Question

I have 2 tables. I need to update data the data in tableB, populate it with data from tableA.

But the problem is the design (note: I can’t change the design because its a ready made system. I’ll just have to deal with the fail).

Lets say tableA (2 columns) the data source is structured like so:

ID | NAME
1    dude
2    dud
3    bro
4    broo
5    killa
6    whale
--ID is an index and NAME is UNIQUE

Now tableB (6 columns) the destination (hard part for me):

ID1 | NAME1 | ID2 | NAME2 | ID3 | NAME3
1     dude    2     dud     3     bro
4     broo    5     killa   6     whale
--All columns here has UNIQUE data though it is not set on the design.
--and so on until the end.

Now what I want to do is UPDATE the names in tableA to the names in tableB corresponding to there ID’s.

Example:

ID from TableA is 1
Find ID=1 on TableB
If ID=1 then UPDATE the next column to 'dude'

Example end of TableA is:

ID | Name
9997 sweet
9998 jess
9999 grape
--The END

Example end of TableB is:

ID1 | NAME1 | ID2 | NAME2 | ID3 | NAME3
9997  sweet1  9998  jess1   9999  grape1
--The END

Please help me.

Note:

• All given table names and column names are for example purposes only.
• There are more columns in the tables, but they don’t need to be changed/altered so I did not include an example of them.
• The reason for this is that the data in TableB has been changed and is not matching the correct data anymore.
• So I need to repopulate TableB with the correct data, and the only source for the correct data is TableA.
• Lastly, I am using SQL Server 2008.

—– edit ——

Here is my final query that worked perfectly:

UPDATE CHAR_INFOR
SET
    CHARID0=(SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR,substring(char_data, 9, 16)) from CHAR_DATA0 A WHERE A.CHAR_KEY=CHAR0_KEY), 
CHARID1=(SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR,substring(char_data, 9, 16)) from CHAR_DATA0 A WHERE A.CHAR_KEY=CHAR1_KEY), 
CHARID2=(SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR,substring(char_data, 9, 16)) from CHAR_DATA0 A WHERE A.CHAR_KEY=CHAR2_KEY);

Answer 1

Seems like standard SQL should work:

UPDATE TableB B 
SET Name1=(SELECT Name from TableA A where A.ID=ID1), 
Name2=(SELECT Name from TableA A where A.ID=ID2), 
Name3=(SELECT Name from TableA A where A.ID=ID3);