Question

If I have the following SQL query

CREATE TABLE #t1
    (a INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY);
SET XACT_ABORT ON
go

BEGIN TRANSACTION
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (1);
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (2);
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (3);
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (2); -- PK violation error
go

INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (4);
go

COMMIT TRANSACTION

SET XACT_ABORT OFF

When I run the query I get this output

(1 row(s) affected)

(1 row(s) affected)

(1 row(s) affected) Msg 2627, Level 14, State 1, Line 7 Violation of
PRIMARY KEY constraint ‘PK_#t1______66D536B1′. Cannot insert
duplicate key in object ‘dbo.#t1’.

(1 row(s) affected) Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 8 Incorrect
syntax near ‘#t1’.

And the value of #t1 is

a
-----------
4

What do I need to do so the script will abort out and not run the second batch?

EDIT:

Tried JNK’s solution

begin try
BEGIN TRANSACTION
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (1)
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (2)
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (3)
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (2) -- PK violation error
go

INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (4)
go

COMMIT TRANSACTION

end try
begin catch 
IF @@trancount > 0 Rollback

END catch

select * from #t1

truncate table #t1

However I get this output

Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 6
Incorrect syntax near ')'.

(1 row(s) affected)
Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 5
Incorrect syntax near 'begin'.
Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 8
Incorrect syntax near 'END'.

And the table still contains a 4 afterward

EDIT2:

the errors with the try catch is because of the GO statement, which I need to have for my real script instead of this test case. so it appears try/catch will not work for this case.

Answer 1

Add error handling:

BEGIN TRY
<your query>
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH

IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0 ROLLBACK    

<other error reporting processes>

END CATCH

The ROLLBACK is optional and will undo any inserts that completed before the error occured. You can also add multiple transactions, so if say the first 3 inserts are independent of some other stuff later on, wrap those in a transaction and commit it, then have another tran later on for the unrelated process.