SQL Query to Add a New Column After an Existing Column in SQL Server 2005

Adding column between two other columns in SQL server

The simple answer is no. Is there a reason why column order is important to you?

SQL Server 2005: How to add a column to a table at the beginning of the table?

GUI method: in SQL Server Management Studio if you right click the table and choose "Design" you can then drag the column up to the top and hit save.

Note: Be aware that by doing this, SQL Server drops the table and creates it again. You won't lose your data though.

Add a new table column to specific ordinal position in Microsoft SQL Server

You have to create a temp table that mirrors the original table's schema but with the column order that you want, then copy the contents of the original to temp. Delete the original and rename the temp.

This is what SQL Management Studio does behind the scenes.

With a schema sync tool, you can generate these scripts automatically.

Add a column with a default value to an existing table in SQL Server

Syntax:

ALTER TABLE {TABLENAME} 
ADD {COLUMNNAME} {TYPE} {NULL|NOT NULL} 
CONSTRAINT {CONSTRAINT_NAME} DEFAULT {DEFAULT_VALUE}
WITH VALUES

Example:

ALTER TABLE SomeTable
        ADD SomeCol Bit NULL --Or NOT NULL.
 CONSTRAINT D_SomeTable_SomeCol --When Omitted a Default-Constraint Name is autogenerated.
    DEFAULT (0)--Optional Default-Constraint.
WITH VALUES --Add if Column is Nullable and you want the Default Value for Existing Records.

Notes:

Optional Constraint Name:

If you leave out CONSTRAINT D_SomeTable_SomeCol then SQL Server will autogenerate

    a Default-Contraint with a funny Name like: DF__SomeTa__SomeC__4FB7FEF6

Optional With-Values Statement:

The WITH VALUES is only needed when your Column is Nullable

    and you want the Default Value used for Existing Records.

If your Column is NOT NULL, then it will automatically use the Default Value

    for all Existing Records, whether you specify WITH VALUES or not.

How Inserts work with a Default-Constraint:

If you insert a Record into SomeTable and do not Specify SomeCol's value, then it will Default to 0.

If you insert a Record and Specify SomeCol's value as NULL (and your column allows nulls),

    then the Default-Constraint will not be used and NULL will be inserted as the Value.

Notes were based on everyone's great feedback below.

Special Thanks to:

    @Yatrix, @WalterStabosz, @YahooSerious, and @StackMan for their Comments.

How to add columns to a view in SQL Server 2005

You can use ALTER VIEW to achieve the result you are looking for.

This will just act as dropping the existing view and adding new columns from your new select statement. However, this is better than dropping your existing view and creating a new view because the Alter view will retain the permissions granted to users.

Uploading Data For A New Column In MSSQL

I know of two ways:

Edit the spreadsheet, create a formula like

="update mytable set mynewcolumn = " + A1 + " where " + B1 + " = primaryKeyColumn"

where A1 represents the first cell with data and B1 is the primary key value to the row that will be updated. Then drag the cell down by the lower right corner so the formula is repeated. Copy the text produced by the formula, paste into SQL Mgmt Studio and run.

Or, you can use MSSQL's import engine which allows you to select a spreadsheet as your datasource. From there you can map your column to the new column.

Add a column to a table, if it does not already exist

You can use a similar construct by using the sys.columns table io sys.objects.

IF NOT EXISTS (
  SELECT * 
  FROM   sys.columns 
  WHERE  object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[Person]') 
         AND name = 'ColumnName'
)

Adding an identity to an existing column

You can't alter the existing columns for identity.

You have 2 options,

1. Create a new table with identity & drop the existing table

2. Create a new column with identity & drop the existing column

Approach 1. (New table) Here you can retain the existing data values on the newly created identity column. Note that you will lose all data if 'if not exists' is not satisfied, so make sure you put the condition on the drop as well!

CREATE TABLE dbo.Tmp_Names
    (
      Id int NOT NULL
             IDENTITY(1, 1),
      Name varchar(50) NULL
    )
ON  [PRIMARY]
go

SET IDENTITY_INSERT dbo.Tmp_Names ON
go

IF EXISTS ( SELECT  *
            FROM    dbo.Names ) 
    INSERT  INTO dbo.Tmp_Names ( Id, Name )
            SELECT  Id,
                    Name
            FROM    dbo.Names TABLOCKX
go

SET IDENTITY_INSERT dbo.Tmp_Names OFF
go

DROP TABLE dbo.Names
go

Exec sp_rename 'Tmp_Names', 'Names'

Approach 2 (New column) You can’t retain the existing data values on the newly created identity column, The identity column will hold the sequence of number.

Alter Table Names
Add Id_new Int Identity(1, 1)
Go

Alter Table Names Drop Column ID
Go

Exec sp_rename 'Names.Id_new', 'ID', 'Column'

See the following Microsoft SQL Server Forum post for more details:

How to alter column to identity(1,1)

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