SQL Server query dry run

Question

I run a lot of queries that perform INSERT\'s, insert SELECT\'s, UPDATE\'s and ALTER\'s on tables, and when developing these

Answer 1

Begin the transaction, perform the table operations, and rollback as shown below:

BEGIN TRAN

UPDATE  C
SET column1 = 'XXX'
FROM table1 C

SELECT *
FROM table1
WHERE column1 = 'XXX'

ROLLBACK TRAN

This will rollback all the operations performed since the last commit since the beginning of this transaction.

Answer 2

Use an SQL transaction to make your changes then back them out.

Before you execute your script:

BEGIN TRANSACTION;

After you execute your script and have done your checking:

ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;

Every change in your script will then be undone.

Note: Make sure you don't have a COMMIT in your script!