I know you can go into the design view of a table in SQL Server Management Studios and reorder columns as they appear in the design view, however this isn't possible with SQL Azure as the option is disabled. Is there a way to modify SQL Azure tables so that you can reorder their columns as they appear in the design view?
I have been running a number of database upgrades over the last few months to support new requirements and would like to reorder the way the columns appear in design view so they're easier to read, i.e. so they start with a primary key, followed by foreign keys, then normal columns and end with the added by, modified by fields. Its purely to make the tables more readable as I manage them over time.
Just run a script against the table. Its a bit of pseudocode but you should get the idea.
CREATE TABLE TableWithDesiredOrder(PK,FK1,FK2,COL1,COL2)
INSERT INTO TableWithDesiredOrder(PK,FK1,FK2,COL1,COL2....)
SELECT PK,FK1,FK2,COL1,COL2.... FROM OriginalTable
DROP TABLE OriginalTable
Finally Rename the table
sp_Rename TableWithDesiredOrder, OriginalTable
Just another option: I use SQL Delta to propagate my db changes from dev db up to Azure db. So in this case, I just change the col order locally using SSMS GUI, and SQL Delta will do the createnew>copytonew>dropold for me, along with my other local changes. (In Project Options, I set Preserve Column Order=Yes.)
I experienced the same with Azure SQL Database, basically my view changes with ALTER were not taken when did a SELECT * from the view, or the column headers were mixed with the column values.
In order to fix it I dropped the view and re-created it again. That worked.
Related
I'm new to DBA and not much of a SQL person, so be gentle please.
I'd like to restructure a database that requires adding new columns, tables, and relationships followed by removing old tables, columns, and relationships. A three step process seems to be in order.
Change schema to add new stuff
Run SSIS to hook up new data using some of the old data.
Change schema to drop old stuff.
I'm using a SQL database Project in VS 2015 to maintain the schema, and using schema compare to update the DB schema. I'd like to make it repeatable or automatic, if possible, so I can test it out on a non-production database to get the flow right: change schema->run ETL->change schema. Is there a way to apply schema changes from within ETL or does this require manual operations? Is there a way to store two schemas into files and then apply them, other than VS publish or compare?
There is a SQL TASK that allows you to do what you want to do. You want to alter table (to add columns), move the data from old columns to new columns, then drop the old columns.
1) Alter table tableA add column ..
2) update table tableA set ..
3) alter table tableA drop column...
Please test your code carefully before running it.
It worked! Here is the example of the ETL. Note that it's important to set DelayValidation to true for the data flows and to disable ValidateExternalMetadata for some of the operations within the data flows because the database is not static.
sometimes i face the following case in my database design,, i wanna to know what is the best practice to handle this case:::
for example i have a specific table and after a while ,, when the database in operation and some real data are already entered.. i need to add some required fields (that supposed not to accept null)..
what is the best practice in this situation..
make the field accept null as (some data already entered in the table ,, and scarify the important constraint )and try to force the user to enter this field through some validation in the code..
truncate all the entered data and reentered them again (tedious work)..
any other suggestions about this issue...
It depends on requirements. If the data to populate existing rows for the new column isn't available immediately then I would generally prefer to create a new table and just populate new rows when the data exists. If and when you have all the data for every row then put the new column into the original table.
If possible i would set a default value for the new column.
e.g. For Varchar
alter table table_name
add column_name varchar(10) not null
constraint column_name_default default ('Test')
After you have updated you could then drop the default
alter table table_name
drop constraint column_name_default
A lot will come down to your requirements.
It depends on your application, your database scheme, your entities.
The best way to go about it is to truncate the data and re - enter it again, but it need not be too tedious an item. Temporary tables and table variables could assist a great deal with this issue. A simple procedure comes to mind to go about it:
In SQL Server Management Studio, Right - click on the table you wish to modify and select Script Table As > CREATE To > New Query Editor Window.
Add a # in front of the table name in the CREATE statement.
Move all records into the temporary table, using something to the effect of:
INSERT INTO #temp SELECT * FROM original
Then run the script to keep all your records into the temporary table.
Truncate your original table, and make any changes necessary.
Right - click on the table and select Script Table As > INSERT To > Clipboard, paste it into your query editor window and modify it to read records from the temporary table, using INSERT .. SELECT.
That's it. Admittedly not quite straightforward, but a well - kept database is almost always worth a slight hassle.
Is it possible to copy a table (with definition, constraints, identity) to a new table?
Generate a CREATE script based on the table
Modify the script to create a different table name
Perform an INSERT from selecting everything from the source table
No, not really, you have to script it out, then change the names
you can do this
select * into NewTable
FROM OldTable
WHERE 1 =2 --if you only want the table without data
but it won't copy any constraints
It's not the most elegant solution, but you could use a tool like the free Database Publishing Wizard from Microsoft.
It creates an SQL script of the table definition including data and including indexes and stuff. But you would have to alter the script manually to change the table name...
Another possibility:
I just found this old answer on SO.
This script is an example to script the constraints of all tables, but you can easily change it to select only the constraints of "your" table.
So, you could do the following:
Create the new table with data like SQLMenace said (select * into NewTable from OldTable)
Add constraints, indexes and stuff by changing this SQL script
Whenever I want to add a column to a table it usually goes something like this:
Fire up SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
Select "Design" on the table I want to add the column to
Add the new column to the table
Save
Get an error that SSMS can't save because it would need to drop the table (and it can't because the the table has foreign keys on it).
Get frustrated that I forgot that this is something that SSMS can't do
Construct an alter table command by hand to add the column
Move on with life.
This time I am adding a step between numbers 6 and 7. I thought I would ask why SSMS can't make a simple alter table statement to add my new column in.
(In case it matters I am running SSMS 2008 against SQL Server 2008.)
Alternatively, you can go to Tools-->Options-->Designers-->Table and Database Designers and uncheck "Prevent saving changes that require table re-creation"
Problem solved.
Here's an explanation from MSDN: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/956176.
When you change a table so that you
alter the metadata structure of the
table, and then you save the table,
the table must be re-created based on
these changes.
I have a database called foo and a database called bar. I have a table in foo called tblFoobar that I want to move (data and all) to database bar from database foo. What is the SQL statement to do this?
SQL Server Management Studio's "Import Data" task (right-click on the DB name, then tasks) will do most of this for you. Run it from the database you want to copy the data into.
If the tables don't exist it will create them for you, but you'll probably have to recreate any indexes and such. If the tables do exist, it will append the new data by default but you can adjust that (edit mappings) so it will delete all existing data.
I use this all the time and it works fairly well.
On SQL Server? and on the same database server? Use three part naming.
INSERT INTO bar..tblFoobar( *fieldlist* )
SELECT *fieldlist* FROM foo..tblFoobar
This just moves the data. If you want to move the table definition (and other attributes such as permissions and indexes), you'll have to do something else.
This should work:
SELECT *
INTO DestinationDB..MyDestinationTable
FROM SourceDB..MySourceTable
It will not copy constraints, defaults or indexes. The table created will not have a clustered index.
Alternatively you could:
INSERT INTO DestinationDB..MyDestinationTable
SELECT * FROM SourceDB..MySourceTable
If your destination table exists and is empty.
If it’s one table only then all you need to do is
Script table definition
Create new table in another database
Update rules, indexes, permissions and such
Import data (several insert into examples are already shown above)
One thing you’ll have to consider is other updates such as migrating other objects in the future. Note that your source and destination tables do not have the same name. This means that you’ll also have to make changes if you dependent objects such as views, stored procedures and other.
Whit one or several objects you can go manually w/o any issues. However, when there are more than just a few updates 3rd party comparison tools come in very handy. Right now I’m using ApexSQL Diff for schema migrations but you can’t go wrong with any other tool out there.
Script the create table in management studio, run that script in bar to create the table. (Right click table in object explorer, script table as, create to...)
INSERT bar.[schema].table SELECT * FROM foo.[schema].table
You can also use the Generate SQL Server Scripts Wizard to help guide the creation of SQL script's that can do the following:
copy the table schema
any constraints (identity, default values, etc)
data within the table
and many other options if needed
Good example workflow for SQL Server 2008 with screen shots shown here.
You may go with this way: ( a general example )
insert into QualityAssuranceDB.dbo.Customers (columnA, ColumnB)
Select columnA, columnB from DeveloperDB.dbo.Customers
Also if you need to generate the column names as well to put in insert clause, use:
select (name + ',') as TableColumns from sys.columns
where object_id = object_id('YourTableName')
Copy the result and paste into query window to represent your table column names and even this will exclude the identity column as well:
select (name + ',') as TableColumns from sys.columns
where object_id = object_id('YourTableName') and is_identity = 0
Remember the script to copy rows will work if the databases belongs to the same location.
You can Try This.
select * into <Destination_table> from <Servername>.<DatabaseName>.dbo.<sourceTable>
Server name is optional if both DB is in same server.
I give you three options:
If they are two databases on the same instance do:
SELECT * INTO My_New_Table FROM [HumanResources].[Department];
If they are two databases on different servers and you have linked servers do:
SELECT * INTO My_New_Table FROM [ServerName].[AdventureWorks2012].[HumanResources].[Department];
If they are two databases on different servers and you don't have linked servers do:
SELECT * INTO My_New_Table
FROM OPENROWSET('SQLNCLI', 'Server=My_Remote_Server;Trusted_Connection=yes;',
'SELECT * FROM AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.Department');