Question

I am doing a MERGE statement in SQL Server 2008 R2. What I want to do is to have a more logic inside a NOT MATCHED branch:

WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN
    INSERT (col1, col2, col3) 
    VALUES (SOURCE.col1, SOURCE.col2, SOURCE.col3)
        OUTPUT INSERTED.col1, SOURCE.col4
    INTO @Mapping

    INSERT INTO @newChildren
    (   col1,
    other columns,) 
    SELECT 
    (   TARGET.col1, 
    other columns)
        FROM @input 
        INNER JOIN @Mapping 
        ON @input.col1 = @Mapping.col2

    EXECUTE Children_Create @newChildren;

The idea is to do use INSERT result to form another input to another stored procedure. But it seems control flow is not supported in SQL Server 2008 MERGE. I can’t put BEGIN/END to wrap this code. Any suggestions to overcome this limit?

Answer 1

The INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE keywords being parts of MERGE might have led you into thinking that MERGE is a sort of compound statement. But it is only a complex one. The above-mentioned keywords introduce clauses of MERGE, not separate corresponding statements, however much they may resemble the latter.

So yes, if not as a separate procedure, yet at least outside MERGE is how your additional inserts must be implemented.