Alter column's default value

Question

Hi

I have a table which has a column 'CompanyID int not null' and its default value is set to 10. Now I want to write a query which will alter this default value to 1. How can can I do it?

Any help will be appreciated. I am using SQL server 2000.

Answer 1

ALTER TABLE tablename ALTER COLUMN CompanyID SET DEFAULT 1;

Answer 2

First, find out the name of the 'constraint' on the field which is used to set the default. You can do this by running this query:

EXEC sp_helpconstraint 'MyTable'

Then, you can just drop and re-add the constraint.

ALTER TABLE dbo.MyTable
DROP CONSTRAINT def_MyTable_CompanyID
GO

ALTER TABLE dbo.MyTable
ADD CONSTRAINT def_MyTable_CompanyID DEFAULT (1) FOR CompanyID
GO

Answer 3

I think the best you can do is drop the constraint and create it again:

alter table dbo.yourTable
drop constraint default_value_name_constraint
go
alter table dbo.yourTable
add constraint default_value_name_constraint default YourValue for ColumnName
go

Answer 4

I have the same problem:

ALTER TABLE MyTable ALTER COLUMN MyColumn SET DEFAULT MyDefault

does not work for me on SQL Server 2008. I got the same error:

'Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'SET'.'

Should I drop all constraints on this table before adding again?

Vedran