Code Mode

One thing I find quite annoying in Visual Studio is when I try to modify an existing database table and get the following error dialog that prevents me from saving:

“You cannot save changes that would result in one or more tables being re-created”

So, what the heck is up with that? This seems to appear when you move columns around or change the “Allow Nulls” setting. I know I could do this in earlier version of Visual Studio so why can’t I do it anymore? Yes, I know I’m changing the table structure fundamentally but I know what I’m doing and it should be safe to do it – just let me save please!

Well, the wall of text in the dialog actually tells you what to do. You have to enable this in the VS options. For some reason this is disabled by default and my guess is that it is to prevent people who have no clue what they are doing from destroying the database schema…

Anyway here is where you find the option that you should disable. It is called “Prevent saving changes that require table re-creation”:

Does this mean that you entire table data will be erased when you make a change? No, certainly not! All it means is that your data will be copied to a temporary table and then copied back when the table has been altered. I guess this is how it has always worked but before you never had to bother about it – it just worked.

Well, thanks to this little option it now works again!