Yup, so simple yet so powerfull . That's what sql is all about .

Then I'll keep the few hairs I have left .

A quote from Friends :

Joey: All right, Rach. The big question is, "does he like you?" All right? Because if he doesn't like you, this is all a moo...

On the same line, Sql_variant is just not data, so why keep it in the database?? If you need to store complexe data that can't be preserved in [n][var]char or...

No because it's the wrong design. Sql_variant causes extra overhead to cast to the current type when used (internally) and also needs to have extra metadata maintained in the...

Crap, I just remembered that the new unoperational server is dual proc .

Thanx... aren't I glad I don't have a dual proc .

Now you know what you have to do to solve the current problem... and all the future ones that can come your way

Yup and while I was typing, the poster gave us his needs so this is a moo point now. Glad we think the same

Sushila I'm not sure you understand the flag system I propose. Here are all the variants :

Date - CharFlag - TinyintFlag

Year only

1981/01/01 - YNN - 1

Month only

1900/03/01 - NYN...

Declare @A table (CURDATE smalldatetime, EMPLOYEE_NME varchar(50), MANAGER_ID int, ACTION_TAKEN varchar(20), primary key (CURDATE, MANAGER_ID))

Insert into @A (CURDATE, EMPLOYEE_NME, MANAGER_ID, ACTION_TAKEN)

Select '6/22/2005 4:43:40 PM', 'Flintstone,Fred', 30000002, 'Follow-up'

Insert into @A (CURDATE,...

Yes but the flag system is somewhat different, you say Y is for year, M is for year and month, d is for all. Where I say YNY as...

He said : "We need to store both Full and Partial Dates (whichever we have)." He talks about storing the year but he doesn't say if it's enough and...

Hey Noeld, can you explain why the dual processor is screwing this operation??

To add to DC's proposition. It's what I would do in this case :

DOB datetime (or smalldatetime depending on the range). Then add a precision colum char(3) in...