What is a multi-part identifier and why can t it be bound

Question

I continually get these errors when I try to update tables based on another table  I end up rewriting the query  change the order of joins  change some groupings and then it eventually works  but I just don t quite get it   What is a  multi-part identifier   When is a  multi-part identifier  not able to be bound  What is it being bound to anyway  In what cases will this error occur  What are the best ways to prevent it     The specific error from SQL Server 2005 is      The multi-part identifier       could not be bound    Here is an example   UPDATE   test   dbo   CompanyDetail   SET Mnemonic    dbBWKMigration   dbo   Company   MNEMONIC                    Company Code     dbBWKMigration   dbo   Company   COMPANYCODE   WHERE  Company Name       dbBWKMigration   dbo   Company   COMPANYNAME      The actual error      Msg 4104  Level 16  State 1  Line 3 The multi-part identifier    dbBWKMigration dbo Company COMPANYNAME  could not be bound

User · Answer

I found that I get these a lot when I try to abbreviate, such as:

Table1 t1, Table2 t2 
where t1.ID = t2.ID

Changing it to:

Table1, Table2 
where Table1.ID = Table2.ID

Makes the query work and not throw the error.

User · Answer

If you are sure that it is not a typo spelling-wise  perhaps it is a typo case-wise   What collation are you using  Check it

User · Answer

I had this issue and it turned out to be an incorrect table alias  Correcting this resolved the issue

User · Answer

Adding table alias in front Set field causes this problem in my case    Right Update Table1 Set SomeField   t2 SomeFieldValue  From Table1 t1  Inner Join Table2 as t2     On t1 ID   t2 ID  Wrong Update Table1 Set t1 SomeField   t2 SomeFieldValue  From Table1 t1  Inner Join Table2 as t2     On t1 ID   t2 ID

User · Answer

When you type the FROM table those errors will disappear  Type FROM below what your typing then Intellisense will work and multi-part identifier will work

User · Answer

I was getting this error and just could not see where the problem was  I double checked all of my aliases and syntax and nothing looked out of place  The query was similar to ones I write all the time   I decided to just re-write the query  I originally had copied it from a report  rdl file  below  over again  and it ran fine  Looking at the queries now  they look the same to me  but my re-written one works   Just wanted to say that it might be worth a shot if nothing else works

User · Answer

If you are sure that it is not a typo spelling-wise  perhaps it is a typo case-wise   What collation are you using  Check it

User · Answer

A multipart identifier is any description of a field or table that contains multiple parts - for instance MyTable SomeRow - if it can t be bound that means there s something wrong with it - either you ve got a simple typo  or a confusion between table and column   It can also be caused by using reserved words in your table or field names and not surrounding them with     It can also be caused by not including all of the required columns in the target table   Something like redgate sql prompt is brilliant for avoiding having to manually type these  it even auto-completes joins based on foreign keys   but isn t free   SQL server 2008 supports intellisense out of the box  although it isn t quite as complete as the redgate version

User · Answer

You probably have a typo  For instance  if you have a table named Customer in a database named Sales  you could refer to it as Sales  Customer  although it is better to refer to it including the owner name  dbo is the default owner  like Sales dbo Customer   If you typed Sales   Customer  you might have gotten the message you got

User · Answer

I faced this problem and solved it but there is a difference between your and mine code  In spite of I think you can understand what is  the multi-part identifier could not be bound   When I used this code    select   from tbTest where email   sakira gmail com   I faced Multi-part identifier problem  but when I use single quotation for email address It solved   select   from tbTest where email    sakira gmail com

User · Answer

I found that I get these a lot when I try to abbreviate, such as:

Table1 t1, Table2 t2 
where t1.ID = t2.ID

Changing it to:

Table1, Table2 
where Table1.ID = Table2.ID

Makes the query work and not throw the error.

User · Answer

If you are sure that it is not a typo spelling-wise  perhaps it is a typo case-wise   What collation are you using  Check it

User · Answer

My best advise when having the error is to use    braquets to sorround table names  the abbreviation of tables causes sometimes errors   sometime table abbreviations just work fine   weird

User · Answer

Binding   your textual representation of a specific column gets mapped to a physical column in some table  in some database  on some server   Multipart identifier could be  MyDatabase dbo MyTable  If you get any of these identifiers wrong  then you have a multipart identifier that cannot be mapped   The best way to avoid it is to write the query right the first time  or use a plugin for management studio that provides intellisense and thus help you out by avoiding typos

User · Answer

You probably have a typo  For instance  if you have a table named Customer in a database named Sales  you could refer to it as Sales  Customer  although it is better to refer to it including the owner name  dbo is the default owner  like Sales dbo Customer   If you typed Sales   Customer  you might have gotten the message you got

User · Answer

A multipart identifier is any description of a field or table that contains multiple parts - for instance MyTable SomeRow - if it can t be bound that means there s something wrong with it - either you ve got a simple typo  or a confusion between table and column   It can also be caused by using reserved words in your table or field names and not surrounding them with     It can also be caused by not including all of the required columns in the target table   Something like redgate sql prompt is brilliant for avoiding having to manually type these  it even auto-completes joins based on foreign keys   but isn t free   SQL server 2008 supports intellisense out of the box  although it isn t quite as complete as the redgate version

User · Answer

I had this issue and it turned out to be an incorrect table alias  Correcting this resolved the issue

User · Answer

Binding   your textual representation of a specific column gets mapped to a physical column in some table  in some database  on some server   Multipart identifier could be  MyDatabase dbo MyTable  If you get any of these identifiers wrong  then you have a multipart identifier that cannot be mapped   The best way to avoid it is to write the query right the first time  or use a plugin for management studio that provides intellisense and thus help you out by avoiding typos

User · Answer

I had P PayeeName AS  Payer  --  and the two comment lines threw this error

User · Answer

It s probably a typo  Look for the places in your code where you call  schema   TableName   basically anywhere you reference a field  and make sure everything is spelled correctly   Personally  I try to avoid this by using aliases for all my tables  It helps tremendously when you can shorten a long table name to an acronym of it s description  i e  WorkOrderParts -  WOP   and also makes your query more readable   Edit  As an added bonus  you ll save TONS of keystrokes when all you have to type is a three or four-letter alias vs  the schema  table  and field names all together

User · Answer

Adding table alias in front Set field causes this problem in my case    Right Update Table1 Set SomeField   t2 SomeFieldValue  From Table1 t1  Inner Join Table2 as t2     On t1 ID   t2 ID  Wrong Update Table1 Set t1 SomeField   t2 SomeFieldValue  From Table1 t1  Inner Join Table2 as t2     On t1 ID   t2 ID

User · Answer

When updating tables make sure you do not reference the field your updating via the alias   I just had the error with the following code  update  page   set p pagestatusid   1 from  page  p join seed s on s seedid   p seedid where s providercode    agd  and p pagestatusid   0   I had to remove the alias reference in the set statement so it reads like this  update  page   set pagestatusid   1 from  page  p join seed s on s seedid   p seedid where s providercode    agd  and p pagestatusid   0

User · Answer

I had P PayeeName AS  Payer  --  and the two comment lines threw this error

User · Answer

Binding   your textual representation of a specific column gets mapped to a physical column in some table  in some database  on some server   Multipart identifier could be  MyDatabase dbo MyTable  If you get any of these identifiers wrong  then you have a multipart identifier that cannot be mapped   The best way to avoid it is to write the query right the first time  or use a plugin for management studio that provides intellisense and thus help you out by avoiding typos

User · Answer

Mine was putting the schema on the table Alias by mistake   SELECT   FROM schema CustomerOrders co WHERE schema co ID   1  -- oops

User · Answer

A multipart identifier is any description of a field or table that contains multiple parts - for instance MyTable SomeRow - if it can t be bound that means there s something wrong with it - either you ve got a simple typo  or a confusion between table and column   It can also be caused by using reserved words in your table or field names and not surrounding them with     It can also be caused by not including all of the required columns in the target table   Something like redgate sql prompt is brilliant for avoiding having to manually type these  it even auto-completes joins based on foreign keys   but isn t free   SQL server 2008 supports intellisense out of the box  although it isn t quite as complete as the redgate version

User · Answer

When you type the FROM table those errors will disappear  Type FROM below what your typing then Intellisense will work and multi-part identifier will work

User · Answer

Binding   your textual representation of a specific column gets mapped to a physical column in some table  in some database  on some server   Multipart identifier could be  MyDatabase dbo MyTable  If you get any of these identifiers wrong  then you have a multipart identifier that cannot be mapped   The best way to avoid it is to write the query right the first time  or use a plugin for management studio that provides intellisense and thus help you out by avoiding typos

User · Answer

I actually forgot to join the table to the others that s why i got the error  Supposed to be this way     CREATE VIEW reserved passangers AS   SELECT dbo Passenger PassName  dbo Passenger Address1  dbo Passenger Phone   FROM dbo Passenger  dbo Reservation  dbo Flight   WHERE  dbo Passenger PassNum   dbo Reservation PassNum  and    dbo Reservation Flightdate    January 15 2004  and Flight FlightNum  562    And not this way     CREATE VIEW reserved passangers AS   SELECT dbo Passenger PassName  dbo Passenger Address1  dbo Passenger Phone   FROM dbo Passenger  dbo Reservation   WHERE  dbo Passenger PassNum   dbo Reservation PassNum  and    dbo Reservation Flightdate    January 15 2004  and Flight FlightNum   562

User · Answer

Actually sometimes when you are updating one table from another table s data  I think one of the common issues that cause this error  is when you use your table abbreviations incorrectly or when they are not needed   The correct statement is below   Update Table1 Set SomeField   t2 SomeFieldValue  From Table1 t1  Inner Join Table2 as t2     On t1 ID   t2 ID   Notice that SomeField column from Table1 doesn t have the t1 qualifier as t1 SomeField but is just SomeField     If one tries to update it by specifying t1 SomeField the statement will return the multi-part error that you have noticed

User · Answer

Error Code  FROM                     dbo Category C LEFT OUTER JOIN                dbo SubCategory SC ON C categoryID   SC CategoryID AND C IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN               dbo Module M ON SC subCategoryID   M subCategoryID AND SC IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN               dbo SubModule SM ON M ModuleID   SM ModuleID AND M IsActive    True  AND SM IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN      dbo trainer ON dbo trainer TopicID  dbo SubModule subModuleID    Solution Code   FROM                     dbo Category C LEFT OUTER JOIN                dbo SubCategory SC ON C categoryID   SC CategoryID AND C IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN               dbo Module M ON SC subCategoryID   M subCategoryID AND SC IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN               dbo SubModule SM ON M ModuleID   SM ModuleID AND M IsActive    True  AND SM IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN      dbo trainer ON dbo trainer TopicID   SM subModuleID    as you can see  in error code  dbo SubModule is already defined as SM  but I am using dbo SubModule in next line  hence there was an error  use declared name instead of actual name  Problem solved

User · Answer

A multipart identifier is any description of a field or table that contains multiple parts - for instance MyTable SomeRow - if it can t be bound that means there s something wrong with it - either you ve got a simple typo  or a confusion between table and column   It can also be caused by using reserved words in your table or field names and not surrounding them with     It can also be caused by not including all of the required columns in the target table   Something like redgate sql prompt is brilliant for avoiding having to manually type these  it even auto-completes joins based on foreign keys   but isn t free   SQL server 2008 supports intellisense out of the box  although it isn t quite as complete as the redgate version

User · Answer

I faced this problem and solved it but there is a difference between your and mine code  In spite of I think you can understand what is  the multi-part identifier could not be bound   When I used this code    select   from tbTest where email   sakira gmail com   I faced Multi-part identifier problem  but when I use single quotation for email address It solved   select   from tbTest where email    sakira gmail com

User · Answer

I actually forgot to join the table to the others that s why i got the error  Supposed to be this way     CREATE VIEW reserved passangers AS   SELECT dbo Passenger PassName  dbo Passenger Address1  dbo Passenger Phone   FROM dbo Passenger  dbo Reservation  dbo Flight   WHERE  dbo Passenger PassNum   dbo Reservation PassNum  and    dbo Reservation Flightdate    January 15 2004  and Flight FlightNum  562    And not this way     CREATE VIEW reserved passangers AS   SELECT dbo Passenger PassName  dbo Passenger Address1  dbo Passenger Phone   FROM dbo Passenger  dbo Reservation   WHERE  dbo Passenger PassNum   dbo Reservation PassNum  and    dbo Reservation Flightdate    January 15 2004  and Flight FlightNum   562

User · Answer

Mine was putting the schema on the table Alias by mistake   SELECT   FROM schema CustomerOrders co WHERE schema co ID   1  -- oops

User · Answer

If you are sure that it is not a typo spelling-wise  perhaps it is a typo case-wise   What collation are you using  Check it

User · Answer

It s probably a typo  Look for the places in your code where you call  schema   TableName   basically anywhere you reference a field  and make sure everything is spelled correctly   Personally  I try to avoid this by using aliases for all my tables  It helps tremendously when you can shorten a long table name to an acronym of it s description  i e  WorkOrderParts -  WOP   and also makes your query more readable   Edit  As an added bonus  you ll save TONS of keystrokes when all you have to type is a three or four-letter alias vs  the schema  table  and field names all together

User · Answer

My best advise when having the error is to use    braquets to sorround table names  the abbreviation of tables causes sometimes errors   sometime table abbreviations just work fine   weird

User · Answer

It s probably a typo  Look for the places in your code where you call  schema   TableName   basically anywhere you reference a field  and make sure everything is spelled correctly   Personally  I try to avoid this by using aliases for all my tables  It helps tremendously when you can shorten a long table name to an acronym of it s description  i e  WorkOrderParts -  WOP   and also makes your query more readable   Edit  As an added bonus  you ll save TONS of keystrokes when all you have to type is a three or four-letter alias vs  the schema  table  and field names all together

User · Answer

Error Code  FROM                     dbo Category C LEFT OUTER JOIN                dbo SubCategory SC ON C categoryID   SC CategoryID AND C IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN               dbo Module M ON SC subCategoryID   M subCategoryID AND SC IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN               dbo SubModule SM ON M ModuleID   SM ModuleID AND M IsActive    True  AND SM IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN      dbo trainer ON dbo trainer TopicID  dbo SubModule subModuleID    Solution Code   FROM                     dbo Category C LEFT OUTER JOIN                dbo SubCategory SC ON C categoryID   SC CategoryID AND C IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN               dbo Module M ON SC subCategoryID   M subCategoryID AND SC IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN               dbo SubModule SM ON M ModuleID   SM ModuleID AND M IsActive    True  AND SM IsActive    True  LEFT OUTER JOIN      dbo trainer ON dbo trainer TopicID   SM subModuleID    as you can see  in error code  dbo SubModule is already defined as SM  but I am using dbo SubModule in next line  hence there was an error  use declared name instead of actual name  Problem solved

User · Answer

It s probably a typo  Look for the places in your code where you call  schema   TableName   basically anywhere you reference a field  and make sure everything is spelled correctly   Personally  I try to avoid this by using aliases for all my tables  It helps tremendously when you can shorten a long table name to an acronym of it s description  i e  WorkOrderParts -  WOP   and also makes your query more readable   Edit  As an added bonus  you ll save TONS of keystrokes when all you have to type is a three or four-letter alias vs  the schema  table  and field names all together

User · Answer

Actually sometimes when you are updating one table from another table s data  I think one of the common issues that cause this error  is when you use your table abbreviations incorrectly or when they are not needed   The correct statement is below   Update Table1 Set SomeField   t2 SomeFieldValue  From Table1 t1  Inner Join Table2 as t2     On t1 ID   t2 ID   Notice that SomeField column from Table1 doesn t have the t1 qualifier as t1 SomeField but is just SomeField     If one tries to update it by specifying t1 SomeField the statement will return the multi-part error that you have noticed

User · Answer

When updating tables make sure you do not reference the field your updating via the alias   I just had the error with the following code  update  page   set p pagestatusid   1 from  page  p join seed s on s seedid   p seedid where s providercode    agd  and p pagestatusid   0   I had to remove the alias reference in the set statement so it reads like this  update  page   set pagestatusid   1 from  page  p join seed s on s seedid   p seedid where s providercode    agd  and p pagestatusid   0

User · Answer

I was getting this error and just could not see where the problem was  I double checked all of my aliases and syntax and nothing looked out of place  The query was similar to ones I write all the time   I decided to just re-write the query  I originally had copied it from a report  rdl file  below  over again  and it ran fine  Looking at the queries now  they look the same to me  but my re-written one works   Just wanted to say that it might be worth a shot if nothing else works

User · Answer

You probably have a typo  For instance  if you have a table named Customer in a database named Sales  you could refer to it as Sales  Customer  although it is better to refer to it including the owner name  dbo is the default owner  like Sales dbo Customer   If you typed Sales   Customer  you might have gotten the message you got

User · Answer

You probably have a typo  For instance  if you have a table named Customer in a database named Sales  you could refer to it as Sales  Customer  although it is better to refer to it including the owner name  dbo is the default owner  like Sales dbo Customer   If you typed Sales   Customer  you might have gotten the message you got

[sql] What is a 'multi-part identifier' and why can't it be bound?

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