Don't forget about:

• dts packages
• scheduled jobs
• Stored Procedures
• users and permissions

You can also use the CONVERT function - see sql online books for detail  or help.

Using CONVERT you can cater for different date format eg US, British, etc and/or convert the date...

Another possibility is (assuming Customer 'Steve' is unique):

select * from orders

where

OrderID = (select OrderId from Orders where Customer = 'Steve') + 1 )

or

OrderID = (select OrderID from Orders...

In PutFiles.txt, you have:

open 111.11.111.11

Login

Password

bin

lcd F:\Backupdir

mput *.zip

y

y

y

y

y

quit

You could rewrite it as follows:

open 111.11.111.11

Login

Password

bin

lcd F:\Backupdir

prompt

mput *.zip

quit

The prompt keyword will switch to non interactive mode, saving you from replying to each put statement.

Alternatively,...

There is always the option of writing a VB or C application to check the Excel spreadsheet and update any changes to SQL table(s).

Assuming NULL is permitted in the column/table and there are no default values for the column, then omitting the field from the import file should automatically assign a null value...

If you wish to use (assuming you are using SQL2000) sp_attach_db, I suggest the following basic steps:

1) detach the db in question (lets say it is called db_Orig).

eg exec...