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Archiving with the OUTPUT clause

Most database developers have been faced with the task to archive old data. It could look something like this:

CREATE TABLE dbo.Cars(
  CarID int identity(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
  BrandName varchar(100),
  ModelName varchar(100),
  releaseYear smallint
);

CREATE TABLE dbo.Cars_Archive(
  CarID int,
  BrandName varchar(100),
  ModelName varchar(100),
  releaseYear smallint,
  ArchivedDateTime datetime DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
  CONSTRAINT PK_Cars_Archive PRIMARY KEY(CarID, ArchivedDateTime)
)

And updating a row would often require a stored procedure and some explicit transactions

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