I'm trying to assign rows in a table to a random variable entirely in Transact SQL (This is MS SQL Server 2000, sp3). I've got it working perfectly except I can't use a variable inside my subquery ...

Modifies a column's values in existing rows of a table or view. Restriction: You cannot use UPDATE on a table accessed via an engine that does not support UPDATE processing. You can update one or more ...

I'd like to know that a NULL is going to be inserted into a non-nullable field on one row via RAISEERROR, skip that row's update, and then allow the SQL statement to continue.