Q7.4: How to pad with leading zeros an int or smallint.

By example:

declare @Integer        int

/* Good for positive numbers only. */
select @Integer = 1000

select "Positives Only" =
       right( replicate("0", 12) + convert(varchar, @Integer), 12)

/* Good for positive and negative numbers. */
select @Integer = -1000

select "Both Signs" =
       substring( "- +", (sign(@Integer) + 2), 1) +
       right( replicate("0", 12) + convert(varchar, abs(@Integer)), 12)

select @Integer = 1000

select "Both Signs" =
       substring( "- +", (sign(@Integer) + 2), 1) +
       right( replicate("0", 12) + convert(varchar, abs(@Integer)), 12)

go

Produces the following results:

 Positives Only
 --------------
 000000001000

 Both Signs
 -------------
 -000000001000

 Both Signs
 -------------
 +000000001000