Types of DML Triggers

AFTER triggers are executed after the action of the INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement is performed. Specifying AFTER is the same as specifying FOR, which is the only option available in earlier versions of Microsoft SQL Server. AFTER triggers can be specified only on tables.

INSTEAD OF triggers are executed in place of the usual triggering action. INSTEAD OF triggers can also be defined on views with one or more base tables, where they can extend the types of updates a view can support.

For more information about AFTER and INSTEAD OF triggers, see DML Trigger Planning Guidelines.

A CLR Trigger can be either an AFTER or INSTEAD OF trigger. A CLR trigger can also be a DDL trigger. Instead of executing a Transact-SQL stored procedure, a CLR trigger executes one or more methods written in managed code that are members of an assembly created in the .NET Framework and uploaded in SQL Server. For more information, see Programming CLR Triggers.