Generating Scripts for Specific Records in SQL Server - sql

Question

This is probably a bit of a limited, but valuable scenario. I have a SQL Server 2008 database with a table that has millions of records. There appears to be an intermittent problem with several of the records. I'm trying to repro the problem. In an effort to do this, I finally got the ID of an offending record. I would like to generate an INSERT statement associated with this single record in my PROD database. Then I can easily migrate it into my TESTING database in an effort to repro and resolve the problem.
Basically, I need to generate a single INSERT statement for a single record from a single table where I know the primary key value of the record.
Does anyone have any ideas of how I can accomplish this? Essentially, I want to generate insert statements on a conditional basis.
Thank you!

Answer 1

First try to recreate what you want to insert with a SELECT statement.
After that you can insert into the table with a INSERT INTO like this:
INSERT INTO tablename
SELECT ....
If they are on different servers, you can use INSERT like this:
INSERT INTO tablename VALUES (...)
using the values given by the SELECT in the other server fill the values in the insert.

Answer 2

In your specific case I think you can do this:
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.GenerateSingleInsert
#table NVARCHAR(511), -- expects schema.table notation
#pk_column SYSNAME, -- column that is primary key
#pk_value INT -- change data type accordingly
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DECLARE #cols NVARCHAR(MAX), #vals NVARCHAR(MAX),
#valOut NVARCHAR(MAX), #valSQL NVARCHAR(MAX);
SELECT #cols = N'', #vals = N'';
SELECT #cols = #cols + ',' + QUOTENAME(name),
#vals = #vals + ' + ' + REPLICATE(CHAR(39),3) + ','
+ REPLICATE(CHAR(39),3) + ' + ' + REPLICATE(CHAR(39),2) + '+'
+ 'RTRIM(' + CASE WHEN system_type_id IN (40,41,42,43,58,61) THEN
'CONVERT(CHAR(8), ' + QUOTENAME(name) + ', 112) + '' ''
+ CONVERT(CHAR(14), ' + QUOTENAME(name) + ', 14)'
ELSE 'REPLACE(' + QUOTENAME(name) + ','''''''','''''''''''')' END + ')
+ ' + REPLICATE(CHAR(39),2)
FROM sys.columns WHERE [object_id] = OBJECT_ID(#table)
AND system_type_id <> 189 -- can't insert rowversion
AND is_computed = 0; -- can't insert computed columns
SELECT #cols = STUFF(#cols, 1, 1, ''),
#vals = REPLICATE(CHAR(39), 4) + ' + ' + STUFF(#vals, 1, 13, '')
+ REPLICATE(CHAR(39), 2);
SELECT #valSQL = N'SELECT #valOut = ' + #vals + ' FROM ' + #table + ' WHERE '
+ QUOTENAME(#pk_column) + ' = ''' + RTRIM(#pk_value) + ''';';
EXEC sp_executesql #valSQL, N'#valOut NVARCHAR(MAX) OUTPUT', #valOut OUTPUT;
SELECT SQL = 'INSERT ' + #table + '(' + #cols + ') SELECT ' + #valOut;
END
GO
So let's try it out:
CREATE TABLE dbo.splunge
(
ID INT, dt DATETIME, rv ROWVERSION, t NVARCHAR(MAX)
);
INSERT dbo.splunge(ID, dt, t)
SELECT 1, GETDATE(), 'foo'
UNION ALL SELECT 2, GETDATE(), 'bar'
UNION ALL SELECT 3, GETDATE(), 'O''Brien';
EXEC dbo.GenerateSingleInsert N'dbo.splunge', N'ID', 1;
SQL
-------------
INSERT dbo.splunge([ID],[dt],[t]) SELECT '1','20120517 10:07:07:330','foo'
EXEC dbo.GenerateSingleInsert N'dbo.splunge', N'ID', 2;
SQL
-------------
INSERT dbo.splunge([ID],[dt],[t]) SELECT '2','20120517 10:07:07:330','bar'
EXEC dbo.GenerateSingleInsert N'dbo.splunge', N'ID', 3;
SQL
-------------
INSERT dbo.splunge([ID],[dt],[t]) SELECT '3','20120517 10:07:07:330','O''Brien'
If there is an IDENTITY column you may need to set SET IDENTITY_INSERT ON for the TEST table, and verify that there is no collision. Probably about 500 caveats I should mention, I haven't tested all data types, etc.
However in the more general case there is a lot more to it than this. Vyas K has a pretty robust stored procedure that should demonstrate how complicated it can get:
http://vyaskn.tripod.com/code/generate_inserts_2005.txt
You are probably far better off using a tool like Red-Gate's SQL Data Compare to pick a specific row and generate an insert for you. As I've blogged about, paying for a tool is not just about the money, it's about the hours of troubleshooting and bug-fixing that someone else has already done for you.

Answer 3

Aaron,
I liked your code, it solved a problem for me. I ran into a few issues using it (like you said I would) with nulls and the text type so I made some changes to address those issues.
ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.GenerateSingleInsert
#table NVARCHAR(511), -- expects schema.table notation
#pk_column SYSNAME, -- column that is primary key
#pk_value INT -- change data type accordingly
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DECLARE #cols NVARCHAR(MAX), #vals NVARCHAR(MAX),
#valOut NVARCHAR(MAX), #valSQL NVARCHAR(MAX);
SELECT #cols = N'', #vals = N'';
SELECT #cols = #cols + ',' + QUOTENAME(name),
#vals = #vals + ' + '','' + ' + 'ISNULL('+REPLICATE(CHAR(39),4)+'+RTRIM(' +
CASE WHEN system_type_id IN (40,41,42,43,58,61) -- datetime types
THEN
'CONVERT(CHAR(8), ' + QUOTENAME(name) + ', 112) + '' ''+ CONVERT(CHAR(14), ' + QUOTENAME(name) + ', 14)'
WHEN system_type_id IN (35) -- text type NOTE: can overflow
THEN
'REPLACE(CAST(' + QUOTENAME(name) + 'as nvarchar(MAX)),'+REPLICATE(CHAR(39),4)+','+REPLICATE(CHAR(39),6)+')'
ELSE
'REPLACE(' + QUOTENAME(name) + ','+REPLICATE(CHAR(39),4)+','+REPLICATE(CHAR(39),6)+')'
END
+ ')+' + REPLICATE(CHAR(39),4) + ',''null'') + '
FROM sys.columns WHERE [object_id] = OBJECT_ID(#table)
AND system_type_id <> 189 -- can't insert rowversion
AND is_computed = 0; -- can't insert computed columns
SELECT #cols = STUFF(#cols, 1, 1, ''),
#vals = REPLICATE(CHAR(39),2) + STUFF(#vals, 1, 6, '') + REPLICATE(CHAR(39),2) ;
SELECT #valSQL = N'SELECT #valOut = ' + #vals + ' FROM ' + #table + ' WHERE '
+ QUOTENAME(#pk_column) + ' = ''' + RTRIM(#pk_value) + ''';';
EXEC sp_executesql #valSQL, N'#valOut NVARCHAR(MAX) OUTPUT', #valOut OUTPUT;
SELECT SQL = 'INSERT ' + #table + '(' + #cols + ') SELECT ' + #valOut;
END