Multi-row UPSERT (INSERT or UPDATE) from Python

Question

I am currently executing the simply query below with python using pyodbc to insert data in SQL server table:

import pyodbc

table_name = \'my_table\'
insert_         


        

Answer 1

This can be done using MERGE. Let's say you have a key column ID, and two columns col_a and col_b (you need to specify column names in update statements), then the statement would look like this:

MERGE INTO MyTable as Target
USING (SELECT * FROM 
       (VALUES (1, 2, 3), (2, 2, 4), (3, 4, 5)) 
       AS s (ID, col_a, col_b)
      ) AS Source
ON Target.ID=Source.ID
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN
INSERT (ID, col_a, col_b) VALUES (Source.ID, Source.col_a, Source.col_b)
WHEN MATCHED THEN
UPDATE SET col_a=Source.col_a, col_b=Source.col_b;

You can give it a try on rextester.com/IONFW62765.

Basically, I'm creating a Source table "on-the-fly" using the list of values, which you want to upsert. When you then merge the Source table with the Target, you can test the MATCHED condition (Target.ID=Source.ID) on each row (whereas you would be limited to a single row when just using a simple IF INSERT (...) ELSE UPDATE (...) condition).

In python with pyodbc, it should probably look like this:

import pyodbc

insert_values = [(1, 2, 3), (2, 2, 4), (3, 4, 5)]
table_name = 'my_table'
key_col = 'ID'
col_a = 'col_a'
col_b = 'col_b'

cnxn = pyodbc.connect(...)
cursor = cnxn.cursor()
cursor.execute(('MERGE INTO {table_name} as Target '
                'USING (SELECT * FROM '
                '(VALUES {vals}) '
                'AS s ({k}, {a}, {b}) '
                ') AS Source '
                'ON Target.ID=Source.ID '
                'WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN '
                'INSERT ({k}, {a}, {b}) VALUES (Source.{k}, Source.{a}, Source.{b}) '
                'WHEN MATCHED THEN '
                'UPDATE SET {k}=Source.{a}, col_b=Source.{b};'
                .format(table_name=table_name,
                        vals=','.join([str(i) for i in insert_values]),
                        k=key_col,
                        a=col_a,
                        b=col_b)))
cursor.commit()

You can read up more on MERGE in the SQL Server docs.