Question

Very simplified, I have two tables Source and Target.

declare @Source table (SourceID int identity(1,2), SourceName varchar(50))
declare @Target table (TargetID int identity(2,2), TargetName varchar(50))

insert into @Source values ('Row 1'), ('Row 2')

I would like to move all rows from @Source to @Target and know the TargetID for each SourceID because there are also the tables SourceChild and TargetChild that needs to be copied as well and I need to add the new TargetID into TargetChild.TargetID FK column.

There are a couple of solutions to this.

1. Use a while loop or cursors to insert one row (RBAR) to Target at a time and use scope_identity() to fill the FK of TargetChild.
2. Add a temp column to @Target and insert SourceID. You can then join that column to fetch the TargetID for the FK in TargetChild.
3. SET IDENTITY_INSERT OFF for @Target and handle assigning new values yourself. You get a range that you then use in TargetChild.TargetID.

I’m not all that fond of any of them. The one I used so far is cursors.

What I would really like to do is to use the output clause of the insert statement.

insert into @Target(TargetName)
output inserted.TargetID, S.SourceID
select SourceName
from @Source as S

But it is not possible

The multi-part identifier "S.SourceID" could not be bound.

But it is possible with a merge.

merge @Target as T
using @Source as S
on 0=1
when not matched then
  insert (TargetName) values (SourceName)
output inserted.TargetID, S.SourceID;

Result

TargetID    SourceID
----------- -----------
2           1
4           3

I want to know if you have used this? If you have any thoughts about the solution or see any problems with it? It works fine in simple scenarios but perhaps something ugly could happen when the query plan get really complicated due to a complicated source query. Worst scenario would be that the TargetID/SourceID pairs actually isn’t a match.

MSDN has this to say about the from_table_name of the output clause.

Is a column prefix that specifies a table included in the FROM clause of a DELETE, UPDATE, or MERGE statement that is used to specify the rows to update or delete.

For some reason they don’t say “rows to insert, update or delete” only “rows to update or delete”.

Any thoughts are welcome and totally different solutions to the original problem is much appreciated.

Answer 1

In my opinion this is a great use of MERGE and output. I’ve used in several scenarios and haven’t experienced any oddities to date.
For example, here is test setup that clones a Folder and all Files (identity) within it into a newly created Folder (guid).

DECLARE @FolderIndex TABLE (FolderId UNIQUEIDENTIFIER PRIMARY KEY, FolderName varchar(25));
INSERT INTO @FolderIndex 
    (FolderId, FolderName)
    VALUES(newid(), 'OriginalFolder');

DECLARE @FileIndex TABLE (FileId int identity(1,1) PRIMARY KEY, FileName varchar(10));
INSERT INTO @FileIndex 
    (FileName)
    VALUES('test.txt');

DECLARE @FileFolder TABLE (FolderId UNIQUEIDENTIFIER, FileId int, PRIMARY KEY(FolderId, FileId));
INSERT INTO @FileFolder 
    (FolderId, FileId)
    SELECT  FolderId, 
            FileId
    FROM    @FolderIndex
    CROSS JOIN  @FileIndex;  -- just to illustrate

DECLARE @sFolder TABLE (FromFolderId UNIQUEIDENTIFIER, ToFolderId UNIQUEIDENTIFIER);
DECLARE @sFile TABLE (FromFileId int, ToFileId int);

-- copy Folder Structure
MERGE @FolderIndex fi
USING   (   SELECT  1 [Dummy],
                    FolderId, 
                    FolderName
            FROM    @FolderIndex [fi]
            WHERE   FolderName = 'OriginalFolder'
        ) d ON  d.Dummy = 0
WHEN NOT MATCHED 
THEN INSERT 
    (FolderId, FolderName)
    VALUES (newid(), 'copy_'+FolderName)
OUTPUT  d.FolderId,
        INSERTED.FolderId
INTO    @sFolder (FromFolderId, toFolderId);

-- copy File structure
MERGE   @FileIndex fi
USING   (   SELECT  1 [Dummy],
                    fi.FileId, 
                    fi.[FileName]
            FROM    @FileIndex fi
            INNER
            JOIN    @FileFolder fm ON 
                    fi.FileId = fm.FileId
            INNER
            JOIN    @FolderIndex fo ON 
                    fm.FolderId = fo.FolderId
            WHERE   fo.FolderName = 'OriginalFolder'
        ) d ON  d.Dummy = 0
WHEN NOT MATCHED 
THEN INSERT ([FileName])
    VALUES ([FileName])
OUTPUT  d.FileId,
        INSERTED.FileId
INTO    @sFile (FromFileId, toFileId);

-- link new files to Folders
INSERT INTO @FileFolder (FileId, FolderId)
    SELECT  sfi.toFileId, sfo.toFolderId
    FROM    @FileFolder fm
    INNER
    JOIN    @sFile sfi ON  
            fm.FileId = sfi.FromFileId
    INNER
    JOIN    @sFolder sfo ON 
            fm.FolderId = sfo.FromFolderId
-- return    
SELECT  * 
FROM    @FileIndex fi 
JOIN    @FileFolder ff ON  
        fi.FileId = ff.FileId 
JOIN    @FolderIndex fo ON  
        ff.FolderId = fo.FolderId