INSERT VALUES WHERE NOT EXISTS

You could do this using an IF statement:

IF NOT EXISTS 
    (   SELECT  1
        FROM    tblSoftwareTitles 
        WHERE   Softwarename = @SoftwareName 
        AND     SoftwareSystemType = @Softwaretype
    )
    BEGIN
        INSERT tblSoftwareTitles (SoftwareName, SoftwareSystemType) 
        VALUES (@SoftwareName, @SoftwareType) 
    END;

You could do it without IF using SELECT

INSERT  tblSoftwareTitles (SoftwareName, SoftwareSystemType) 
SELECT  @SoftwareName,@SoftwareType
WHERE   NOT EXISTS 
        (   SELECT  1
            FROM    tblSoftwareTitles 
            WHERE   Softwarename = @SoftwareName 
            AND     SoftwareSystemType = @Softwaretype
        );

Both methods are susceptible to a race condition, so while I would still use one of the above to insert, but you can safeguard duplicate inserts with a unique constraint:

CREATE UNIQUE NONCLUSTERED INDEX UQ_tblSoftwareTitles_Softwarename_SoftwareSystemType
    ON tblSoftwareTitles (SoftwareName, SoftwareSystemType);

Example on SQL-Fiddle


ADDENDUM

In SQL Server 2008 or later you can use MERGE with HOLDLOCK to remove the chance of a race condition (which is still not a substitute for a unique constraint).

MERGE tblSoftwareTitles WITH (HOLDLOCK) AS t
USING (VALUES (@SoftwareName, @SoftwareType)) AS s (SoftwareName, SoftwareSystemType) 
    ON s.Softwarename = t.SoftwareName 
    AND s.SoftwareSystemType = t.SoftwareSystemType
WHEN NOT MATCHED BY TARGET THEN 
    INSERT (SoftwareName, SoftwareSystemType) 
    VALUES (s.SoftwareName, s.SoftwareSystemType);

Example of Merge on SQL Fiddle

Leave a Comment