I imported a database with some data to compare with another database.
The target database has collation Latin1_General_CI_AS
and the source database has SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
.
I did change the collation of the source database in general to Latin1_General_CI_AS
using the SQL Server Management Studio. But the tables and columns inside remains with the old collation.
I know that I can change a column using:
ALTER TABLE [table]
ALTER COLUMN [column] VARCHAR(100) COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS
But I have to do this for all tables and all columns inside.
Before I know start to write a stored procedure that reads all tables and inside all column of type varchar
and change them in a table and column cursor loop...
Does anyone know an easier way or is the only way to do this with a script running through all tables in a procedure?
As I did not find a proper way I wrote a script to do it and I'm sharing it here for those who need it. The script runs through all user tables and collects the columns. If the column type is any char type then it tries to convert it to the given collation.
Columns has to be index and constraint free for this to work.
If someone still has a better solution to this please post it!
DECLARE @collate nvarchar(100);
DECLARE @table nvarchar(255);
DECLARE @column_name nvarchar(255);
DECLARE @column_id int;
DECLARE @data_type nvarchar(255);
DECLARE @max_length int;
DECLARE @row_id int;
DECLARE @sql nvarchar(max);
DECLARE @sql_column nvarchar(max);
SET @collate = 'Latin1_General_CI_AS';
DECLARE local_table_cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT [name]
FROM sysobjects
WHERE OBJECTPROPERTY(id, N'IsUserTable') = 1
OPEN local_table_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM local_table_cursor
INTO @table
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
DECLARE local_change_cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY c.column_id) AS row_id
, c.name column_name
, t.Name data_type
, c.max_length
, c.column_id
FROM sys.columns c
JOIN sys.types t ON c.system_type_id = t.system_type_id
LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.index_columns ic ON ic.object_id = c.object_id AND ic.column_id = c.column_id
LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.indexes i ON ic.object_id = i.object_id AND ic.index_id = i.index_id
WHERE c.object_id = OBJECT_ID(@table)
ORDER BY c.column_id
OPEN local_change_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM local_change_cursor
INTO @row_id, @column_name, @data_type, @max_length, @column_id
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
IF (@max_length = -1) OR (@max_length > 4000) SET @max_length = 4000;
IF (@data_type LIKE '%char%')
BEGIN TRY
SET @sql = 'ALTER TABLE ' + @table + ' ALTER COLUMN ' + @column_name + ' ' + @data_type + '(' + CAST(@max_length AS nvarchar(100)) + ') COLLATE ' + @collate
PRINT @sql
EXEC sp_executesql @sql
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
PRINT 'ERROR: Some index or constraint rely on the column' + @column_name + '. No conversion possible.'
PRINT @sql
END CATCH
FETCH NEXT FROM local_change_cursor
INTO @row_id, @column_name, @data_type, @max_length, @column_id
END
CLOSE local_change_cursor
DEALLOCATE local_change_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM local_table_cursor
INTO @table
END
CLOSE local_table_cursor
DEALLOCATE local_table_cursor
GO