VARCHAR to DECIMAL

Question

I want to convert a varchar(max) column to decimal(10,4).

When I try to use cast or convert I am getting an arit

Answer 1

Implemented using Custom Function. This will check whether the string value can be converted to Decimal safely

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[TryParseAsDecimal]
(
    @Value      NVARCHAR(4000)
    ,@Precision INT
    ,@Scale     INT
)

RETURNS BIT
AS
BEGIN

    IF(ISNUMERIC(@Value) =0) BEGIN
        RETURN CAST(0 AS BIT)
    END
    SELECT @Value = REPLACE(@Value,',','') --Removes the comma

    --This function validates only the first part eg '1234567.8901111111'
    --It validates only the values before the '.' ie '1234567.'
    DECLARE @Index          INT
    DECLARE @Part1Length    INT 
    DECLARE @Part1          VARCHAR(4000)   

    SELECT @Index = CHARINDEX('.', @Value, 0)
    IF (@Index>0) BEGIN
        --If decimal places, extract the left part only and cast it to avoid leading zeros (eg.'0000000001' => '1')
        SELECT @Part1 =LEFT(@Value, @Index-1);
        SELECT @Part1=SUBSTRING(@Part1, PATINDEX('%[^0]%', @Part1+'.'), LEN(@Part1));
        SELECT @Part1Length = LEN(@Part1);
    END
    ELSE BEGIN
        SELECT @Part1 =CAST(@Value AS DECIMAL);
        SELECT @Part1Length= LEN(@Part1)
    END 

    IF (@Part1Length > (@Precision-@Scale)) BEGIN
        RETURN CAST(0 AS BIT)
    END

    RETURN CAST(1 AS BIT)

END