If you’re getting an error that reads something like “Cannot DROP SEQUENCE ‘Sequence2’ because it is being referenced by object ‘DF__Dogs__DogId__6C190EBB’“, it could be because you’re trying to drop a sequence object that’s referenced by a DEFAULT constraint.
Sequences that are referenced by a DEFAULT constraint can’t be dropped until the DEFAULT constraint is dropped.
Therefore, to fix this issue, drop the DEFAULT constraint first.
By default, SQL Server sets its own minimum and maximum values for sequence objects based on the data type of the sequence object. Assuming we don’t set the data type for the sequence, these min/max values are based on the bigint data type (because that’s the default data type for sequence objects in SQL Server).
However, we can also set our own minimum and maximum values for our sequences. We can do this either explicitly (by setting the MAXVALUE and MINVALUE properties) or implicitly (by setting the data type).
If you’re getting error msg 6825 that reads “ELEMENTS option is only allowed in RAW, AUTO, and PATH modes of FOR XML“, it’s probably because you’re trying to use the ELEMENTS directive while using EXPLICIT mode of the FOR XML clause.
As the message alludes to, this option is not available when using the EXPLICIT mode (it’s only allowed with the RAW, AUTO, and PATH modes).
However, SQL Server does provide us with an equivalent that provides the same result. When using EXPLICIT mode, we can use the ELEMENT directive instead. We apply this to the column names, instead of the end of the query. We can alternatively use the ELEMENTXSINIL directive to ensure that elements are generated even if the column contains a NULL value.
If you’re getting an error that reads “Argument ‘AS’ cannot be used in an ALTER SEQUENCE statement.” in SQL Server, it’s probably because you’re trying to change the data type of a sequence object.
We can’t actually change the data type of a sequence object, so this error is to be expected.
If you need to change the data type of a sequence object, you’ll need to drop the sequence and recreate it with the correct data type.
In SQL Server, the FOR XML clause allows us to return the results of a query as an XML document.
When we use this clause, we have various options for how we want to shape the resulting XML document.
Below is an explanation of how the FOR XML clause works, including the basic options we have when using it.
SQL Server’s ISDATE() function checks whether or not an expression is a valid date. However, you may be aware that this function doesn’t work on datetime2 values. On datetime2 values it returns 0, which means it’s not a valid date, even when the value is a valid date.
This is obviously not ideal, because the datetime2 type is a valid date type. Microsoft even recommends that we use datetime2 instead of datetime for our dates, as it aligns with the SQL Standard and it provides more fractional seconds precision.
Anyway, below are three options we can use to check whether a datetime2 value is a valid date.
When we create a sequence in SQL Server, we have the option of making it an incrementing sequence or decrementing.
By “decrementing”, I mean that the sequence decreases instead of increases. For example, if it starts at 100, the next value is 99, and then 98, and so on.
To create a sequence that decrements, all we do is provide a negative value for the INCREMENT BY argument.
If you’re getting error msg 235 which reads Cannot convert a char value to money. The char value has incorrect syntax, it’s probably because you’re trying to convert a string to the money data type, but the string isn’t in a format that can be converted to the money type.
To fix this issue, make sure you’re trying to convert the right value (perhaps you’ve got the wrong column or variable). If you’re sure you’re trying to convert the right value, try a workaround like the one below.
SQL Server sequence objects allow us to increment or decrement through a range of numbers. Once set, we don’t need to change anything. We can simply use NEXT VALUE FOR to generated the next sequential number.
But what if we want to change the sequence to use a different range?
For example, we created a sequence that increments between 0 and 100, but now we want to change it to increment between 200 and 300.
Easy. We can use the ALTER SEQUENCE statement to do just that.
SQL Server provides us with both a @@ROWCOUNT and a ROWCOUNT_BIG() function. You may be wondering what the difference is between these two functions?
Let’s find out.