How to control nullability in SELECT INTO for literal-based columns

Question

I am noticing that when I use this statement, the Action column is not nullable:

SELECT TOP 0 SerialNumber, 0 [Action] INTO #MyTable FROM FSE_Se         


        

Answer 1

Personally, for the best control, you should create your table first. For example:

Create Table #MyTable (
   SerialNumber int Not Null, -- or however this is correctly defined.
   Action int Null
)

Then, do a Insert Into ... Select From ...

Insert Into #MyTable(SerialNumber, Action)
Select SerialNumber, 0
From FSE_SerialNumber

Then, there will be no question of what the fields should be.

I know this isn't quite what you asked, but it might be something to consider.