Changing Data

After the tables have been created and the data added, changing or updating data in the tables becomes one of the day-to-day processes in maintaining a database. Microsoft® SQL Server™ provides these ways to change data in an existing table:

• The UPDATE statement

  Can be used to update data in specific rows in a table or view.

• Database application programming interfaces (APIs)

  Support options for updating data at the current position of a result set. Transact-SQL server cursors also support updating data at the current row of a cursor.

• The UPDATETEXT statement

  Can be used to update specific ntext, text, and image values.

Updates work on views as well as on tables, with some restrictions. For more information, see Creating a View.