Thread: Procedure for adding a column

Procedure for adding a column

From
david_shadovitz@xontech.com (David Shadovitz)
Date:
I need to add a column to a table.  This table holds several thousand
records, has several indexes, and serves as the parent table to a few
child tables.

When I've done this in the past, it has taken quite a long time for
the ALTER TABLE command to complete.

So, what is the correct procedure for adding a column?  Drop the
indexes, add the column, and recreate the indexes?

Thanks.
-David

Re: Procedure for adding a column

From
Ron Johnson
Date:
On Thu, 2003-10-09 at 11:05, David Shadovitz wrote:
> I need to add a column to a table.  This table holds several thousand
> records, has several indexes, and serves as the parent table to a few
> child tables.
>
> When I've done this in the past, it has taken quite a long time for
> the ALTER TABLE command to complete.
>
> So, what is the correct procedure for adding a column?  Drop the
> indexes, add the column, and recreate the indexes?

Can you be more explicit about "quite a long time".

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Johnson, Jr. ron.l.johnson@cox.net
Jefferson, LA USA

"Whatever may be the moral ambiguities of the so-called demoratic
nations and however serious may be their failure to conform
perfectly to their democratic ideals, it is sheer moral
perversity to equate the inconsistencies of a democratic
civilization with the brutalities which modern tyrannical states
practice."
Reinhold Nieburhr, ca. 1940


Re: Procedure for adding a column

From
david_shadovitz@xontech.com (David Shadovitz)
Date:
By "quite a long time" I meant at least a few hours.
-David

ron.l.johnson@cox.net (Ron Johnson) wrote in message news:<1065896503.24193.53.camel@haggis>...
> On Thu, 2003-10-09 at 11:05, David Shadovitz wrote:
> > I need to add a column to a table.  This table holds several thousand
> > records, has several indexes, and serves as the parent table to a few
> > child tables.
> >
> > When I've done this in the past, it has taken quite a long time for
> > the ALTER TABLE command to complete.
> >
> > So, what is the correct procedure for adding a column?  Drop the
> > indexes, add the column, and recreate the indexes?
>
> Can you be more explicit about "quite a long time".
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Ron Johnson, Jr. ron.l.johnson@cox.net
> Jefferson, LA USA