Iulian -207023 (10/21/2010)
Things might change if I need to transfer the data from/to another system, non SQL Server, for example using CSV file, this yyyymmdd might be useful in this case, I am thinking that this yyyymmdd int would help me not to lose date wile transfering.
The best approach in this case would be to enter all the information from the CSV file into a temporary table( say Transactions_Temp ) where you can keep the datatype for dates as VARCHAR or INT and then validate the data for correctness of formats. Once you validate the data in temporary table and do the necessary error reporting, you can transfer the same to the main table( say Transactions ) where i would always suggest you to keep the datatypes for dates as DATETIME or SMALLDATETIME.
This method might add an overhead of additional table, but will be useful for error reporting and avoiding date conversion issues in the future.
How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help - Jeff Moden
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/