In this article, we will talk about Row Constructors in SQL Server, which was originally shipped with SQL Server 2008.
Inserting Records to a Table Prior to the Row Constructors Feature
There are many cases were we just want to insert some data to a table. The traditional ways of doing that in SQL Server versions earlier than 2008 were by using separate insert statements for each record to be inserted or by using the UNION ALL clause.
Let’s see an example.
Create Sample Table
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[employee]( [ID] [int] NOT NULL, [Name] [varchar](50) NULL ); GO
Code Example – Using Separate Insert Statements:
insert into dbo.employee(id,name) values (1,'EmpA'); insert into dbo.employee(id,name) values (2,'EmpB'); insert into dbo.employee(id,name) values (3,'EmpC');
Code Example – Using the UNION ALL Clause
insert into dbo.employee(id,name) select 1,'EmpA' UNION ALL select 2,'EmpB' UNION ALL select 3,'EmpC'
Inserting Records to a Table Using the Row Constructors Feature
Row constructors allow us to insert multiple records to a table within a single SQL Statement. To this end, records must be contained in parentheses and be separated with commas.
Let’s continue the example discussed above, but this time, using Row Constructors.
Check out the following code example with Row Constructors:
insert into dbo.employee(id,name) values (1,'EmpA'),(2,'EmpB'),(3,'EmpC'); GO
By using one single SQL statement instead of three we get the same result!
Creating a temporary table using Row Constructors
Now, check this out:
select c.empID,c.empName from (values (1,'EmpA'),(2,'EmpB'),(3,'EmpC')) as c(empID,empName); GO
In the above example by using Row Constructors we created a “temporary table”, defined its values and column names and performed a selection. All were done by using a single SQL Statement! That’s great stuff!
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Reference: SQLNetHub.com (https://www.sqlnethub.com)
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Artemakis Artemiou is a Senior SQL Server Architect, Author, a 9 Times Microsoft Data Platform MVP (2009-2018). He has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry in various roles. Artemakis is the founder of SQLNetHub and {essentialDevTips.com}. Artemakis is the creator of the well-known software tools Snippets Generator and DBA Security Advisor. Also, he is the author of many eBooks on SQL Server. Artemakis currently serves as the President of the Cyprus .NET User Group (CDNUG) and the International .NET Association Country Leader for Cyprus (INETA). Moreover, Artemakis teaches on Udemy, you can check his courses here.