How to test your query first before running it sql server
sql, sql-server
Solution
First assume you will make a mistake when updating a db so never do it unless you know how to recover, if you don't don't run the code until you do,
The most important idea is it is a dev database expect it to be messed up - so make sure you have a quick way to reload it.
The do a select first is always a good idea to see which rows are affected.
However for a quicker way back to a good state of the database which I would do anyway is
For a simple update etc
Use transactions
Do a `begin transaction` and then do all the updates etc and then select to check the data
The database will not be affected as far as others can see until you do a last commit which you only do when you are sure all is correct or a rollback to get to the state that was at the beginning
Problem
I made a silly mistake at work once on one of our in house test databases. I was updating a record I just added because I made a typo but it resulted in many records being updated because in the where clause I used the foreign key instead of the unique id for the particular record I just added One of our senior developers told me to do a select to test out what rows it will affect before actually editing it. Besides this, is there a way you can execute your query, see the results but not have it commit to the db until I tell it to do so? Next time I might not be so lucky. It's a good job only senior developers can do live updates!.