Insert Values from Table Variable into already EXISTING Temp Table - sql

I'm successfully inserting values from Table Variable into new (not yet existing table) Temp Table. Have not issues when inserting small number of rows (eg. 10,000), but when inserting into a Table Variable a lot of rows (eg. 30,000) is throws an error "Server ran out of memory and external resources).
To walk around the issue:
I split my (60,000) Table Variable rows into small batches (eg. 10,000) each, thinking I could insert new data to already existing Temp Table, but I'm getting this error message:
There is already an object named '##TempTable' in the database.
My code is:
USE MyDataBase;
Go
Declare ##TableVariable TABLE
(
[ID] bigint PRIMARY KEY,
[BLD_ID] int NOT NULL
-- 25 more columns
)
Insert Into ##TableVariable VALUES
(1,25),
(2,30)
-- 61,000 more rows
Select * Into #TempTable From ##TableVariable;
Select Count(*) From #TempTable;
Below is the error message I'm getting

The problem is that SELECT INTO wants to create the destination table, so at second run you get the error.
first you have to create the #TempTable:
/* this creates the temptable copying the #TableVariable structure*/
Select *
Into #TempTable
From #TableVariable
where 1=0;
now you can loop through your batches and call this insert as many times you want..
insert Into #TempTable
Select * From #TableVariable;
pay attention that #TempTable is different from ##TempTable ( # = Local, ## = Global ) and remember to drop it when you have finished.
also you should NOT use ## for you table variable, use only #TableVariable
I hope this help

Related

Cloning a table definition to a table variable in SQL Server

Is there a way to clone the table definition from an existing table and recreate as a table variable?
DECLARE #TempTable1 TABLE (ID INT, Description VARCHAR(256))
I need to recreate a set of tables with same number of columns and definitions without repeating the DECLARE TABLE statement.
This process is available on MySQL as below.
CREATE TABLE TempTable1 LIKE TempTableMain;
Is it possible to do this is Microsoft SQL Server?
Please note that the actual scenario contains more that 60 columns in the #TempTable and need to create more than 10 instances from the original table.
I am not talking about data insertion or SELECT ion from another table as below. I need to create the table definition.
DECLARE #TempTable TABLE(ID INT, Description VARCHAR(100))
INSERT INTO #TempTable
VALUES (1, 'Test1'), (1, 'Test1');
SELECT *
INTO #TempTable2
FROM #TempTable1
SELECT * FROM #TempTable2
Create a user defined type with the columns of your table, lets say like that:
CREATE TYPE MyTableType AS TABLE (ID INT, Description VARCHAR(256));
And then declare your table variables using this type:
DECLARE #Table1 MyTableType;
DECLARE #Table2 MyTableType;
DECLARE #Table3 MyTableType;
SQL Server management studio gives you the option to create a sql script to create an already existing table.
Right click your table -> script table as -> CREATE To -> New Query Editor window
This way you dont have to write out the whole query every single time.
You could even create a stored procedure which takes as argument the name of your to be created table and run this from a while loop.
You can perform the following command:
SELECT * INTO #MyTable_tmp FROM MyTable
Then modify your MyTable, and copy your data back in. Other approaches I've seen is to create a new table calling it Mytable_Tmp (Not a temp table), which will be your new table.
Then copy your data doing any migrations you need. Then you will drop the original table and do a rename on Mytable.
When you run SELECT * INTO #MyTable FROM MyTable, SQL Server creates a new temporary table called #MyTable that matches each column and data type from your select clause. In this case we are selecting * so it will match MyTable. This only creates the columns it doesn't copy defaults, constraints indexes or anything else.
If you are using table variables, it means that you don't want to use them in long period of time, as they will be "forgotten" after every script completion.
So, easiest in my opinion is to use such construct:
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb.dbo.#tmpTable', 'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE #tmpTable;
SELECT * INTO #tmpTable FROM MyPrimaryTable
It creates temporary table exactly like yours, if you want empty table, you can just use:
SELECT * INTO #tmpTable FROM MyPrimaryTable WHERE 1 = 0
Then, temporary table will have exact same schema as your primary table.
You can apply as many times as you need (create as many temporary tables as you need).
You could use regular tables instead of temporary tables as well.
If you want to re-create table after dropping the existing table then you can use the below query.
/*
Create brands table
*/
-- Old block of code
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects
WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[TOY].[BRANDS]') AND type in (N'U'))
DROP TABLE [TOY].[BRANDS]
GO
-- New block of code
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS [TOY].[BRANDS]
GO
-- Add new table
CREATE TABLE TOY.BRANDS
(
ID INT NOT NULL,
NAME VARCHAR(20) NULL
)
GO
-- Load the table with data
INSERT INTO TOY.BRANDS (ID, NAME) VALUES
(1, 'Ford'),
(2, 'Chevy'),
(3, 'Dodge'),
(4, 'Plymouth'),
(5, 'Oldsmobile'),
(6, 'Lincoln'),
(7, 'Mercury');
GO

storing query outputs dynamically TSQL

I have a loop over different tables which returns results
with different number of columns.
Is it possible to store the output of a query without creating a concrete table?
I've read some posts regarding temporary tables so I tried this simple example:
create table #temp_table1 (id int)
insert into #temp_table1 ('select * from table1')
table1 above could be any table
I get the following error message:
Column name or number of supplied values does not match table definition.
Is there anyway to avoid having hard code table definitions exactly matching the output of your query?
Thanks!
You could do a select into - that will create the temporary table automatically:
SELECT * INTO #Temp
FROM TableName
The problem is that since you are using dynamic SQL , your temporary table will only be available inside the dynamic SQL scope - so doing something like this will result with an error:
EXEC('SELECT * INTO #Temp FROM TableName')
SELECT *
FROM #Temp -- The #Temp table does not exists in this scope!
To do this kind of thing using dynamic SQL you must use a global temporary table (that you must drop once done using!):
EXEC('SELECT * INTO ##GlobalTempFROM TableName')
SELECT * INTO #Temp
FROM ##GlobalTemp -- Since this is a global temporary table you can use it in this scope
DROP TABLE ##GlobalTemp

SQL Query creating copy of old SQL entry with two values changed [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Quickest way to clone row in SQL
(5 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
I have a table with around 50 to 60 cols (and counting), and I would like to know whether I can create a generic query for INSERT ... SELECT to copy one row, but with two cols changed.
More specifically, I want to fetch one global config from table configs and insert it into table configs with flag global set to false and new id auto-increment value.
Sth. like:
INSERT INTO configs
(SELECT TOP 1 * FROM configs WHERE global=1)
UPDATE global=0, id=?
(And of course the new autoincrement id should be returned to me, for I have to update the user's profile.)
Here is a fully functional solution with a demonstration of how it works. I'm assuming you are completing this action inside a stored procedure. I basically clone the current global=1 row into a temp table, then drop off the IDENTITY column so you can use SELECT * to reinsert the record. By using SELECT *, you will not have to update this whenever the column count increases.
-- setup demonstration with two sample columns of data
CREATE TABLE #configs (ID INT IDENTITY(100,1), [Global] INT, ColA CHAR(2), ColB VARCHAR(2));
-- fill with values
SET NOCOUNT ON;
INSERT #configs VALUES (1,'AA','BB');
INSERT #configs VALUES (1,'CC','DD');
INSERT #configs VALUES (1,'EF','GH');
SET NOCOUNT OFF;
-- This is the target ID we are working with
DECLARE #CloneID INT = 100;
-- Examine the ID
SELECT * FROM #configs WHERE ID=#CloneID;
-- This work should be completed in a transaction
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
-- copy current "global=1" record into a temp table and change its value to 0
SELECT * INTO #temp FROM #configs WHERE ID=#CloneID AND [Global]=1;
UPDATE #temp SET [Global]=0;
-- drop off the IDENTITY column so we can select it into main table again
ALTER TABLE #temp DROP COLUMN [ID];
-- copy the old "global=1" record back into main table, its value has been changed
INSERT #configs SELECT * FROM #temp;
COMMIT;
-- Examine
SELECT * FROM #configs;
-- cleanup
DROP TABLE #temp;
DROP TABLE #configs;

Insert into Table select result set from stored procedure but column count is not same

I need something like that which is of course not working.
insert into Table1
(
Id,
Value
)
select Id, value from
(
exec MySPReturning10Columns
)
I wanted to populate Table1 from result set returned by MySPReturning10Columns. Here the SP is returning 10 columns and the table has just 2 columns.
The following way works as long as table and result set from SP have same number of columns but in my case they are not same.
INSERT INTO TableWith2Columns
EXEC usp_MySPReturning2Columns;
Also, I want to avoid adding "." as linked server just to make openquery and openrowset work anyhow.
Is there a way not to have define table strucutre in temp table (all columns with datatypes and lenght)? Something like CTE.
You could use a temporary table as a go-between:
insert into #TempTable exec MySP
insert into Table1 (id, value) select id, value from #TempTable
You could solve the problem in two steps by doing the insert from the stored procedure into a temporary table, then do the insert selecting just the columns you want from the temporary table.
Information on temporary tables: http://www.sqlteam.com/article/temporary-tables
-- Well, declare a temp table or a table var, depending on the number of rows expected
-- from the SP. This table will be basically the result set of your SP.
DECLARE #spResult AS TABLE
(
ID INT,
VALUE FLOAT,
....
);
-- Get the result set of the SP into the temp table.
INSERT #spResult EXEC STORED_PROC;
-- Now you can query the SP's result set for ID and Value;
INSERT Table1 (ID, VALUE)
SELECT ID, VALUE FROM #spResult;
You dont need to create a temporary table, you can do it with single query by creating temporary view like this
with tempView as EXEC MySPReturning10Columns insert into Table1 select id, value from tempView
The temporary view disappears as soon as the statement finishes execution

At what point should a Table Variable be abandoned for a Temp Table?

Is there a row count that makes table variable's inefficient or what? I understand the differences between the two and I've seen some different figures on when that point is reached, but I'm curious if anyone knows.
When you need other indices on the table other than those that can be created on a temp table variable, or, for larger datasets (which are not likely to be persisted in available memory), when the table width (number of bytes per row) exceeds some threshold (This is because the number or rows of data per I/O page shrinks and the performance decreases... or if the changes you plan on making to the dataset need to be part of a multi-statement transaction which may need to be rolled back. (changes to Table variables are not written to the transaction log, changes to temp tables are...)
this code demonstrates that table variables are not stored in Transaction log:
create table #T (s varchar(128))
declare #T table (s varchar(128))
insert into #T select 'old value #'
insert into #T select 'old value #'
begin transaction
update #T set s='new value #'
update #T set s='new value #'
rollback transaction
select * from #T
select * from #T
Internally, table variables can be instantiated in tempdb as well as the temporary tables.
They differ in scope and persistence only.
Contrary to the popular belief, operations to the temp tables do affect the transaction log, despite the fact they are not subject to the transaction control.
To check it, run this simple query:
DECLARE #mytable TABLE (id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY)
;
WITH q(num) AS
(
SELECT 1
UNION ALL
SELECT num + 1
FROM q
WHERE num <= 42
)
INSERT
INTO #mytable (id)
SELECT num
FROM q
OPTION (MAXRECURSION 0)
DBCC LOG(tempdb, -1)
GO
DBCC LOG(tempdb, -1)
GO
and browse the last entries from both recordsets.
In the first recordset, you will see 42 LOP_INSERT_ROWS entries.
In the second recordset (which is in another batch) you will see 42 LOP_DELETE_ROWS entries.
They are the result of the table variable getting out of scope and its record being deleted.