Chapter 9 -- Modifying Data

Chapter 9

In Chapter 7, we looked at how to query data. In this chapter, we'll look at inserting, updating, and deleting data in tables. We'll cover the basic SQL commands for these operations but focus on Microsoft SQL Server-specific behaviors. This chapter considers each statement as an independent, atomic operation. Chapter 12 discusses combining multiple statements into an all-or-nothing atomic operation (that is, a transaction). The use of constraints (covered in Chapter 6) is closely related to the topic of modifying data, but this chapter will assume that the modifications being performed satisfy any constraints on a table.