SQL Server Management Studio - Adding/Moving Columns require drop and re-create?

Question

Why do I get message that the table needs to dropped and re-created when I add/move columns? I believe this happens after adding foreign key constraints.

What can I do t

Answer 1

SQL Server (and any other RDBMS, really) doesn't have any notion of "column order" - e.g. if you move columns around, the only way to achieve that new table structure is be issuing a new CREATE TABLE statement. You cannot order your columns any other way - nor should you, really, since in the relational theory, the order of the columns in a tuple is irrelevant.

So the only thing SQL Server Management Studio can do (and has done all along) is:

• rename the old table
• create the new table in your new layout you wish to have
• copy the data over from the old table
• drop the old table

The only way to get around this is:

• not reordering any columns - only add new columns at the end of your table
• use ALTER TABLE SQL statements instead of the interactive table designer for your work