Question

I know you can go into the design view of a table in SQL Server Management Studios and reorder columns as they appear in the design view, however this isn’t possible with SQL Azure as the option is disabled. Is there a way to modify SQL Azure tables so that you can reorder their columns as they appear in the design view?

I have been running a number of database upgrades over the last few months to support new requirements and would like to reorder the way the columns appear in design view so they’re easier to read, i.e. so they start with a primary key, followed by foreign keys, then normal columns and end with the added by, modified by fields. Its purely to make the tables more readable as I manage them over time.

Answer 1

Just run a script against the table. Its a bit of pseudocode but you should get the idea.

CREATE TABLE TableWithDesiredOrder(PK,FK1,FK2,COL1,COL2)

INSERT INTO TableWithDesiredOrder(PK,FK1,FK2,COL1,COL2....)
SELECT PK,FK1,FK2,COL1,COL2.... FROM OriginalTable

DROP TABLE OriginalTable

Finally Rename the table

sp_Rename TableWithDesiredOrder, OriginalTable