[thelist] SQL Server: How Can I Convert VARCHAR to INT?

-joshua,

> How much data are we talking about?  How often do you need to scrub the
> records?  Can you control what data is added to the database after you do
> the scrubbing?  Do records get updated after the scrubs, or are new
records
> only added?  Can you add a field to the table to flag whether the record
has
> been scrubbed so you do not have to check it again?

    Basically, this is one-time clean-up as the application is being
converted from a Microsoft Access VBA application (with data stored both in
MS Access tables and SQL Server tables) to a web-based application with a
SQL-only database. As the data is transferred, I am making changes to
certain columns to optimize data storage or improve data integrity (such as
changing 50-character varchar fields to int fields). Once the existing data
is scrubbed, this won't need to happen again.
    So, efficiency is not as important as efficacy.

James Aylard