SQL insert from select, but set some values by hand - sql

Question

Let's say that I have table with A LOT of columns. I have one column with primary key that has autoincrement set to 1. I want to insert a new row and in this new row I have following requirements:
The row must have generated ID
All non-specified columns have to be copied from row with id='9999'
I have to be able to set some values of columns by hand (for example columns name and age
I have tried:
Insert Into demo_table
Select * From demo_table Where id='9999';
However, I get this error:
An explicit value for the identity column in table 'demo_table' can only be specified when a column list is used and IDENTITY_INSERT is ON.
What do I need:
I want to duplicate a row -> let the id be set by database (I have PK and autoincrement configured) -> set some columns by hand -> have other column's values duplicated, without specifying column names (as I have a lot of columns and their names could change in future.)
Form of solution:
I would prefer if I was able to achive this using only one query. If necessary, I have stored procedures available.
My question:
Is this even possible? How could I achive such query/procedure?

Answer 1

There is a way to build sql query by table schema:
USE <databaseName>
DECLARE
#SourceTableName NVARCHAR(255) = <TableName>,
#SqlQuery NVARCHAR(MAX)
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb.dbo.#IdentityCols', 'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE #IdentityCols;
CREATE TABLE #IdentityCols(
ColumnName NVARCHAR(255)
)
INSERT INTO #IdentityCols
SELECT
--TABLE_NAME,
COLUMN_NAME
FROM
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE
COLUMNPROPERTY(object_id(TABLE_SCHEMA+'.'+TABLE_NAME), COLUMN_NAME, 'IsIdentity') = 1 AND TABLE_NAME = #SourceTableName
UNION
SELECT
--o.name,
c.name
FROM
sys.objects o inner join
sys.columns c on o.object_id = c.object_id
WHERE
c.is_identity = 1 AND o.name = #SourceTableName
--STRING_AGG in SQL SERVER 2017 and greater. As aproach for early versions is cursor or loop
SELECT #SqlQuery = 'SELECT ' + STRING_AGG(COLUMN_NAME, ',') + ' FROM ' + #SourceTableName
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME=#SourceTableName AND COLUMN_NAME NOT IN (Select ColumnName FROM #IdentityCols)
exec sp_executesql #SqlQuery
For more information you can see this questions:
How can I show the table structure in SQL Server query?
How do you determine what SQL Tables have an identity column programmatically
How to concatenate text from multiple rows into a single text string in SQL Server
SQL Server Loop through Table Rows without Cursor
SQL Server loop - how do I loop through a set of records

Answer 2

For anyone interested, how I've solved this problem:
After I've read your comments (thanks btw) and some threads online, I've realized why I cannot do what I asked. However, I've come seen solution to similar problem somewhere, where they wanted to select * except one specific column, they solved it like this:
copied the entire table
selected from there.
I've come up with similar solution to my problem
-- check data, remove after testing
select * from demo_table order by ID desc;
-- create table with one column I want to duplicate
select * into Temp_demo_table from demo_table where ID=9999;
-- drop id, so it does not get included in the inter-table insert
alter table Temp_demo_table
drop column ID;
-- update columns that I need to modify, doesn't have to have WHERE clause, becuase there's only one row there
update Temp_demo_table set MyCustomProperty='abc', name=NULL, age=NULL
-- insert the desired and edited row
insert into demo_table
select * from Temp_demo_table;
-- drop the temp table
drop table Temp_demo_table;
-- check data, remove after testing
select * from demo_table order by ID desc;
I realize how inefficient this is, however the function (on my api) executing this command will not be called so often (max 100 times per day). I believe that this query could be optimized, however I do not have sufficient knowledge to do it at this moment (100% going to put it in my TODO :D).
Edit-1:
Just found out that you can write queries in oracle db like this:
(select * from demo_table) - (select name, age from demo_table)
I currentlly don't know if I can apply this to sql server, however as soon as I have an access to mssql, I'll try it out and keep this answear updated!