Get timestamp for inserted records

Question

I have a table in my MS SQL Express 2008 R2.

ID     Name     LastName

1      roko lab

2      lalla lallaaaa

Records are already inside this table.

Is it possible to get timestamp values for inserted records? I forgot to add timestamp column when I was designing database, and now I need to know when records were inserted?

Answer 1

You can use getdate() as default value. Have a look at this link:

Add default value of datetime field in SQL Server to a timestamp

ALTER TABLE YourTable 
  ADD CONSTRAINT DF_YourTable DEFAULT GETDATE() FOR YourColumn

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Saeid Hasani, sqldevelop.wordpress.com

Download Books Online for SQL Server 2012

Answer 2

But this will work only for the future records inserted.

I need to know timestamp for existing records... is it possible?

Answer 3

You can update old records by getdate().

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Saeid Hasani, sqldevelop.wordpress.com

Download Books Online for SQL Server 2012

Answer 4

If I update old records they will get timestamp from now.

I need to know the history... when were those records inserted...

Answer 5

Is it possible to get timestamp values for inserted records? I forgot to add timestamp column when I was designing database, and now I need to know when records were inserted?

No.  SQL Server does not automatically maintain a internal timestamp of the record insertion time as that would add unnecessary overhead for applications that don't need it.  It is your responsibility to add such a column and the desired value.  Unfortunately, you won't be able to retroactively get the insert timestamp value.

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Dan Guzman, SQL Server MVP, http://www.dbdelta.com