How do I make a column not nullable

This is what I would like to do...

1. Alter Table Status
Add ConsiderOpenFlag int null

2. UPDATE values...

3. Alter Table Status
Alter ConsiderOpenFlag int not null

Steps 1 and 2 are easy. What I cannot figure out is step three.

I don't want to have a default on that column, though I wouldn't mind adding it and then dropping it later if it would help.

Jonathan

The correct syntax is:

ALTER TABLE Status ALTER COLUMN ConsiderOpenFlag int not null

Best is probably to add the column as not null with default and then drop the default later. If there are large number of rows in the table then you may want to go with the UPDATE method and perform the UPDATE in batches to reduce the logging / locking resources.

sql