New columns appended to table i.e. not in designed order

DerekR

I noticed after using the deployment wizard that new columns that I had added to a table had been copied across OK but not in the deliberate order I had placed them in, in the original table.
This will have no material affect on functionality (unless someone sorts or groups by column number directly against the table) but for design reasons we group columns together according to their functionality. I'm sure most DB designers do this and I very much feel that your application should not be overriding this decision.

Regards

Derek Robinson
SQL Compare v 10.1.0.102

Eddie D

Hi Derek

Thank you for your forum post.

Have you tried setting the SQL Compare option "Force column order" in your SQL Compare project?

If the answer is no, can you please Edit Project ->Options tab ->Behavior section ->Enable the "Force column order". Hopefully this action will keep the column order you deliberately set.

Many Thanks
Eddie

DerekR

Thanks Eddie, that was it. Thanks for the speedy reply to this.
I'm very suprised that this option is unticked by default.
Personally, if I take the time to place a column in relation to its function and related columns then I want this metadata to be carried through by SQL-Compare. I can't think of a situation when I wouldn't.
Additionally, if I had code which used ordinal column numbers for sort or grouping criteria then SQL Compare would actually break the application by possibly returning the results in the wrong order and it would be very difficult to trace as it would be non-reproducible at source.
Please pass these comments on to the development team at RedGate.

Regards

Derek

Eddie D

Hi Derek,
Thank you for your reply.

I will feed back your comments onto the Development team.

However I believe this option is not enabled by default, as the "Force column order" will force a table rebuild to preserve any existing data in the target table.

By not having to force a table rebuild, will improve the performance of the deployment process.

Many Thanks
Eddie