed value was set.
However as mentioned in previous answers this will not change existing values stored in the identity column. It will only change seed value so the next row that is inserted will start with that value. Identity increment remains same (not changed) and can not be changed with DBCC.
"Is it necessary to create a new column, move the values across, drop the original column and rename the new?"
Actually in Enterprise Manager, when you add an ID column to an existing table (or change an INT PK field to an INT PK ID), it does this behind the scene.
Is there a way to reserve or skip or increment value of identity column?
I Have two tables joined in one-to-one relation ship. First one has IDENTITY PK column, and second one int PK (not IDENTITY). I used to insert in first, get ID and insert in second. And it works ok.
Now I need to insert values in second table without inserting into first.
Now, how to increment IDENTITY seed, so I can insert it into second table, but leave "hole" in ID's of first table?
EDIT: More info
This works:
-- I need new seed number, but not table row
-- so i will insert foo row, get id, and delete it
INSERT INTO TABLE1 (SomeRequiredField) VALUES ('foo');
SET #NewID = SCOPE_IDENTITY();
DELETE FROM TABLE1 WHERE ID=#NewID;
-- Then I can insert in TABLE2
INSERT INTO (ID, Field, Field) VALUES (#NewID, 'Value', 'Value');
Once again - this works.
Question is can I get ID without inserting into table?
DBCC needs owner rights; is there a clean user callable SQL to do that?
This situation will make your overall data structure very hard to understand. If there is not a relationship between the values, then break the relationship.
There are ways to get around this to do what you are looking for, but typically it is in a distributed environment and not done because of what appears to be a data model change.
Then its no more a one-to-one relationship.
Just break the PK constraint.
Use a DBCC CHECKIDENT statement.
This article from SQL Server Books Online discusses the use of the DBCC CHECKIDENT method to update the identity seed of a table.
From that article:
This example forces the current identity value in the jobs table to a value of 30.
USE pubs
GO
DBCC CHECKIDENT (jobs, RESEED, 30)
GO
I would look into the OUTPUT INTO feature if you are using SQL Server 2005 or greater. This would allow you to insert into your primary table, and take the IDs assigned at that time to create rows in the secondary table.
I am assuming that there is a foreign key constraint enforced - because that would be the only reason you would need to do this in the first place.
How do you plan on matching them up later? I would not put records into the second table without a record in the first, that is why it is set up in a foreign key relationship - to stio that sort of action. Just why do you not want to insert records into the first table anyway? If we knew more about the type of application and why this is necessary we might be able to guide you to a solution.
this might help
SET IDENTITY_INSERT [ database_name . [ schema_name ] . ] table { ON | OFF }
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa259221(SQL.80).aspx
It allows explicit values to be inserted into the identity column of a table.