Question TRANSACTION over multiple ExecuteNonQuery() calls

[VentureFree]

Noob here. I've got a normalized database in SQL server comprised of about 7 separate tables. I'm needing to upsert (update if an entry exists, insert if it doesn't) into those tables. My (probably stupid) question is can I start and end a TRANSACTION in separate sql statements (that is to say multiple ExecuteNonQuery() calls) so that I can build each statement and run it before moving on to the next upsert, or do I need to build all of the individual sql statements and combine them into a single ';' delimited statement before running the single ExecuteNonQuery()?

Actually would it be considered more efficient, or maybe just safer, to go ahead and combine all the statements into one anyway?

 

[Hack]

My (probably stupid) question is can I start and end a TRANSACTION in separate sql statements (that is to say multiple ExecuteNonQuery() calls) so that I can build each statement and run it before moving on to the next upsert

In a word, Yes...

It would be exactly like entering two or three SELECT queries into Query Analyser and running them. They will execute in the order in which they are developed.