Question

I want to insert data from one table into another. Both tables have about 100 columns.
They don’t have the same structure, but “almost”: the source table has about 20 columns fewer- some of them are NOT NULL. For those columns, I have to define a default, of course.

My first trial resulted in an error message (surprise surprise):

Column name or number of supplied values does not match table definition

But in my complex case, this message is not really helpful. Is there a way to get a more precise error message?

Answer 1

Suggest making your query easier to read, rather than relying on the error message from the RDBMS. One thought:

• Put each column on its own line.

 INSERT INTO TargetTable (
    Col1,
    Col2,
    ....
 )
 SELECT 
    Col1,
    Col2,
    ....
 FROM SourceTable

• create a new Excel sheet.
• In SQL Server Management Studio, Alt-F1 your TargetTable; copy-paste the Column_name (and perhaps the Nullable values) into Excel sheet’s ColumnA.
• Copy/paste the TargetTable columns into ColumnB.
• Run a macro or visually inspect/adjust the differences. The nullables you mention, you’ll have to know offhand.