Triggers

A trigger on a table automatically executes in response to specific events, such as INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE, on an associated table.

In Database Explorer, you can perform operations on triggers by using the shortcut menu. Right-click a trigger in Database Explorer to access commands for specific tasks, such as creating, editing, deleting, turning triggers on or off, or generating scripts for them.

Create a trigger

1. In Database Explorer, right-click the Triggers node or a required trigger and select New Trigger.

2. In the CREATE TRIGGER statement template, enter the trigger code.

3. Click Apply Changes.

Edit a trigger

1. In Database Explorer, right-click a required trigger and select Modify via SQL.

2. In SQL Editor, edit the trigger.

3. Click Apply Changes.

Delete a trigger

1. In Database Explorer, right-click the trigger you want to delete and select Delete.

Alternatively, press Delete.

2. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Note

You cannot undo the drop trigger operation, as this action permanently deletes the trigger. To avoid data loss, back up the database before deleting the trigger.

View a trigger

View a trigger in one of these ways:

• In Database Explorer, right-click a required trigger and select Open Editor.
• In Database Explorer, double-click a required trigger.

Turn on a trigger

To enable a trigger, in Database Explorer, right-click a required trigger and select Enable.

To enable all triggers, in Database Explorer, right-click the Triggers node and select Enable All.

Note

The Enable option is unavailable if the trigger is already turned on.

Turn off a trigger

To disable a trigger, in Database Explorer, right-click a required trigger and select Disable.

To disable all triggers, in Database Explorer, right-click the Triggers node and select Disable All.

Note

The Disable option is unavailable if the trigger is already turned off.

Duplicate a trigger

1. In Database Explorer, right-click a required trigger and select Duplicate Object.

2. In the Duplicate Object dialog, configure the object settings:

• In Destination connection, select the target server.
• In Destination database, select the target database.
• In Destination schema, select the target schema.
• In New object name, specify the object name.
• Select Drop destination object to drop the destination object if it already exists.
• Optional: Select Script Changes, then select To New SQL Window to open the generated script in a new SQL document, or To Clipboard to copy it to the clipboard.

3. Click OK.

Generate a script for a trigger

1. In Database Explorer, right-click a required trigger and select Generate Script As, then select the statement type.

2. Select one of the following output options:

• To New SQL Window – Opens the script in a new SQL document.
• To File – Generates the script to a .sql file.
• To Clipboard – Copies the script to the clipboard.

For more information, see Generate the DDL and DML statements for database objects.

View trigger properties

To view trigger properties, in Database Explorer, right-click the trigger and select Show Details.

Object Viewer opens, displaying detailed information about the trigger.

Refresh the trigger

To update the trigger to reflect the latest changes, in Database Explorer, right-click the trigger or Triggers node and select Refresh, or press F5.

Open the Properties window

To open the Properties window, in Database Explorer, right-click the trigger and select Properties, or press F4.

Filter triggers

1. In Database Explorer, right-click the Triggers node and select Filter.

2. In the Filter Settings (Triggers) dialog, configure the filter parameters.

3. Click OK to apply the filter.

Note

When you open the Triggers node, the number of objects it contains appears in parentheses next to the node name. This number changes based on your filter settings.

Shortcut menu options for a specific trigger

The following table describes the shortcut menu options, which appear when you right-click a specific trigger in Database Explorer.

Name	Description
New Trigger	Opens a CREATE TRIGGER template in a new SQL document to create a trigger.
Modify via SQL	Opens the existing stored trigger in a new SQL document containing a ALTER TRIGGER statement to update it.
Open Editor	Opens the Trigger designer to create a new trigger or modify its code.
Enable	Turns on the trigger. The Enable option is unavailable if the trigger is already turned on.
Disable	Turns off the trigger. The Disable option is unavailable if the trigger is already turned off.
Source Control > Source Control Manager	Opens Source Control Manager, where you can track and manage changes to database schema and static data. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it.
Source Control > Commit	Opens Source Control Manager with all local changes (if any) selected and ready to commit. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all local database changes.
Source Control > Get Latest	Opens Source Control Manager with all remote changes (if any) selected, ready to pull using Get Latest. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all remote database changes.
Duplicate Object	Opens the Duplicate Object dialog to duplicate the trigger.
Generate Script As	Generates a script of the selected DML trigger using the CREATE, CREATE OR ALTER, DROP, DROP and CREATE, and ALTER statements. The script can be saved to a new SQL document or to a file, or copied to the clipboard.
Show Details	Opens Object Viewer that displays object details.
Delete	Drops the object from the database. Shortcut: Delete
Refresh	Updates the object to reflect the latest changes. Shortcut: F5
Properties	Opens the Properties pane to view the object information. Shortcut: F4

Shortcut menu options for the Triggers node

The following table describes the shortcut menu options, which appear when you right-click the Triggers node in Database Explorer.

Name	Description
New Trigger	Opens a new SQL document containing the CREATE TRIGGER template to create a trigger.
Enable All	Turns on all triggers.
Disable All	Turns off all triggers.
Source Control > Source Control Manager	Opens Source Control Manager, where you can track and manage changes to database schema and static data. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it.
Source Control > Commit	Opens Source Control Manager with all local changes (if any) selected and ready to commit. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all local database changes.
Source Control > Get Latest	Opens Source Control Manager with all remote changes (if any) selected, ready to pull using Get Latest. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all remote database changes.
Filter	Opens the Filter Settings dialog to control which triggers should appear in Database Explorer.
Show Details	Opens Object Viewer that displays object details.
Refresh	Updates the object to reflect the latest changes. Shortcut: F5

Note

The Source Control shortcut menu is available only after you link the corresponding database to a source-control system.

Bulk operations

In Database Explorer, hold down Ctrl and select multiple triggers. Then right-click the selection and select the required option.

The following table describes the shortcut menu options available for multiple triggers.

Name	Description
Open Editor	Opens the Trigger designer for each selected trigger to recreate or modify them.
Enable	Turns on the triggers.
Disable	Turns off the triggers.
Source Control > Source Control Manager	Opens Source Control Manager, where you can track and manage changes to database schema and static data. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it.
Source Control > Commit	Opens Source Control Manager with all local changes (if any) selected and ready to commit. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all local database changes.
Source Control > Get Latest	Opens Source Control Manager with all remote changes (if any) selected, ready to pull using Get Latest. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all remote database changes.
Source Control > Link/Unlink Static Data	Opens the Source Control Link Static Data dialog that displays the tables whose data you want to link.
Generate Script As	Generates a script of the selected objects using the CREATE, CREATE OR ALTER, DROP, DROP and CREATE, and ALTER statements. The script can be generated to a new SQL document or to a file, or copied to the clipboard.
Delete	Drops the selected triggers from the database. Shortcut: Delete