Re: simple ALTER TABLE question
From: Gail Erickson [MS] (gaile_at_online.microsoft.com)
Date: 01/25/05
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Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 11:17:10 -0800
>Thus, a link to the page where it discusses whether
>you type brackets or braces, etc. would be helpful, in addition to the
>examples. Had I seen that today, I would not have wondered if I put
>brackets around "column" in my syntax just because it was in the
>documentation. Thanks!
Good suggestion. I'll see what I can do.
-- Gail Erickson [MS] SQL Server Documentation Team This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights "AFN" <newsDELETETHECAPSgroupaccount@DELETETHISyahoo.com> wrote in message news:2hiJd.204$e11.170@twister.socal.rr.com... > > "Gail Erickson [MS]" <gaile@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:%23DrQMLnAFHA.2076@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl... >> >I absolutely hate all the garbage syntax documentation that doesn't > contain >> > examples. All the syntax docs show brackets and braces and I don't >> > know >> > which ones I leave out when entering text for real. >> >> I agree the ALTER TABLE syntax can be particularly daunting with its many >> options. You might find the topic "Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions" >> helpful in figuring out what all the brackets and braces mean. Also, > you'll >> be happy to hear that we're working hard to add more examples to the > syntax >> topics in SQL Server 2005. For example in the ALTER TABLE topic in SQL >> Server 2000, there are 8 examples. In that same topic in SQL Server >> 2005, >> there are 15. >> -- >> Gail Erickson [MS] >> SQL Server Documentation Team >> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no >> rights >> >> "AFN" <newsDELETETHECAPSgroupaccount@DELETETHISyahoo.com> wrote in >> message >> news:KVdJd.9$e11.0@twister.socal.rr.com... >> >I absolutely hate all the garbage syntax documentation that doesn't > contain >> > examples. All the syntax docs show brackets and braces and I don't >> > know >> > which ones I leave out when entering text for real. >> > >> > I just want to add a bit column to an existing table, setting it to 0 >> > by >> > default on existing/new records. >> > >> > I tried: >> > >> > ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN MyNewField BIT SET DEFAULT 0 >> > >> > but that doesn't work. I tried multiple variations with no luck. I > know >> > this is simple but it would be easier if the docs said when to uses >> > brackets/braces, versus not, and if they gave lots of examples. >> > >> > >> >> > > > It's nice to hear from someone involved in the documentation! In this > case, > the poblem was the brackets and braces and not knowing if I should type > them > or not. SQL is not particularly intuitive (I'm a .NET developer and > comfortable with syntax issues, but there's much less logic in the SQL > statements suggested in a single line in this thread) although I don't > blame > Microsoft for that :) Thus, a link to the page where it discusses > whether > you type brackets or braces, etc. would be helpful, in addition to the > examples. Had I seen that today, I would not have wondered if I put > brackets around "column" in my syntax just because it was in the > documentation. Thanks! > >
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