Mysql – Updating a column in Table A from a Column in Table B during an after insert Trigger

I assume you will value TableB first as it contains the order_no. In that case you need to use an update statement in your trigger instead of an insert statement:

SQL Fiddle

MySQL 5.6.6 m9 Schema Setup:

CREATE TABLE TableA(order_id INT, sku VARCHAR(10));

CREATE TABLE TableB(order_id INT, order_no VARCHAR(10),sku_copy VARCHAR(10));

GO
CREATE TRIGGER trigger_name
    AFTER INSERT ON TableA
    FOR EACH ROW BEGIN

    UPDATE TableB
    SET sku_copy = NEW.sku
    WHERE order_id = NEW.order_id;
END;
GO
INSERT INTO TableB(order_id, order_no)VALUES(1,'111');
INSERT INTO TableB(order_id, order_no)VALUES(2,'222');
INSERT INTO TableB(order_id, order_no)VALUES(3,'333');
GO
INSERT INTO TableA(order_id, sku)VALUES(1,'AAA'),(2,'BBB');

(The GO in this example is used as a batch separator and not send to MySQL.)

Query 1:

SELECT * FROM TableB;

Results:

| ORDER_ID | ORDER_NO | SKU_COPY |
----------------------------------
|        1 |      111 |      AAA |
|        2 |      222 |      BBB |
|        3 |      333 |   (null) |

If you also want to react to updates, just create an AFTER UPDATE trigger like this:

SQL Fiddle

MySQL 5.6.6 m9 Schema Setup:

CREATE TABLE TableA(order_id INT, sku VARCHAR(10));

CREATE TABLE TableB(order_id INT, order_no VARCHAR(10),sku_copy VARCHAR(10));

GO
CREATE TRIGGER TableA_AfterInsert
    AFTER INSERT ON TableA
    FOR EACH ROW BEGIN

    UPDATE TableB
    SET sku_copy = NEW.sku
    WHERE order_id = NEW.order_id;
END;
GO
INSERT INTO TableB(order_id, order_no)VALUES(1,'111');
INSERT INTO TableB(order_id, order_no)VALUES(2,'222');
INSERT INTO TableB(order_id, order_no)VALUES(3,'333');
GO
INSERT INTO TableA(order_id, sku)VALUES(1,'AAA'),(2,'BBB');
GO
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
GO
CREATE TRIGGER TableA_AfterUpdate
    AFTER UPDATE ON TableA
    FOR EACH ROW BEGIN

    IF (OLD.sku != NEW.sku)
    THEN
      UPDATE TableB
      SET sku_copy = NEW.sku
      WHERE order_id = NEW.order_id;
    END IF;
END;
GO
UPDATE TableA
  SET sku = 'NEW'
WHERE order_id = 2;
GO

Query 1:

SELECT * FROM TableB;

Results:

| ORDER_ID | ORDER_NO | SKU_COPY |
----------------------------------
|        1 |      111 |      AAA |
|        2 |      222 |      NEW |
|        3 |      333 |   (null) |

In both cases the NEW and OLD virtual tables refer to the table the trigger is defined on. NEW contains the new version of the row that was inserted or changed. OLD contains the pre-change version of the row. OLD is only defined in an update trigger as there is no old version on an insert.

Don't make your user transaction wait for the (hopefully!) successful completion of the Python script. Your entire transaction sits there and waits for this external process to run, try to send mail, etc. I doubt the e-mail really has to go out that instant - especially given you can't control any delays it has as it gets routed to the recipient's inbox anyway. Why not just run the process more frequently, if timing is so important?

Please give this tip a look-through.

If you really, really, really want to do this the wrong way, you can just enable xp_cmdshell and fire away.

EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE;
GO
EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE;
GO

Now, assuming the user has access to xp_cmdshell and/or the SQL Server service account can see the folder where the python script is stored, you should be able to do this from within your trigger:

EXEC master..xp_cmdshell N'C:\Python27\python.exe C:\source\NotifyAgents.py';

As an aside, you should state in your question that you aware that this is a very bad thing^TM, but you are not concerned with that, for whatever reason. I still don't think you're going to get as real time as you expect, even if you do fire this from the trigger. Have you considered database mail instead of python?