Print insert result to a printer in TSQL trigger after insert - Need help.

Question

Hi,
I am trying to print a record to a printer whenever a new record is inserted into a table called PrintTickets, using TSQL trigger for insert. 
Is it possible to print a new inserted record to a printer?
Here is the trigger tsql statement: 
ALTER TRIGGER [dbo].[PrintDeal]
ON [dbo].[PrintTickets]
AFTER INSERT
AS
declare @Id numeric(18,0)
,@DealId char(15)
,@ValueDatePeriod1Currency1 datetime
,@Bank1Name char(56)
,@Currency1 char(3)
,@Currency2 char(3)
,@PaymentInstructionP1C1 char(80)
,@DealerId char(6)
,@DealVolumeCurrency1 float
,@CalVolumeP1C2 float
,@ExchangeRatePeriod1 float
declare @tmp table
Id numeric(18,0)
,DealId char(15)
,ValueDatePeriod1Currency1 datetime
,Bank1Name char(56)
,Currency1 char(3)
,Currency2 char(3)
,PaymentInstructionP1C1 char(80)
,DealerId char(6)
,DealVolumeCurrency1 float
,CalVolumeP1C2 float
,ExchangeRatePeriod1 float
PRIMARY KEY (Id)
BEGIN
-- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
-- interfering with SELECT statements.
SET NOCOUNT ON;
-- Insert statements for trigger here
insert @tmp
select
Id
, DealId
, ValueDatePeriod1Currency1
, Bank1Name
, Currency1
, Currency2
, PaymentInstructionP1C1
, DealerId
, DealVolumeCurrency1
, CalVolumeP1C2
, ExchangeRatePeriod1
FROM dbo.PrintTickets
WHERE ID=@@IDENTITY
select @Id=Id
,@DealId=DealId
,@ValueDatePeriod1Currency1=ValueDatePeriod1Currency1
,@Bank1Name=Bank1Name
,@Currency1=Currency1
,@Currency2=Currency2
,@PaymentInstructionP1C1=PaymentInstructionP1C1
,@DealerId=DealerId
,@DealVolumeCurrency1=DealVolumeCurrency1
,@CalVolumeP1C2=CalVolumeP1C2
,@ExchangeRatePeriod1=ExchangeRatePeriod1
from @tmp
-- Code to print to a physical printer if possible
END
The table is called PrintTickets and it contains the following columns: 
Id numeric(18,0)
,DealId char(15)
,ValueDatePeriod1Currency1 datetime
,Bank1Name char(56)
,Currency1 char(3)
,Currency2 char(3)
,PaymentInstructionP1C1 char(80)
,DealerId char(6)
,DealVolumeCurrency1 float
,CalVolumeP1C2 float
,ExchangeRatePeriod1 float
PRIMARY KEY (Id)
The dummy records that I am inserting for testing the results in csv format:
Id,DealId,ValueDatePeriod1Currency1,Bank1Name,Currency1,Currency2,PaymentInstructionP1C1,DealerId,DealVolumeCurrency1,CalVolumeP1C2,ExchangeRatePeriod1
696,XXX#33111 ,2014-03-04 00:00:00.000,HSBC ,USD,EUR,XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ,MAT ,342342,87987,0.3123
697,XXX#33113 ,2014-03-04 00:00:00.000,USB ,EUR,USD,9999999999999999999999,ZXY,2334243,32213,0.3245
698,XXX#33114 ,2014-03-03 00:00:00.000,SWISS BANK ,CHF,USD,99999999999999900000,XYZ ,32423424,342,0.83432
699,XXX#33115 ,2014-03-03 00:00:00.000,UK BANK ,USD,PND,XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ,ABC,9809808,0,0.0349
700,XXX#33116 ,2014-03-04 00:00:00.000,USCF BANK ,XXX,XXX,XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ,ABC,89798797,756756,0.734
I appreciate any help.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Is it possible to print a new inserted record to a printer?
From SQL Server?
The task of SQL Server is to manage large of data effciently. It is not a general programming environment. It could possibly be done with a CLR procedure that that talks to the printer, but it is not the correct solution.
A possible design could be to post a message on a Service Broker queue, and then the printing server would poll the queue and print the ticket.
By the way, there are more flaws in your trigger. To find the inserted rows, you need to query the virtual table "inserted" which holds a copy of these rows. Furthermore, since a trigger fires once per statement, the trigger must handle the fact
that multiple rows are inserted.
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, [email protected]