CREATE TRIGGER must be the first statement in a batch

Question

I have the below trigger:

 CREATE Trigger enroll_limit on Enrollments
 Instead of Insert
 As
 Declare @Count int
 Declare @Capacity int
 Select @Count = COUNT(*) From Enrollments
 Select @Capacity = Capacity From CourseSections
 If @Count < @Capacity
 Begin 
      Insert Into Enrollments Select * From Inserted
 End
 GO

I'm getting an error msg saying:

'CREATE TRIGGER' must be the first statement in a query batch.

Possible duplicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10336384/dynamic-sql-error-create-trigger-must-be-the-first-statement-in-a-query-batch — WholeLifeLearner, Feb 24 '17 at 13:25

score 50 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 14 '12 at 04:55

50

The error message "'CREATE TRIGGER' must be the first statement in a query batch." usually occurs when a preceding group (batch) of statements does not have a terminating GO

So, I would suggest adding add a GO to the end of the preceding batch's statements.

answered Nov 14 '12 at 04:55

Mitch Wheat

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3

Might be worthwhile to note that "GO" needs to be on its own line. (I found out the hard way) – Minh Tran Dec 21 '17 at 21:54

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 17 '19 at 18:55

If you are trying this from SQL Server Management Studio, here is another option which worked for me:

In the left pane, right-click on the database and select "New Query".

This connects you to the specific database. Now you can enter your create trigger statement as the first statement in the query window which opens. There is no need for a "use" command.

CREATE TRIGGER must be the first statement in a batch

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