Insert an “insertion date” value into a SQL table automatically?

Question

Is there a way to define a datetime column and populate it automatically when a row is inserted, without having to use a trigger?

The value would be the point in time w

Answer 1

Yes, use a default:

create table test_table (d_col datetime default current_timestamp)

Answer 2

create table FACT_LO ([LOAD_DATE] [datetime] default getdate())

Answer 3

Very simple. When designing the table in SSMS, set the field's default value to getdate()

Answer 4

Yes, use a default constraint of GetDate()

Answer 5

Yes use a default constraint:

mydatecolumn datetime 
    constraint DF_myDate DEFAULT (getdate())