I have a column containing items that can be sorted by the user:
DOC_ID DOC_Order DOC_Name
1 1 aaa
2 3 bbb
3 2 ccc
I'm trying to figure out a way to properly initialize DOC_Order when the entry is created. A good value would either be the corresponding DO-CID (since it is autoassigned), or MAX(DOC-ORDER) + 1
After a bit of googling I saw it was possible to assign a scalar function's return to the default column.
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[NEWDOC_Order]
(
)
RETURNS int
AS
BEGIN
RETURN (SELECT MAX(DOC_ORDER) + 1 FROM DOC_Documents)
END
But each of my tries using MS SQL Management studio ended in a "Error validating the default for column 'DOC_Order'" message.
Any idea of what the exact SQL syntax to assign a function to DEFAULT is?
The syntax to add a default like that would be
alter table DOC_Order
add constraint
df_DOC_Order
default([dbo].[NEWDOC_Order]())
for DOC_Order
Also, you might want to alter your function to handle when DOC_Order is null
Create FUNCTION [dbo].[NEWDOC_Order]
(
)
RETURNS int
AS
BEGIN
RETURN (SELECT ISNULL(MAX(DOC_ORDER),0) + 1 FROM DOC_Documents)
END
IF someone wants to do it using the interface, typing
[dbo].[NEWDOC_Order]()
does the trick. You apparently need all brackets or it will reject your input.
Here's screen shots to do it through SQL Server Management Studio GUI:
- Right click on table and select
Design
- Select DOC_Order column (or other column needing default) in the table's design view to see
properties
- Update
Default Value or Binding
with function name with brackets
like so:
Note: as Luk stated, all brackets are needed including the schema (dbo in this case).