How can I insert identity manually?

Question

CREATE TABLE masterTbl (
id INT IDENTITY(1,1) CONSTRAINT pk_id PRIMARY KEY,
name VARCHAR(100))

INSERT INTO masterTbl VALUES (\'ABC\', \'XYZ\',\'PQR\')

Answer 1

Yes you can set identity fields manually executing

SET IDENTITY_INSERT masterTbl ON

then insert your data

INSERT INTO masterTbl (id, name) VALUES (1, 'MNO') 
......

and remember to call

SET IDENTITY_INSERT masterTbl OFF

to reenable the correct functionality

Answer 2

In it's simplest form, you need to temporarily allow the insertion of identity values

SET IDENTITY_INSERT masterTbl ON
INSERT INTO masterTbl (id, name) VALUES (1, 'MNO')
SET IDENTITY_INSERT masterTbl OFF

Answer 3

SET IDENTITY_INSERT masterTbl ON

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/statements/set-identity-insert-transact-sql?view=sql-server-2017

Answer 4

It is possible performing the following steps:

I. Enable identity insert, which will DISABLE SQL Server from automatically inserting values in the table's identity column:

SET IDENTITY_INSERT ON

II. Perform your "manual" insert operation, SPECIFYING all the affected column names:

INSERT INTO masterTbl (id, name)
VALUES (1, 'ABC',
        2, 'XYZ',
        4, 'PQR')

• If you skip listing the column names, SQL Server will popup an error message.

III. When you're done, reenable the auto identity value insertion by disabling the manual insert feature of earlier:

SET IDENTITY_INSERT OFF

IV. You're done!