Creating Tables

To create a table, SQL Server uses the ANSI SQL standard CREATE TABLE syntax. SQL Server Management Studio provides a front-end, fill-in-the-blanks table designer that can sometimes make your job easier. Ultimately, the SQL syntax is always sent to SQL Server to create a table, no matter what interface you use. In this chapter, I’ll emphasize direct use of the data definition language (DDL) rather than discuss the graphical interface tools. You should keep all DDL commands in a script so you can run them easily at a later time to re-create the table. (Even if you use one of the friendly front-end tools, it’s critical that you be able to re-create the table later.) SQL Server Management Studio and other front-end tools can create ...

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