Fun with the new MERGE statement

I found some time to play with CTP3 and checked out the MERGE statement. What you achieve with it may not be rocket science and was perfectly possible with a couple of IF statements but using MERGE gives you much cleaner code. It looks like Microsoft is investing a lot in 'cleaner' coding in SQL Server 2008, which I can only welcome with great enthusiasm.

A simple example will show you exactly what the MERGE statement does.

CREATE TABLE StagedData
(ID int, UserName varchar(20))
GO

CREATE TABLE RealData
(ID int, UserName varchar(20))
GO

INSERT INTO StagedData VALUES (1, 'Slava') , (2, 'Paul') , (3, 'Wesley')
GO

MERGE RealData r
USING
(SELECT ID, UserName FROM StagedData) staging
ON (r.ID = staging.ID)
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET r.UserName = staging.UserName
WHEN TARGET NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT VALUES (ID, UserName)
WHEN SOURCE NOT MATCHED THEN DELETE;
GO
SELECT * FROM RealData
GO

UPDATE StagedData SET UserName = 'Kimberley' WHERE ID = 3
GO
MERGE RealData r
USING
(SELECT ID, UserName FROM StagedData) staging
ON (r.ID = staging.ID)
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET r.UserName = staging.UserName
WHEN TARGET NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT VALUES (ID, UserName)
WHEN SOURCE NOT MATCHED THEN DELETE;
GO
SELECT * FROM RealData
GO

DELETE FROM StagedData WHERE ID = 3
GO
MERGE RealData r
USING
(SELECT ID, UserName FROM StagedData) staging
ON (r.ID = staging.ID)
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET r.UserName = staging.UserName
WHEN TARGET NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT VALUES (ID, UserName)
WHEN SOURCE NOT MATCHED THEN DELETE;
GO
SELECT * FROM RealData
GO

DROP TABLE StagedData
GO
DROP TABLE RealData
GO

SQL Server 2008 - A first look

I took some time to look at the ''nifty" features in SQL Server 2008. There is a long list of new features shown in this webcast, but I doesn't look like all of them are already implemented in CTP3.

Here are some of the new features that are in this build and are quite nifty:

• MERGE, a very powerful statement to combine insert/updates and even deletes in a single statement
• Multiple values INSERT (eg. INSERT INTO myTable VALUES (1, 'SQL Server 2008 Rocks'), (2, 'It really does') - the example in the BOL seems to be incorrect)
• FORCESEEK query hint
• Table-valued parameters enables you to pass table variables to stored procedures or functions
• ALTER DATABASE SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL isof sp_dbcmptlevel
• Policy based management, this is an awesome feature that allows you to set policies on many configuration options and even naming conventions for your objects in a very flexible way (Declarative Management Framework)
• Change Data Capture, a built-in auditing mechanism
• Some new dynamic management views (sys.dm_os_memory_brokers, sys.dm_os_memory_nodes, sys.dm_os_nodes, sys.dm_os_process_memory and sys.dm_os_sys_memory)

There are probably many cool features and I'll keep you informed when I stumble upon them.

*EDIT*
A great list of new features can be found here.

Is it a bird, is it an airplane? No it's the first CTP of SQL Server Katmai... I mean SQL Server 2008!

Check it out here, the first public CTP of SQL Server 2008.

Go go go :-)