If you’re getting SQL Server error Msg 241 that reads Conversion failed when converting date and/or time from character string, it’s probably because you’re trying to convert a string to a date/time value, but that particular string can’t be converted to the date/time type specified.
Continue readingCategory: SQL Server
2 Ways to Create a Table if it Doesn’t Exist in SQL Server
T-SQL doesn’t include the IF NOT EXISTS clause with its CREATE TABLE statement, like some other DBMSs do.
Therefore, if we want to check for the existence of the table before we create it in SQL Server, we need to use other methods.
Continue reading5 Ways to Fix the “Divide by zero error” in SQL Server (Msg 8134)
Here are five options for dealing with error Msg 8134 “Divide by zero error encountered” in SQL Server.
Continue readingHow NULLIF() Works in SQL Server
In SQL Server, the NULLIF() expression checks the value of two specified expressions. It returns a null value if they’re equal, otherwise it returns the first expression.
Fix Msg 529 “Explicit conversion from data type int to xml is not allowed” in SQL Server
If you’re getting SQL Server error Msg 529 that reads something like Explicit conversion from data type int to xml is not allowed, it’s probably because you’re trying to perform a data type conversion that’s not permitted.
SQL Server doesn’t allow certain conversions. If you try to perform such a conversion, you’ll get this error.
Continue readingFix Msg 8116 “Argument data type varchar is invalid for argument 1 of session_context function” in SQL Server
If you’re getting SQL Server error Msg 8116 with the message Argument data type varchar is invalid for argument 1 of session_context function, it’s because you’re passing the wrong data type to a function – in this case the SESSION_CONTEXT() function.
How to Check a Column’s Data Type in SQL
In SQL, the columns information schema view, which returns information about columns, is an ISO standard view that is supported by most of the major RDBMSs. You can use this view to get information about a column’s data type.
Most of the major RDBMs also provide other methods for getting column information.
Here are examples of getting the data type of a column in various SQL databases.
Continue readingFix Msg 8117 “Operand data type varchar is invalid for sum operator” in SQL Server
If you’re getting SQL Server error Msg 8117 with the message Operand data type varchar is invalid for sum operator, it’s because you’re passing the wrong data type to an operator or function.
In this case, the error indicates that we’re passing a string to the SUM() function. The SUM() function does not operate on strings. It only works on numeric types.
The same error (Msg 8117) can also occur in other contexts – it’s not limited to the SUM() function.
How to Detect if a Value Contains at Least One Number in SQL Server
Sometimes you might need to search a database table for only those rows that contain at least one number in a given column.
Strictly speaking, numbers can be represented by words and other symbols, but for the purpose of this article, “number” means “numerical digit”.
Below is an example of how to use T-SQL to find rows that contain at least one number in SQL Server.
Continue readingFind Non-Numeric Values in a Column in SQL Server
There may be occasions where you need to check a column for non-numeric values. For example, you discover that a column is a varchar column when it really should be a numeric column.
This is easily done in SQL Server with the ISNUMERIC() function.