Update multiple tables in SQL Server using INNER JOIN [duplicate]

Question

I'm using SQL Server and trying to use SQL to update multiple tables at once with one query:

The following query:

update table1 set A.ORG_NAME =  @ORG_NAME, B.REF_NAME = @REF_NAME from table1 A, table2 B where B.ORG_ID = A.ORG_ID and A.ORG_ID = @ORG_ID 

Gives the error message:

The multi-part identifier "A.ORG_NAME" could not be bound.

What does the error message mean?

Answer 1

You can't update more that one table in a single statement, however the error message you get is because of the aliases, you could try this :

BEGIN TRANSACTION  update A set A.ORG_NAME =  @ORG_NAME from table1 A inner join table2 B on B.ORG_ID = A.ORG_ID and A.ORG_ID = @ORG_ID  update B set B.REF_NAME = @REF_NAME from table2 B inner join table1 A     on B.ORG_ID = A.ORG_ID     and A.ORG_ID = @ORG_ID  COMMIT 

Answer 2

You can update with a join if you only affect one table like this:

UPDATE table1  SET table1.name = table2.name  FROM table1, table2  WHERE table1.id = table2.id  AND table2.foobar ='stuff' 

But you are trying to affect multiple tables with an update statement that joins on multiple tables. That is not possible.

However, updating two tables in one statement is actually possible but will need to create a View using a UNION that contains both the tables you want to update. You can then update the View which will then update the underlying tables.

But this is a hacky parlor trick, use the transaction and multiple updates, it's much more intuitive.