Adding an identity to an existing column

Question

I need to change the primary key of a table to an identity column, and there\'s already a number of rows in table.

I\'ve got a script to clean up the IDs to ensure

Answer 1

Simple explanation

Rename the existing column using sp_RENAME

EXEC sp_RENAME 'Table_Name.Existing_ColumnName' , 'New_ColumnName', 'COLUMN'

Example for Rename :

The existing column UserID is renamed as OldUserID

EXEC sp_RENAME 'AdminUsers.UserID' , 'OldUserID', 'COLUMN'

Then add a new column using alter query to set as primary key and identity value

ALTER TABLE TableName ADD Old_ColumnName INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY(1,1)

Example for Set Primary key

The new created column name is UserID

ALTER TABLE Users ADD UserID INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY(1,1)

then Drop the Renamed Column

ALTER TABLE Table_Name DROP COLUMN Renamed_ColumnName

Example for Drop renamed column

ALTER TABLE Users DROP COLUMN OldUserID

Now we've adding a primarykey and identity to the existing column on the table.