debugging - Trigger cannot be created in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio

Question

I'm trying to run this trigger that is suppose to update a row in my customers table after a row is updated in the same table.

CREATE TRIGGER [project].updateFreeShipping
ON [project].[customers]
AFTER UPDATE
AS
BEGIN
    UPDATE [project].[customers]
    SET NextShippingIsFree = 1
    WHERE Email IN (SELECT TOP 5 Email FROM dbo.Top10byMoney)
END

It throws the following error:

Msg 8197, Level 16, State 4, Procedure updateFreeShipping, Line 2
The object 'project.customers' does not exist or is invalid for this operation

Screenshot:

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65645809/trigger-cannot-be-created-in-microsoft-sql-server-management-studio

Answer 1

This is a clear and classical error that is raised when you execute a statement in another database that the one you usually use. Very often, beginners does not verify the contexteual database and try to create objets in master which is the default one in SSMS. Remember that SQL Server is a multi-database multi-schema RDBMS and does not require any DBlink to execute SQL scripts from one DB to another... So make a great attention to which database you contextually use !

To avoid such trouble, begin your script with the USE statement, like :

USE MyDatabase;
GO
CREATE TRIGGER [project].updateFreeShipping
ON [project].[customers]
AFTER UPDATE
AS
...

I agree to all others comments about the logic of your code which has no sense...