FIX: Select with ANSI Joins Against View with Union Operator and ANSI Joins Fails with Error 4409 (218834)

SYMPTOMS

A SELECT statement, using ANSI-standard joins against a view defined using ANSI-standard joins and the UNION operator, may fail with this error:

Msg 4409, Level 20, State 1
The columns in the query definition and the view definition do not match.

The error occurs with SQL Server Service pack 5, build 6.50.416.

WORKAROUND

Here are three workarounds:

Change the query to use TSQL join syntax.

-or-
Change the view definition to use TSQL join syntax.

-or-
Remove the UNION operator from the view definition.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SQL Server version 6.5. This problem has been corrected in the Post Service Pack 5a Update for Microsoft SQL Server version 6.5. To install the Post Service Pack 5a Update, you must have either SQL Server 6.5 SP5 or SP5a installed.

For information about how to download and install the SQL Server 6.5 Service Pack 5a, refer to the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

197177 INF: How to Obtain SQL Server 6.5 Service Pack 5a

If you already have SQL Server 6.5 SP5 or SP5a installed, you can download the Post SP5a Update from the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

274036 INF: How to Obtain SQL Server 6.5 Post Service Pack 5a Update

For more information, contact your primary support provider.

MORE INFORMATION

The following scenario demonstrates this problem:

CREATE TABLE dbo.Assignment (
BUID int NULL 
)
GO

CREATE TABLE dbo.Project (
ProjectID int NULL ,
BUID int NULL
)
GO

CREATE TABLE dbo.ProjectActual (
ProjectID int NULL 
)
GO

CREATE VIEW V_UpdateProject AS
SELECT Project.ProjectID
FROM Project INNER JOIN Assignment ON Project.BUID = Assignment.BUID
UNION 
SELECT Project.ProjectID
FROM Project
GO

SELECT V_UpdateProject.ProjectID
FROM V_UpdateProject
INNER JOIN ProjectActual ON V_UpdateProject.ProjectID = ProjectActual.ProjectID 
go

The query fails with this error:

Msg 4409, Level 20, State 1
The columns in the query definition and the view definition do not match.