SQL Server : make update trigger don't activate with no changing value - sql

Question

I want to track the update changes in a table via a trigger:
CREATE TABLE dbo.TrackTable(...columns same as target table)
GO
CREATE TRIGGER dboTrackTable
ON dbo.TargetTable
AFTER UPDATE
AS
INSERT INTO dbo.TrackTable (...columns)
SELECT (...columns)
FROM Inserted
However in real production some of the update queries select rows with vague conditions and update them all regardless of whether they are actually changed, like
UPDATE Targettable
SET customer_type = 'VIP'
WHERE 1 = 1
--or is_obsolete = 0 or register_date < '20160101' something
But due to table size and to analyze, I only want to choose those actually modified data for tracking. How to achieve this goal?
My track table has many columns (so I do not prefer checking inserted and deleted column one by one) but it seldom changes structure.

Answer 1

I guess the following code will be useful.
CREATE TABLE dbo.TrackTable(...columns same as target table)
GO
CREATE TRIGGER dboTrackTable
ON dbo.TargetTable
AFTER UPDATE
AS
INSERT INTO dbo.TrackTable (...columns)
SELECT *
FROM Inserted
EXCEPT
SELECT *
FROM Deleted

Answer 2

I realize this post is a couple months old now, but for anyone looking for a well-rounded answer:
To exit the trigger if no rows were affected on SQL Server 2016 and up, Microsoft recommends using the built-in ROWCOUNT_BIG() function in the Optimizing DML Triggers section of the Create Trigger documentation.
Usage:
IF ROWCOUNT_BIG() = 0
RETURN;
To ensure you are excluding rows that were not changed, you'll need to do a compare of the inserted and deleted tables inside the trigger. Taking your example code:
INSERT INTO dbo.TrackTable (...columns)
SELECT (...columns)
FROM Inserted i
INNER JOIN deleted d
ON d.[SomePrimaryKeyCol]=i.[SomePrimaryKeyCol] AND
i.customer_type<>d.customer_type
Microsoft documentation and w3schools are great resources for learning how to leverage various types of queries and trigger best practices.

Answer 3

Prevent trigger from doing anything if no rows changed.
Writing-triggers-the-right-way
CREATE TRIGGER the_trigger on dbo.Data
after update
as
begin
if ##ROWCOUNT = 0
return
set nocount on
/* Some Code Here */
end
Get a list of rows that changed:
CREATE TRIGGER the_trigger on dbo.data
AFTER UPDATE
AS
SELECT * from inserted
Previous stack overflow on triggers
#anna - as per #Oded's answer, when an update is performed, the rows are in the deleted table with the old information, and the inserted table with the new information –