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Using a reference table to validate data on insert

Hi,

Is it possible to validate a specific column on insert from one table to another using a reference table?.

Reference Table is as follows:

LineID INT ProdCode VARCHAR (10)

Source table and target table both have column ProdCode VARCHAR (10)

If the ProdCode does not exist in the Reference table, then the insert to the target table should fail.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Phillip Burton

You can use a FOREIGN KEY constraint. That will prevent any inserts from not being in the Reference table.

Jim Horn

>If the ProdCode does not exist in the Reference table, then the insert to the target table should fail
A JOIN would do that, as it would limit the set to be inserted to only those ProdCode values that exist in both source_table and list_of_prod_codes.

INSERT INTO target_table (ProdCode, goo, foo, boo) 
SELECT s.ProdCode s.goo, s.foo, s.boo
FROM source_table s
   JOIN list_of_prod_codes pc ON s.ProdCode = pc.ProdCode

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Then you'll have to ask yourself how to handle the rows where there is no matching ProdCode, such as do nothing, write another query and send the results to somebody, create a 'dummy' record in list_of_prod_codes, ...

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Scott Pletcher

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Jim Horn

btw if you're using SSIS to perform this insert, then you can pull off the 'validation' with a data pump that has these components:

Data Source, whatever source_table is

Lookup: Queries the list_of_prod_codes table, where you can join the two tables based on ProdCode. This will result in two paths, Lookup Match and Lookup No match.

Data Destination: Connect the 'Lookup Match' to your destination.

Then you can decide how you want to handle the 'Lookup No Match' path.