Rename a column in mysql table without having to repeat its type definition

Question

Is it possible to rename a column in MySQL without having to repeat its type definition?

Please without having to hack into information_schema.

Answer 1

In my case I wanted to change all the columnNames from "id_something" to "idSomething" then to be able to load data to my C# object faster and easily. I was looking for a script to do that and it looks impossible to find :( Finally I did it by myself in C# Here you have the main functions that I used:

I wish it will be usefull for everybody!

    public bool columnesRename(string oldName, string newName, string dataBase, string dataTable)
    {
        bool res = true;
        string definicio = columnaDefinicioGet(oldName, dataBase, dataTable);
        cmd.CommandText = String.Format("alter table {0} change {1} {2} {3} ", dataTable, oldName, newName, definicio);
        Debug.WriteLine(String.Format("canviant taula {0}: {1} per {2}", dataTable, oldName, newName));
        Debug.WriteLine(cmd.CommandText);
        Debug.WriteLine(cmd.ExecuteNonQuery());
        return res;
    }

    public string columnaDefinicioGet(string columna, string dataBase, string dataTable)
    {
        string definicio = "";
        cmd.CommandText = String.Format
        (
            @"select column_type, is_nullable, extra, column_default from information_schema.columns where table_schema = '{0}' and table_name = '{1}' and column_name = '{2}'"
            , dataBase, dataTable, columna

        );
        MySqlDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
        dr.Read();
        string nulONo = (dr[1].ToString() == "NO") ? "NOT NULL" : "NULL";
        string valorDefault = (dr[3].ToString() == "NULL" || dr[3].ToString() == "") ? dr[3].ToString() : "DEFAULT '" + dr[3].ToString() + "'";

        definicio = String.Format("{0} {1} {2} {3}", dr[0], nulONo, dr[2], valorDefault);
        dr.Close();
        return definicio;
    }