Cannot resolve the collation conflict between “SQL

Question

I have the following code

SELECT tA.FieldName As [Field Name],
       COALESCE(tO_A.[desc], tO_B.[desc], tO_C.Name, tA.OldVAlue) AS [Old Value],
       COALESCE(tN_A.[desc], tN_B.[desc], tN_C.Name, tA.NewValue) AS [New Value],
       U.UserName AS [User Name],
       CONVERT(varchar, tA.ChangeDate) AS [Change Date] 
  FROM D tA
       JOIN 
       [DRTS].[dbo].[User] U 
         ON tA.UserID = U.UserID
       LEFT JOIN 
       A tO_A 
         on tA.FieldName = 'AID' 
        AND tA.oldValue = CONVERT(VARCHAR, tO_A.ID)
       LEFT JOIN 
       A tN_A 
         on tA.FieldName = 'AID' 
        AND tA.newValue = CONVERT(VARCHAR, tN_A.ID)
       LEFT JOIN 
       B tO_B 
         on tA.FieldName = 'BID' 
        AND tA.oldValue = CONVERT(VARCHAR, tO_B.ID)
       LEFT JOIN 
       B tN_B 
         on tA.FieldName = 'BID' 
        AND tA.newValue = CONVERT(VARCHAR, tN_B.ID)
       LEFT JOIN 
       C tO_C 
         on tA.FieldName = 'CID' 
        AND tA.oldValue = tO_C.Name
       LEFT JOIN 
       C tN_C 
         on tA.FieldName = 'CID' 
        AND tA.newValue = tN_C.Name
 WHERE U.Fullname = @SearchTerm
ORDER BY tA.ChangeDate

When running the code I am getting the error pasted in the title after adding the two joins for table C. I think this may have something to do with the fact I'm using SQL Server 2008 and have restored a copy of this db on to my machine which is 2005.

Answer 1

I have used the content from this site to create the following script which changes collation of all columns in all tables:

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[sz_pipeline001_collation] 
    -- Add the parameters for the stored procedure here
AS
BEGIN
    -- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
    -- interfering with SELECT statements.
    SET NOCOUNT ON;


SELECT 'ALTER TABLE [' + SYSOBJECTS.Name + '] ALTER COLUMN [' + SYSCOLUMNS.Name + '] ' +
SYSTYPES.name + 
    CASE systypes.NAME
    WHEN 'text' THEN ' '
    ELSE
    '(' + RTRIM(CASE SYSCOLUMNS.length
    WHEN -1 THEN 'MAX'
    ELSE CONVERT(CHAR,SYSCOLUMNS.length)
    END) + ') ' 
    END

    + ' ' + ' COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS ' + CASE ISNULLABLE WHEN 0 THEN 'NOT NULL' ELSE 'NULL' END
    FROM SYSCOLUMNS , SYSOBJECTS , SYSTYPES
    WHERE SYSCOLUMNS.ID = SYSOBJECTS.ID
    AND SYSOBJECTS.TYPE = 'U'
    AND SYSTYPES.Xtype = SYSCOLUMNS.xtype
    AND SYSCOLUMNS.COLLATION IS NOT NULL
    AND NOT ( sysobjects.NAME LIKE 'sys%' )
    AND NOT ( SYSTYPES.name LIKE 'sys%' )

END

Answer 2

Added code to @JustSteve's answer to deal with varchar and varchar(MAX) columns:

DECLARE @tableName VARCHAR(MAX)
SET @tableName = 'first_notes'
--EXEC sp_columns @tableName
SELECT  'Alter table ' + @tableName + ' alter column ' + col.name
        + CASE ( col.user_type_id )
            WHEN 231
            THEN ' nvarchar(' + CAST(col.max_length / 2 AS VARCHAR) + ') '
            WHEN 167
            THEN ' varchar(' + CASE col.max_length 
                                WHEN -1 
                                THEN 'MAX'
                                ELSE 
                                CAST(col.max_length AS VARCHAR)
                                end
                                 + ') '
          END + 'collate Latin1_General_CI_AS ' + CASE ( col.is_nullable )
                                                    WHEN 0 THEN ' not null'
                                                    WHEN 1 THEN ' null'
                                                  END
FROM    sys.columns col
WHERE   object_id = OBJECT_ID(@tableName)

Answer 3

You may not have any collation issues in your database whatsoever, but if you restored a copy of your database from a backup on a server with a different collation than the origin, and your code is creating temporary tables, those temporary tables would inherit collation from the server and there would be conflicts with your database.

Answer 4

error (Cannot resolve the collation conflict between .... ) usually occurs while comparing data from multiple databases.

since you cannot change the collation of databases now, use COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT.

----------
AND db1.tbl1.fiel1 COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT =db2.tbl2.field2 COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT 

Answer 5

INSERT INTO eSSLSmartOfficeSource2.[dbo].DeviceLogs  (DeviceId,UserId,LogDate,UpdateFlag) 
SELECT DL1.DeviceId ,DL1.UserId COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT,DL1.LogDate 
,0 FROM eSSLSmartOffice.[dbo].DeviceLogs DL1 
WHERE  NOT EXISTS 
(SELECT DL2.DeviceId ,DL2.UserId COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT
,DL2.LogDate ,DL2.UpdateFlag 
FROM eSSLSmartOfficeSource2.[dbo].DeviceLogs DL2    
WHERE  DL1.DeviceId =DL2.DeviceId
 and DL1.UserId collate  Latin1_General_CS_AS=DL2.UserId collate  Latin1_General_CS_AS
  and DL1.LogDate =DL2.LogDate )

Answer 6

You could easily do this by using 4 easy steps

1. backup your database, just incase
2. change database collation: right click database, select properties, go to the options and change the collation to the required collation.
3. Generate a script to Drop and Recreate all your database objects: right click your database, select tasks, select generate script... ( make sure you select Drop & Create on the Advanced options of the Wizard, Also select Schema & Data )
4. Run the Script Generated above