Thanks Bob.

I did run the sql manually so the update alone worked fine.
WRT your sample, I don't understand what the last two lines accomplish

from parent
join inserted on parent.pcode=inserted.pcode

If its not too much trouble, could you attempt to enlighten me?

Thanks,
-Isaac

---

>update parent
>set childcount =
> (select COUNT(item_code)
> from child
> where child.pcode = parent.pcode)
>from parent
>
>If you do this in an insert trigger to the child you can do something like...
>
>update parent
>set childcount =
> (select COUNT(item_code)
> from child
> where child.pcode = parent.pcode)
>from parent
> join inserted on parent.pcode=inserted.pcode
>
>**********
>BOb
>
>
>>Hello,
>>
>>I'm trying to figure out the syntax for updating a count column based on the child table count.
>>Parent table has the columns columns pcode, childcount
>>Child table has the columns pcode, childname
>>
>>I'm thinking I want to do something like the following, though I'm stuck
>>figuring out how to finish the sql
>>
>>update parent
>>set childcount =
>> (select COUNT(item_code)
>> from child
>> where child.pcode = parent.pcode)
>>
>>How do I tell the subquery what the parent.pcode is?
>>
>>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>-Isaac