Hi

I would like to suggest the addition of the "If not exists" to the Add Column feature of SQLite.  There are quite common situations where ensuring a column exists is important so that an update to remote devices will not fail but it is not so important that deprecated fields be removed.  This is often the case with backward compatibility.  New columns will not affect old systems but allows all remote devices running older software to be updated using the same process as new devices.  Once the hardware reaches end of life it will be replaced and the new hardware will use the new columns.  So having the ability to Alter the table with a series of Add Column commands ensures that the new records included in the update are added to the table.  These is especially true for limited remote devices where full database management is not feasible.  In this scenario all that is required is that the required columns exist.  So to be able to alter the table with a standard SQL command is the most efficient method on such devices.  Developing scripts to drop and re-create and re-load tables on hundreds of remote devices greatly increases the risk of failures. Having the "if not exists" would remove all of this potential complexity and allow a quick and easy method to ensure the column exists in the table.

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Regards,
Simon White
dCipher Computing
705-500-0191

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