Solutions for INSERT OR UPDATE on SQL Server

Question

Assume a table structure of MyTable(KEY, datafield1, datafield2...).

Often I want to either update an existing record, or insert a new record if it does

Answer 1

Doing an if exists ... else ... involves doing two requests minimum (one to check, one to take action). The following approach requires only one where the record exists, two if an insert is required:

DECLARE @RowExists bit
SET @RowExists = 0
UPDATE MyTable SET DataField1 = 'xxx', @RowExists = 1 WHERE Key = 123
IF @RowExists = 0
  INSERT INTO MyTable (Key, DataField1) VALUES (123, 'xxx')