Question

I’m trying to do an insert into an established table which has a primary key fields and another field (call it field1) that is unique (this other unique field has a unique constraint preventing my inserts). Field1 is not an identity field, so it does NOT autonumber. Unfortunately I can’t change the table. Existing inserts are made using code to increment and all involve looping/cursors. Something like SELECT MAX(field1) + 1

So, is there anyway to do this insert without looping/cursor? This field means nothing to me, but there are already 500,000+ records using their silly numbering scheme, so I must respect that.

This is simplified (ReceiptNumber is the field I want to insert unique), but:

SET XACT_ABORT ON

Begin Transaction TransMain
Declare @nvErrMsg nvarchar(4000)

--Insert inventory receipts
Insert Into Avanti_InventoryReceipts ( 
    ReceiptNumber , ItemNumber , ReceiptDate , OrderNumber , JobNumber , Supplier ,
    LineNumber , MultiLineNumber , [Status] , QtyOrdered , QtyReceived , QtyToReceive ,
    QtyBackOrdered , Cost , Wholesale , LastCost , QtyToInvoice , QtyUsed ,
    ReferenceNumber , [Description] , SupplierType , Processed , DateExpected , DateReceived , 
    AccountNumber , Reference2 , EmployeeCode , ExtraCode , Location , RollNumber , 
    QtyIssues , Notes , NumPackages , BundleSize , ConsignmentUnitPrice , RecFromProduction , 
    QtyCommitted )
SELECT ( SELECT MAX(ReceiptNumber) + 1 FROM Avanti_inventoryReceipts ) , CR.ItemNumber , Convert(char(8), GETDATE(), 112) , PONum , 'FL-INV' , PH.POVendor ,
    0 , 0 , 'O' , CR.QtyOrdered , QtyReceivedToday , QtyReceivedToday ,
    Case @closePO 
         When 'N' Then Case When ( QtyOrdered - QtyReceivedToday ) < 0 Then 0 Else ( QtyOrdered - QtyReceivedToday) End 
         When 'Y' Then 0
         Else 0 End     
          , PD.TransCost * QtyReceivedToday , IH.PriceWholeSale , IH.CostLast , QtyReceivedToday , 0 ,
    '' , PODetailDescription , '' , '' , '' , Convert(char(8), GETDATE(), 112) , 
    '' , '' , @employeeCode , '' , 'F L E X O' , '' , 
    0 , 'Flexo Materials' , 0 , 0 , 0 , '' , 0
FROM FI_CurrentReceiptData CR
LEFT JOIN Avanti_PODetails PD ON CR.PONum = PD.PONumber
LEFT JOIN Avanti_POHeader PH ON CR.PONum = PH.PONumber
LEFT JOIN Avanti_InventoryHeader IH ON CR.ItemNumber = IH.ItemNumber


  IF @@ERROR <> 0 
    Begin
      Select @nvErrMsg = 'Error entering into [InventoryReceipts] -' +  [description]
        From master..sysmessages
     Where [error] = @@ERROR

     RAISERROR ( @nvErrMsg , 16, 1 )
     Goto Err_
   End

  Commit Transaction TransMain
  Goto Exit_


Err_:

   Rollback Transaction TransMain

Exit_:

SET XACT_ABORT OFF

Answer 1

I added an autonumber starting from 0 in client code and passed that in. Now I’m adding that value to the max receiptnumber to get a unique one. Also, I realized I already had an identity column in FI_CurrentReceiptData, but I didn’t want to use that one because it won’t start at 0 for each receipt set, and reseeding the identity each time seems like a waste of processor time.