I have the following table :
CREATE TABLE Seq2 (val INT NOT NULL IDENTITY);
How to populate this table knowing that I tried this :
INSERT INTO Seq2(val) VALUES (1)
I have the following error :
Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table 'Seq2' when
IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF.
Having such a table seems completely pointless, if I must say. If the table has only an IDENTITY then it effectively holds no meaning, so there's no point it being there.
That being said, if you did have such a table, you can INSERT values into the IDENTITY using DEFAULT VALUES:
INSERT INTO dbo.Seq2
DEFAULT VALUES;
INSERT INTO dbo.Seq2
DEFAULT VALUES;
With a new table, this would create rows with the values 1 and 2.
If you want to explicitly INSERT values into the table, then you're better off remove the IDENTITY option. Considering this is a new table, just DROP it and recreate it with the IDENTITY property:
DROP TABLE dbo.Seq2;
GO
CREATE TABLE Seq2 (val INT NOT NULL);
Having a table with a single IDENTITY column, that you're then going to define the results for really is pointless. Either don't use IDENTITY and define the values, or use IDENTITY and let SQL Server handle it.
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Seq2 ON
INSERT INTO Seq2(val)VALUES (1)
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Seq2 OFF
Simply, enable IDENTITY_INSERT for the table. That looks like this:
SET IDENTITY_INSERT IdentityTable ON
INSERT INTO Seq2(val) VALUES (1)
SET IDENTITY_INSERT IdentityTable OFF
Keep in mind :
It can only be enabled on one table at a time. If you try to enable
it on a second table while it is still enabled on a first table SQL
Server will generate an error.
When it is enabled on a table you must specify a value for the
identity column.
The user issuing the statement must own the object, be a system
administrator (sysadmin role), be the database owner (dbo) or be a
member of the db_ddladmin role in order to run the command.
SELECT SCOPE_IDENTITY() // to get last identity value generated in the same session and scope
SELECT ##IDENTITY // to get the last identity vaue generated in a session irrespective of scope
I want to be able to insert something into my table at a specific ID, so I turned IDENTITY_INSERT on for the table. However, if I just want the auto increment to handle the ID, this error appears:
"Explicit value must be specified for identity column in table
'TsiList' either when IDENTITY_INSERT is set to ON or when a
replication user is inserting into a NOT FOR REPLICATION identity
column."
Is there a way to make the queries
INSERT INTO table (ID, something_else) VALUES (15, 'foo');
and
INSERT INTO table (something_else) VALUES ('foo');
work at the same time?
You can't do it without switching identity_insert on and off as required in between running each query.
Each version will only work when identity_insert is set to the relevant value within the session in which the query is being executed.
For example:
SET IDENTITY_INSERT TsiList ON;
INSERT INTO TsiList (ID, something_else) VALUES (15, 'foo');
SET IDENTITY_INSERT TsiList OFF;
INSERT INTO TsiList (something_else) VALUES ('foo');
I want to copy data from a table named ActionType inside a database TD_EDD, into another table named ActionType inside another database DsVelocity.
I have written the following query:
INSERT INTO [DsVelocity].[dbo].[ActionType]
([ActionTypeID]
,[ActionTypeName]
,[ActiveStatus])
SELECT [ActionTypeID], [ActionType], [Active/Deactive]
FROM [TD_EDD].[dbo].[ActionType]
GO
Whenever I'm trying to do this, I'm getting the following error:
Msg 544, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table 'ActionType' when IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF.
I don't understand what's wrong and why I'm getting this error?
Note that I'm using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2.
This means that when you insert data into target table, you will have conflicting ids. Most likely ActionTypeId column
to Fix it use
INSERT INTO [DsVelocity].[dbo].[ActionType]
([ActionTypeName]
,[ActiveStatus])
SELECT [ActionType], [Active/Deactive]
FROM [TD_EDD].[dbo].[ActionType]
GO
Well, lets assume from the message that ActionTypeID is an IDENTITY Column. You cannot isert values into this column as it is auto generate, uless you use IDENTITY_INSERT
Allows explicit values to be inserted into the identity column of a
table.
At any time, only one table in a session can have the IDENTITY_INSERT
property set to ON. If a table already has this property set to ON,
and a SET IDENTITY_INSERT ON statement is issued for another table,
SQL Server returns an error message that states SET IDENTITY_INSERT is
already ON and reports the table it is set ON for.
If the value inserted is larger than the current identity value for
the table, SQL Server automatically uses the new inserted value as the
current identity value.
The setting of SET IDENTITY_INSERT is set at execute or run time and
not at parse time.
So you would have to do something like
SET IDENTITY_INSERT [DsVelocity].[dbo].[ActionType] ON
before the insert.
Why am I getting an error doing an insert when IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF?
How do I turn it on properly in SQL Server 2008? Is it by using SQL Server Management Studio?
I have run this query:
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Database. dbo. Baskets ON
Then I got the message back in the console that the Command(s) completed successfully.
However when I run the application, it still gives me the error shown below:
Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table 'Baskets' when
IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF.
Via SQL as per MSDN
SET IDENTITY_INSERT sometableWithIdentity ON
INSERT INTO sometableWithIdentity
(IdentityColumn, col2, col3, ...)
VALUES
(AnIdentityValue, col2value, col3value, ...)
SET IDENTITY_INSERT sometableWithIdentity OFF
The complete error message tells you exactly what is wrong...
Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table 'sometableWithIdentity' when IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF.
I had a problem where it did not allow me to insert it even after setting the IDENTITY_INSERT ON.
The problem was that i did not specify the column names and for some reason it did not like it.
INSERT INTO tbl Values(vals)
So basically do the full INSERT INTO tbl(cols) Values(vals)
Import:
You must write columns in INSERT statement
INSERT INTO TABLE
SELECT * FROM
Is not correct.
Insert into Table(Field1,...)
Select (Field1,...) from TABLE
Is correct
I know this is an older thread but I just bumped into this. If the user is trying to run inserts on the Identity column after some other session Set IDENTITY_INSERT ON, then he is bound to get the above error.
Setting the Identity Insert value and the subsequent Insert DML commands are to be run by the same session.
Here #Beginner was setting Identity Insert ON separately and then running the inserts from his application. That is why he got the below Error:
Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table 'Baskets' when
IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF.
It looks necessary to put a SET IDENTITY_INSERT Database.dbo.Baskets ON; before every SQL INSERT sending batch.
You can send several INSERT ... VALUES ... commands started with one SET IDENTITY_INSERT ... ON; string at the beginning. Just don't put any batch separator between.
I don't know why the SET IDENTITY_INSERT ... ON stops working after the sending block (for ex.: .ExecuteNonQuery() in C#). I had to put SET IDENTITY_INSERT ... ON; again at the beginning of next SQL command string.
This is likely when you have a PRIMARY KEY field and you are inserting a value that is duplicating or you have the INSERT_IDENTITY flag set to on
Another option is where you have tables like 'type' or 'status', for example, OrderStatus, where you always want to control the Id value, create the Id (Primary Key) column without it being an Identity column is the first place.
How am I supposed to get the IDENTITY of an inserted row?
I know about ##IDENTITY and IDENT_CURRENT and SCOPE_IDENTITY, but don't understand the implications or impacts attached to each.
Can someone please explain the differences and when I would be using each?
##IDENTITY returns the last identity value generated for any table in the current session, across all scopes. You need to be careful here, since it's across scopes. You could get a value from a trigger, instead of your current statement.
SCOPE_IDENTITY() returns the last identity value generated for any table in the current session and the current scope. Generally what you want to use.
IDENT_CURRENT('tableName') returns the last identity value generated for a specific table in any session and any scope. This lets you specify which table you want the value from, in case the two above aren't quite what you need (very rare). Also, as #Guy Starbuck mentioned, "You could use this if you want to get the current IDENTITY value for a table that you have not inserted a record into."
The OUTPUT clause of the INSERT statement will let you access every row that was inserted via that statement. Since it's scoped to the specific statement, it's more straightforward than the other functions above. However, it's a little more verbose (you'll need to insert into a table variable/temp table and then query that) and it gives results even in an error scenario where the statement is rolled back. That said, if your query uses a parallel execution plan, this is the only guaranteed method for getting the identity (short of turning off parallelism). However, it is executed before triggers and cannot be used to return trigger-generated values.
I believe the safest and most accurate method of retrieving the inserted id would be using the output clause.
for example (taken from the following MSDN article)
USE AdventureWorks2008R2;
GO
DECLARE #MyTableVar table( NewScrapReasonID smallint,
Name varchar(50),
ModifiedDate datetime);
INSERT Production.ScrapReason
OUTPUT INSERTED.ScrapReasonID, INSERTED.Name, INSERTED.ModifiedDate
INTO #MyTableVar
VALUES (N'Operator error', GETDATE());
--Display the result set of the table variable.
SELECT NewScrapReasonID, Name, ModifiedDate FROM #MyTableVar;
--Display the result set of the table.
SELECT ScrapReasonID, Name, ModifiedDate
FROM Production.ScrapReason;
GO
I'm saying the same thing as the other guys, so everyone's correct, I'm just trying to make it more clear.
##IDENTITY returns the id of the last thing that was inserted by your client's connection to the database.
Most of the time this works fine, but sometimes a trigger will go and insert a new row that you don't know about, and you'll get the ID from this new row, instead of the one you want
SCOPE_IDENTITY() solves this problem. It returns the id of the last thing that you inserted in the SQL code you sent to the database. If triggers go and create extra rows, they won't cause the wrong value to get returned. Hooray
IDENT_CURRENT returns the last ID that was inserted by anyone. If some other app happens to insert another row at an unforunate time, you'll get the ID of that row instead of your one.
If you want to play it safe, always use SCOPE_IDENTITY(). If you stick with ##IDENTITY and someone decides to add a trigger later on, all your code will break.
The best (read: safest) way to get the identity of a newly-inserted row is by using the output clause:
create table TableWithIdentity
( IdentityColumnName int identity(1, 1) not null primary key,
... )
-- type of this table's column must match the type of the
-- identity column of the table you'll be inserting into
declare #IdentityOutput table ( ID int )
insert TableWithIdentity
( ... )
output inserted.IdentityColumnName into #IdentityOutput
values
( ... )
select #IdentityValue = (select ID from #IdentityOutput)
Add
SELECT CAST(scope_identity() AS int);
to the end of your insert sql statement, then
NewId = command.ExecuteScalar()
will retrieve it.
From MSDN
##IDENTITY, SCOPE_IDENTITY, and IDENT_CURRENT are similar functions in that they return the last value inserted into the IDENTITY column of a table.
##IDENTITY and SCOPE_IDENTITY will return the last identity value generated in any table in the current session. However, SCOPE_IDENTITY returns the value only within the current scope; ##IDENTITY is not limited to a specific scope.
IDENT_CURRENT is not limited by scope and session; it is limited to a specified table. IDENT_CURRENT returns the identity value generated for a specific table in any session and any scope. For more information, see IDENT_CURRENT.
IDENT_CURRENT is a function which takes a table as a argument.
##IDENTITY may return confusing result when you have an trigger on the table
SCOPE_IDENTITY is your hero most of the time.
When you use Entity Framework, it internally uses the OUTPUT technique to return the newly inserted ID value
DECLARE #generated_keys table([Id] uniqueidentifier)
INSERT INTO TurboEncabulators(StatorSlots)
OUTPUT inserted.TurboEncabulatorID INTO #generated_keys
VALUES('Malleable logarithmic casing');
SELECT t.[TurboEncabulatorID ]
FROM #generated_keys AS g
JOIN dbo.TurboEncabulators AS t
ON g.Id = t.TurboEncabulatorID
WHERE ##ROWCOUNT > 0
The output results are stored in a temporary table variable, joined back to the table, and return the row value out of the table.
Note: I have no idea why EF would inner join the ephemeral table back to the real table (under what circumstances would the two not match).
But that's what EF does.
This technique (OUTPUT) is only available on SQL Server 2008 or newer.
Edit - The reason for the join
The reason that Entity Framework joins back to the original table, rather than simply use the OUTPUT values is because EF also uses this technique to get the rowversion of a newly inserted row.
You can use optimistic concurrency in your entity framework models by using the Timestamp attribute: 🕗
public class TurboEncabulator
{
public String StatorSlots)
[Timestamp]
public byte[] RowVersion { get; set; }
}
When you do this, Entity Framework will need the rowversion of the newly inserted row:
DECLARE #generated_keys table([Id] uniqueidentifier)
INSERT INTO TurboEncabulators(StatorSlots)
OUTPUT inserted.TurboEncabulatorID INTO #generated_keys
VALUES('Malleable logarithmic casing');
SELECT t.[TurboEncabulatorID], t.[RowVersion]
FROM #generated_keys AS g
JOIN dbo.TurboEncabulators AS t
ON g.Id = t.TurboEncabulatorID
WHERE ##ROWCOUNT > 0
And in order to retrieve this Timetsamp you cannot use an OUTPUT clause.
That's because if there's a trigger on the table, any Timestamp you OUTPUT will be wrong:
Initial insert. Timestamp: 1
OUTPUT clause outputs timestamp: 1
trigger modifies row. Timestamp: 2
The returned timestamp will never be correct if you have a trigger on the table. So you must use a separate SELECT.
And even if you were willing to suffer the incorrect rowversion, the other reason to perform a separate SELECT is that you cannot OUTPUT a rowversion into a table variable:
DECLARE #generated_keys table([Id] uniqueidentifier, [Rowversion] timestamp)
INSERT INTO TurboEncabulators(StatorSlots)
OUTPUT inserted.TurboEncabulatorID, inserted.Rowversion INTO #generated_keys
VALUES('Malleable logarithmic casing');
The third reason to do it is for symmetry. When performing an UPDATE on a table with a trigger, you cannot use an OUTPUT clause. Trying do UPDATE with an OUTPUT is not supported, and will give an error:
Cannot use UPDATE with OUTPUT clause when a trigger is on the table
The only way to do it is with a follow-up SELECT statement:
UPDATE TurboEncabulators
SET StatorSlots = 'Lotus-O deltoid type'
WHERE ((TurboEncabulatorID = 1) AND (RowVersion = 792))
SELECT RowVersion
FROM TurboEncabulators
WHERE ##ROWCOUNT > 0 AND TurboEncabulatorID = 1
I can't speak to other versions of SQL Server, but in 2012, outputting directly works just fine. You don't need to bother with a temporary table.
INSERT INTO MyTable
OUTPUT INSERTED.ID
VALUES (...)
By the way, this technique also works when inserting multiple rows.
INSERT INTO MyTable
OUTPUT INSERTED.ID
VALUES
(...),
(...),
(...)
Output
ID
2
3
4
##IDENTITY is the last identity inserted using the current SQL Connection. This is a good value to return from an insert stored procedure, where you just need the identity inserted for your new record, and don't care if more rows were added afterward.
SCOPE_IDENTITY is the last identity inserted using the current SQL Connection, and in the current scope -- that is, if there was a second IDENTITY inserted based on a trigger after your insert, it would not be reflected in SCOPE_IDENTITY, only the insert you performed. Frankly, I have never had a reason to use this.
IDENT_CURRENT(tablename) is the last identity inserted regardless of connection or scope. You could use this if you want to get the current IDENTITY value for a table that you have not inserted a record into.
ALWAYS use scope_identity(), there's NEVER a need for anything else.
One other way to guarantee the identity of the rows you insert is to specify the identity values and use the SET IDENTITY_INSERT ON and then OFF. This guarantees you know exactly what the identity values are! As long as the values are not in use then you can insert these values into the identity column.
CREATE TABLE #foo
(
fooid INT IDENTITY NOT NULL,
fooname VARCHAR(20)
)
SELECT ##Identity AS [##Identity],
Scope_identity() AS [SCOPE_IDENTITY()],
Ident_current('#Foo') AS [IDENT_CURRENT]
SET IDENTITY_INSERT #foo ON
INSERT INTO #foo
(fooid,
fooname)
VALUES (1,
'one'),
(2,
'Two')
SET IDENTITY_INSERT #foo OFF
SELECT ##Identity AS [##Identity],
Scope_identity() AS [SCOPE_IDENTITY()],
Ident_current('#Foo') AS [IDENT_CURRENT]
INSERT INTO #foo
(fooname)
VALUES ('Three')
SELECT ##Identity AS [##Identity],
Scope_identity() AS [SCOPE_IDENTITY()],
Ident_current('#Foo') AS [IDENT_CURRENT]
-- YOU CAN INSERT
SET IDENTITY_INSERT #foo ON
INSERT INTO #foo
(fooid,
fooname)
VALUES (10,
'Ten'),
(11,
'Eleven')
SET IDENTITY_INSERT #foo OFF
SELECT ##Identity AS [##Identity],
Scope_identity() AS [SCOPE_IDENTITY()],
Ident_current('#Foo') AS [IDENT_CURRENT]
SELECT *
FROM #foo
This can be a very useful technique if you are loading data from another source or merging data from two databases etc.
Create a uuid and also insert it to a column. Then you can easily identify your row with the uuid. Thats the only 100% working solution you can implement. All the other solutions are too complicated or are not working in same edge cases.
E.g.:
1) Create row
INSERT INTO table (uuid, name, street, zip)
VALUES ('2f802845-447b-4caa-8783-2086a0a8d437', 'Peter', 'Mainstreet 7', '88888');
2) Get created row
SELECT * FROM table WHERE uuid='2f802845-447b-4caa-8783-2086a0a8d437';
Even though this is an older thread, there is a newer way to do this which avoids some of the pitfalls of the IDENTITY column in older versions of SQL Server, like gaps in the identity values after server reboots. Sequences are available in SQL Server 2016 and forward which is the newer way is to create a SEQUENCE object using TSQL. This allows you create your own numeric sequence object in SQL Server and control how it increments.
Here is an example:
CREATE SEQUENCE CountBy1
START WITH 1
INCREMENT BY 1 ;
GO
Then in TSQL you would do the following to get the next sequence ID:
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR CountBy1 AS SequenceID
GO
Here are the links to CREATE SEQUENCE and NEXT VALUE FOR
Complete solution in SQL and ADO.NET
const string sql = "INSERT INTO [Table1] (...) OUTPUT INSERTED.Id VALUES (...)";
using var command = connection.CreateCommand();
command.CommandText = sql;
var outputIdParameter = new SqlParameter("#Id", SqlDbType.Int) { Direction = ParameterDirection.Output };
command.Parameters.Add(outputIdParameter);
await connection.OpenAsync();
var outputId= await command.ExecuteScalarAsync();
await connection.CloseAsync();
int id = Convert.ToInt32(outputId);
After Your Insert Statement you need to add this. And Make sure about the table name where data is inserting.You will get current row no where row affected just now by your insert statement.
IDENT_CURRENT('tableName')