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Triggers -- Sql Server

By s.india , 26 Apr 2008
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Sign Up to vote This article gives a brief introduction about Triggers in Sql Server 2000/2005. Type Licence First Posted Views Bookmarked Article CPOL 26 Apr 2008 372,228 106 times

INTRODUCTION
TRIGGERS IN SQL SERVER

BACKGROUND
This article gives a brief introduction about Triggers in Sql Server 2000/2005.

SQL2000 SQL2005 SQL-Server , +

What is a Trigger
A trigger is a special kind of a store procedure that executes in response to certain action on the table like insertion, deletion or updation of data. It is a database object which is bound to a table and is executed automatically. You cant explicitly invoke triggers. The only way to do this is by performing the required action no the table that they are assigned to.

Types Of Triggers
There are three action query types that you use in SQL which are INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE. So, there are three types of triggers and hybrids that come from mixing and matching the events and timings that fire them. Basically, triggers are classified into two main types:(i) After Triggers (For Triggers) (ii) Instead Of Triggers

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(i) After Triggers

These triggers run after an insert, update or delete on a table. They are not supported for views. AFTER TRIGGERS can be classified further into three types as: (a) AFTER INSERT Trigger. (b) AFTER UPDATE Trigger. (c) AFTER DELETE Trigger. Lets create After triggers. First of all, lets create a table and insert some sample data. Then, on this table, I will be attaching several triggers.
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C R E A T ET A B L EE m p l o y e e _ T e s t ( E m p _ I DI N TI d e n t i t y , E m p _ n a m eV a r c h a r ( 1 0 0 ) , E m p _ S a lD e c i m a l( 1 0 , 2 ) ) I N S E R TI N T OE m p l o y e e _ T e s tV A L U E S( ' A n e e s ' , 1 0 0 0 ) ; I N S E R TI N T OE m p l o y e e _ T e s tV A L U E S( ' R i c k ' , 1 2 0 0 ) ; I N S E R TI N T OE m p l o y e e _ T e s tV A L U E S( ' J o h n ' , 1 1 0 0 ) ; I N S E R TI N T OE m p l o y e e _ T e s tV A L U E S( ' S t e p h e n ' , 1 3 0 0 ) ; I N S E R TI N T OE m p l o y e e _ T e s tV A L U E S( ' M a r i a ' , 1 4 0 0 ) ;

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I will be creating an AFTER INSERT TRIGGER which will insert the rows inserted into the table into another audit table. The main purpose of this audit table is to record the changes in the main table. This can be thought of as a generic audit trigger.

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Now, create the audit table as:C R E A T ET A B L EE m p l o y e e _ T e s t _ A u d i t ( E m p _ I Di n t , E m p _ n a m ev a r c h a r ( 1 0 0 ) , E m p _ S a ld e c i m a l( 1 0 , 2 ) , A u d i t _ A c t i o nv a r c h a r ( 1 0 0 ) , A u d i t _ T i m e s t a m pd a t e t i m e )

Triggers -- Sql Server - CodeProject

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(a) AFTRE INSERT Trigger

This trigger is fired after an INSERT on the table. Lets create the trigger as:C R E A T ET R I G G E Rt r g A f t e r I n s e r tO N[ d b o ] . [ E m p l o y e e _ T e s t ] F O RI N S E R T A S d e c l a r e@ e m p i di n t ; d e c l a r e@ e m p n a m ev a r c h a r ( 1 0 0 ) ; d e c l a r e@ e m p s a ld e c i m a l ( 1 0 , 2 ) ; d e c l a r e@ a u d i t _ a c t i o nv a r c h a r ( 1 0 0 ) ; s e l e c t@ e m p i d = i . E m p _ I Df r o mi n s e r t e di ; s e l e c t@ e m p n a m e = i . E m p _ N a m ef r o mi n s e r t e di ; s e l e c t@ e m p s a l = i . E m p _ S a lf r o mi n s e r t e di ; s e t@ a u d i t _ a c t i o n = ' I n s e r t e dR e c o r d-A f t e rI n s e r tT r i g g e r . ' ; i n s e r ti n t oE m p l o y e e _ T e s t _ A u d i t ( E m p _ I D , E m p _ N a m e , E m p _ S a l , A u d i t _ A c t i o n , A u d i t _ T i m e s t a m p ) v a l u e s ( @ e m p i d , @ e m p n a m e , @ e m p s a l , @ a u d i t _ a c t i o n , g e t d a t e ( ) ) ; G O P R I N T' A F T E RI N S E R Tt r i g g e rf i r e d . '
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The CREATE TRIGGER statement is used to create the trigger. THE ON clause specifies the table name on which the trigger is to be attached. The FOR INSERT specifies that this is an AFTER INSERT trigger. In place of FOR INSERT, AFTER INSERT can be used. Both of them mean the same. In the trigger body, table named inserted has been used. This table is a logical table and contains the row that has been inserted. I have selected the fields from the logical inserted table from the row that has been inserted into different variables, and finally inserted those values into the Audit table. To see the newly created trigger in action, lets insert a row into the main table as :
i n s e r ti n t oE m p l o y e e _ T e s tv a l u e s ( ' C h r i s ' , 1 5 0 0 ) ;

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Now, a record has been inserted into the Employee_Test table. The AFTER INSERT trigger attached to this table has inserted the record into the Employee_Test_Audit as:6 C h r i s 1 5 0 0 . 0 0 I n s e r t e dR e c o r d-A f t e rI n s e r tT r i g g e r . 2 0 0 8 0 4 2 61 2 : 0 0 : 5 5 . 7 0 0

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(b) AFTER UPDATE Trigger

This trigger is fired after an update on the table. Lets create the trigger as:C R E A T ET R I G G E Rt r g A f t e r U p d a t eO N[ d b o ] . [ E m p l o y e e _ T e s t ] F O RU P D A T E A S d e c l a r e@ e m p i di n t ; d e c l a r e@ e m p n a m ev a r c h a r ( 1 0 0 ) ; d e c l a r e@ e m p s a ld e c i m a l ( 1 0 , 2 ) ; d e c l a r e@ a u d i t _ a c t i o nv a r c h a r ( 1 0 0 ) ; s e l e c t@ e m p i d = i . E m p _ I Df r o mi n s e r t e di ; s e l e c t@ e m p n a m e = i . E m p _ N a m ef r o mi n s e r t e di ; s e l e c t@ e m p s a l = i . E m p _ S a lf r o mi n s e r t e di ; i fu p d a t e ( E m p _ N a m e ) s e t@ a u d i t _ a c t i o n = ' U p d a t e dR e c o r d-A f t e rU p d a t eT r i g g e r . ' ; i fu p d a t e ( E m p _ S a l ) s e t@ a u d i t _ a c t i o n = ' U p d a t e dR e c o r d-A f t e rU p d a t eT r i g g e r . ' ; i n s e r ti n t oE m p l o y e e _ T e s t _ A u d i t ( E m p _ I D , E m p _ N a m e , E m p _ S a l , A u d i t _ A c t i o n , A u d i t _ T i m e s t a m p ) v a l u e s ( @ e m p i d , @ e m p n a m e , @ e m p s a l , @ a u d i t _ a c t i o n , g e t d a t e ( ) ) ; G O P R I N T' A F T E RU P D A T ET r i g g e rf i r e d . '
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The AFTER UPDATE Trigger is created in which the updated record is inserted into the audit table. There is no logical table updated like the logical table inserted. We can obtain the updated value of a field from the update(column_name) function. In our trigger, we have used, if update(Emp_Name) to check if the column Emp_Name has been updated. We have similarly checked the column Emp_Sal for an update. Lets update a record column and see what happens.
u p d a t eE m p l o y e e _ T e s ts e tE m p _ S a l = 1 5 5 0w h e r eE m p _ I D = 6

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This inserts the row into the audit table as:-

Triggers -- Sql Server - CodeProject

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6 C h r i s 1 5 5 0 . 0 0 U p d a t e dR e c o r d-A f t e rU p d a t eT r i g g e r .

2 0 0 8 0 4 2 61 2 : 3 8 : 1 1 . 8 4 3

(c) AFTER DELETE Trigger

This trigger is fired after a delete on the table. Lets create the trigger as:C R E A T ET R I G G E Rt r g A f t e r D e l e t eO N[ d b o ] . [ E m p l o y e e _ T e s t ] A F T E RD E L E T E A S d e c l a r e@ e m p i di n t ; d e c l a r e@ e m p n a m ev a r c h a r ( 1 0 0 ) ; d e c l a r e@ e m p s a ld e c i m a l ( 1 0 , 2 ) ; d e c l a r e@ a u d i t _ a c t i o nv a r c h a r ( 1 0 0 ) ; s e l e c t@ e m p i d = d . E m p _ I Df r o md e l e t e dd ; s e l e c t@ e m p n a m e = d . E m p _ N a m ef r o md e l e t e dd ; s e l e c t@ e m p s a l = d . E m p _ S a lf r o md e l e t e dd ; s e t@ a u d i t _ a c t i o n = ' D e l e t e d-A f t e rD e l e t eT r i g g e r . ' ; i n s e r ti n t oE m p l o y e e _ T e s t _ A u d i t ( E m p _ I D , E m p _ N a m e , E m p _ S a l , A u d i t _ A c t i o n , A u d i t _ T i m e s t a m p ) v a l u e s ( @ e m p i d , @ e m p n a m e , @ e m p s a l , @ a u d i t _ a c t i o n , g e t d a t e ( ) ) ; G O P R I N T' A F T E RD E L E T ET R I G G E Rf i r e d . '
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In this trigger, the deleted records data is picked from the logical deleted table and inserted into the audit table. Lets fire a delete on the main table. A record has been inserted into the audit table as:6 C h r i s 1 5 5 0 . 0 0 D e l e t e d-A f t e rD e l e t eT r i g g e r . 2 0 0 8 0 4 2 61 2 : 5 2 : 1 3 . 8 6 7

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All the triggers can be enabled/disabled on the table using the statement
A L T E RT A B L EE m p l o y e e _ T e s t{ E N A B L E | D I S B A L E }T R I G G E RA L L

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Specific Triggers can be enabled or disabled as :A L T E RT A B L EE m p l o y e e _ T e s tD I S A B L ET R I G G E Rt r g A f t e r D e l e t e

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This disables the After Delete Trigger named trgAfterDelete on the specified table.

(ii) Instead Of Triggers

These can be used as an interceptor for anything that anyonr tried to do on our table or view. If you define an Instead Of trigger on a table for the Delete operation, they try to delete rows, and they will not actually get deleted (unless you issue another delete instruction from within the trigger) INSTEAD OF TRIGGERS can be classified further into three types as:(a) INSTEAD OF INSERT Trigger. (b) INSTEAD OF UPDATE Trigger. (c) INSTEAD OF DELETE Trigger. (a) Lets create an Instead Of Delete Trigger as:C R E A T ET R I G G E Rt r g I n s t e a d O f D e l e t eO N[ d b o ] . [ E m p l o y e e _ T e s t ] I N S T E A DO FD E L E T E A S d e c l a r e@ e m p _ i di n t ; d e c l a r e@ e m p _ n a m ev a r c h a r ( 1 0 0 ) ; d e c l a r e@ e m p _ s a li n t ; s e l e c t@ e m p _ i d = d . E m p _ I Df r o md e l e t e dd ; s e l e c t@ e m p _ n a m e = d . E m p _ N a m ef r o md e l e t e dd ; s e l e c t@ e m p _ s a l = d . E m p _ S a lf r o md e l e t e dd ; i f ( @ e m p _ s a l > 1 2 0 0 ) b e g i n R A I S E R R O R ( ' C a n n o td e l e t ew h e r es a l a r y>1 2 0 0 ' , 1 6 , 1 ) ; R O L L B A C K ; e n d e l s e b e g i n d e l e t ef r o mE m p l o y e e _ T e s tw h e r eE m p _ I D = @ e m p _ i d ; C O M M I T ; i n s e r ti n t o E m p l o y e e _ T e s t _ A u d i t ( E m p _ I D , E m p _ N a m e , E m p _ S a l , A u d i t _ A c t i o n , A u d i t _ T i m e s t a m p ) v a l u e s ( @ e m p _ i d , @ e m p _ n a m e , @ e m p _ s a l , ' D e l e t e d-I n s t e a dO fD e l e t e T r i g g e r . ' , g e t d a t e ( ) ) ; P R I N T' R e c o r dD e l e t e d-I n s t e a dO fD e l e t eT r i g g e r . ' e n d B E G I N

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G O E N D

Triggers -- Sql Server - CodeProject

This trigger will prevent the deletion of records from the table where Emp_Sal > 1200. If such a record is deleted, the Instead Of Trigger will rollback the transaction, otherwise the transaction will be committed. Now, lets try to delete a record with the Emp_Sal >1200 as:Collapse | Copy Code

d e l e t ef r o mE m p l o y e e _ T e s tw h e r eE m p _ I D = 4

This will print an error message as defined in the RAISE ERROR statement as:Collapse | Copy Code

S e r v e r :M s g5 0 0 0 0 ,L e v e l1 6 ,S t a t e1 ,P r o c e d u r et r g I n s t e a d O f D e l e t e ,L i n e1 5 C a n n o td e l e t ew h e r es a l a r y>1 2 0 0

And this record will not be deleted. In a similar way, you can code Instead of Insert and Instead Of Update triggers on your tables.

CONCLUSION
In this article, I took a brief introduction of triggers, explained the various kinds of triggers After Triggers and Instead Of Triggers along with their variants and explained how each of them works. I hope you will get a clear understanding about the Triggers in Sql Server and their usage.

License
This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

About the Author

s.india
Software Developer (Senior) India No Biography provided Article Top

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My vote of 5 very good My vote of 5

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