Sql-server – Define a proper index for a table

Not sure that this is simpler than a cursor solution, but here is what I would do:

Before we begin we need a few tables in a SQL Fiddle:

MS SQL Server 2012 Schema Setup

CREATE TABLE dbo.tbl1(c1 INT, c2 INT, c3 INT);
CREATE TABLE dbo.tbl2(c4 INT, c5 INT, c6 INT);
CREATE TABLE dbo.tbl3(c7 INT, c8 INT, c9 INT);

First we need the list of all user tables. For that we can use the sys.tables catalog view. The OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME() function gets us the schema name, the OBJECT_NAME() function the table name. The QUOTENAME() function quotes the names correctly, in case some of those contain special characters, key words or spaces. (In this example the use of OBJECT_NAME() is not strictly necessary as sys.tables has a name column, but I left it in as you can use this pattern with any catalog view that has an object_id column.)

Query 1:

SELECT 
  QUOTENAME(OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(T.object_id))+'.'+
  QUOTENAME(OBJECT_NAME(T.object_id)) AS quoted_table_name,
  T.object_id
FROM sys.tables AS T;

Results:

| QUOTED_TABLE_NAME | OBJECT_ID |
|-------------------|-----------|
|      [dbo].[tbl1] | 245575913 |
|      [dbo].[tbl2] | 261575970 |
|      [dbo].[tbl3] | 277576027 |

The next step is to get the list of column names, again quoted. We can use the sys.columns catalog view for that.

Query 2:

SELECT C.name,C.column_id 
  FROM sys.columns AS C
 WHERE C.object_id = OBJECT_ID('dbo.tbl1');

Results:

| NAME | COLUMN_ID |
|------|-----------|
|   c1 |         1 |
|   c2 |         2 |
|   c3 |         3 |

The next hurdle is to get those columns in a comma separated list. There is no string concatenation aggregate function build in so we have to use a trick:

Query 3:

SELECT STUFF((
  SELECT ','+QUOTENAME(name)
    FROM sys.columns AS C
   WHERE C.object_id = OBJECT_ID('dbo.tbl1')
   ORDER BY C.column_id
     FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE
  ).value('.','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),1,1,'') AS clomun_list;

Results:

|    CLOMUN_LIST |
|----------------|
| [c1],[c2],[c3] |

With that all pieces are in place and we just have to put them all together:

Query 4:

SELECT 'SELECT ' +
       CL.column_list +
       ' FROM ' +
       QUOTENAME(OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(T.object_id)) + '.' +
       QUOTENAME(OBJECT_NAME(T.object_id)) +
       ';' AS select_statement
FROM sys.tables AS T
CROSS APPLY (
  SELECT STUFF((
    SELECT ','+QUOTENAME(name)
      FROM sys.columns AS C
     WHERE C.object_id = T.object_id
     ORDER BY C.column_id
       FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE
    ).value('.','NVARCHAR(MAX)'),1,1,'') AS column_list
  )CL;

Results:

|                         SELECT_STATEMENT |
|------------------------------------------|
| SELECT [c1],[c2],[c3] FROM [dbo].[tbl1]; |
| SELECT [c4],[c5],[c6] FROM [dbo].[tbl2]; |
| SELECT [c7],[c8],[c9] FROM [dbo].[tbl3]; |

This example will work in SQL 2005 and later, assuming you are on the latest service pack. There is no clean solution to achieve this with SQL Server 2000. In that case you need to go back to your cursor solution.

First of all, the Table Designer is not the wisest of all software and probably does not choose the approach to change the table that you would expect. The designer usually creates a new table, moves the data, then drops the original table. However, based on your error the designer also may not be FILESTREAM savvy.

But if you try it yourself through ALTER commands, you will see that SQL Server cannot alter a column to remove the rowguidcol setting. See what happens:

ALTER TABLE TABLEName ALTER COLUMN Col1 uniqueidentifier DROP ROWGUIDCOL;

Gives the error: Cannot alter column 'Col1' because it is 'ROWGUIDCOL'.

Acknowledgements to Martin Smith. I overlooked the ROWGUIDCOL operators, which are:

ALTER TABLE MyTable ALTER COLUMN Col1 DROP ROWGUIDCOL; 
ALTER TABLE MyTable ALTER COLUMN Col2 ADD ROWGUIDCOL;

However, because of the involvement of the FILESTREAM the DROP ROWGUIDCOL command cannot be processed.

So, yes, you need to create a new table and move the data.