How can I add a column with a default value to an existing table in SQL Server 2000 / SQL Server 2005?
The most basic version with two lines only
ALTER TABLE MyTable
ADD MyNewColumn INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
This can be done by the below code.
CREATE TABLE TestTable
(FirstCol INT NOT NULL)
GO
------------------------------
-- Option 1
------------------------------
-- Adding New Column
ALTER TABLE TestTable
ADD SecondCol INT
GO
-- Updating it with Default
UPDATE TestTable
SET SecondCol = 0
GO
-- Alter
ALTER TABLE TestTable
ALTER COLUMN SecondCol INT NOT NULL
GO
ALTER TABLE Protocols
ADD ProtocolTypeID int NOT NULL DEFAULT(1)
GO
The inclusion of the DEFAULT fills the column in existing rows with the default value, so the NOT NULL constraint is not violated.
Well, I now have some modification to my previous answer. I have noticed that none of the answers mentioned IF NOT EXISTS
. So I am going to provide a new solution of it as I have faced some problems altering the table.
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.columns WHERE table_name = 'TaskSheet' AND column_name = 'IsBilledToClient')
BEGIN
ALTER TABLE dbo.TaskSheet ADD
IsBilledToClient bit NOT NULL DEFAULT ((1))
END
GO
Here TaskSheet
is the particular table name and IsBilledToClient
is the new column which you are going to insert and 1
the default value. That means in the new column what will be the value of the existing rows, therefore one will be set automatically there. However, you can change as you wish with the respect of the column type like I have used BIT
, so I put in default value 1.
I suggest the above system, because I have faced a problem. So what is the problem? The problem is, if the IsBilledToClient
column does exists in the table table then if you execute only the portion of the code given below you will see an error in the SQL server Query builder. But if it does not exist then for the first time there will be no error when executing.
ALTER TABLE {TABLENAME}
ADD {COLUMNNAME} {TYPE} {NULL|NOT NULL}
CONSTRAINT {CONSTRAINT_NAME} DEFAULT {DEFAULT_VALUE}
[WITH VALUES]
First create a table with name student:
CREATE TABLE STUDENT (STUDENT_ID INT NOT NULL)
Add one column to it:
ALTER TABLE STUDENT
ADD STUDENT_NAME INT NOT NULL DEFAULT(0)
SELECT *
FROM STUDENT
The table is created and a column is added to an existing table with a default value.
SQL Server + Alter Table + Add Column + Default Value uniqueidentifier
ALTER TABLE Product
ADD ReferenceID uniqueidentifier not null
default (cast(cast(0 as binary) as uniqueidentifier))