updating the entire column with datetime values based on other values in the row

Question

I have a very large table [server].[dbo].[MyTable] where I need the SQL statement to fill the column 'ToDateTime' (currently full of NULLs) according to the following logic:

• Only add a value to 'ToDateTime' on rows where AID equals 123 and PID equals 2. (rows 2, 4, 5, and 7 below) - otherwise leave 'ToDateTime' as NULL.

• If the above condition is met, set/leave 'ToDateTime' as NULL if the data (varchar) cannot be converted to datetime (rows 5 and 7 below have data that will fail datetime conversion)

• But if it does contain a value that can be converted to datetime (rows 2 and 4), convert it and update the value in ToDateTime with that converted value.

BEFORE:

ID | AID | PID | ContainedData        | ToDateTime
_________________________________________________
1  | 123 |  1  | xxxx                 | NULL
2  | 123 |  2  | 7/21/2015 8:15:06 AM | NULL
3  | 234 |  2  | xyxy                 | NULL
4  | 123 |  2  | 19/07/2015 12:29:42  | NULL
5  | 123 |  2  | NULL                 | NULL
6  | 345 |  3  | zzzz                 | NULL
7  | 123 |  2  | badTimeString        | NULL

AFTER:

ID | AID | PID | ContainedData        | ToDateTime
_________________________________________________
1  | 123 |  1  | xxxx                 | NULL
2  | 123 |  2  | 7/21/2015 8:15:06 AM | 2015-07-21 08:15:06.000
3  | 234 |  2  | xyxy                 | NULL
4  | 123 |  2  | 19/07/2015 12:29:42  | 2015-07-19 12:29:42.000
5  | 123 |  2  | NULL                 | NULL
6  | 345 |  3  | zzzz                 | NULL
7  | 123 |  2  | badTimeString        | NULL

I have been trying a query similar to what is below but it is filling ToDateTime with the same values for every row (in the case of my actual data, NULL.) I'm not sure if something similar to this query is the right approach, or if I'm way off.

UPDATE MyTable SET ToDateTime =
CASE
WHEN ISDATE(myT.cd)= 1 
THEN CONVERT(DATETIME, myT.cd)
ELSE NULL END
FROM (
 SELECT ContainedData cd
 FROM MyTable
 WHERE [AID] = 123 AND [PID] = 2
 ) myT

Answer 1

It looks like you have at least two different regional date formats there, possibly USA and Europe? You could just split the updates by languages...

something like this, which uses the language setting to control isdate and convert.

set language english;
update test_dates 
set ToDateTime = convert(datetime,ContainedData)
where AID='123' and PID='2' and isdate(ContainedData)=1;

set language british;
update test_dates 
set ToDateTime = convert(datetime,ContainedData)
where AID='123' and PID='2' and isdate(ContainedData)=1;

If the table is too large to update in big chunks, then you should look at wrapping that in a loop with a row limit and a transaction around each update and repeat until zero rows have been updated.

Answer 2

How about this:

UPDATE [dbo].[MyTable]
SET [ToDateTime] = [ContainedData]
WHERE aid = 123 
and pid = 2 
and isdate([ContainedData] ) = 1