On 01 Aug 2018, at 14:34, Simon White <simonwh...@dciphercomputing.com> wrote:
> 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. I'd like to second this and for just the same reasons. Something like: alter table add column if not exists my_new_col ...; I would find very helpful. -- Cheers -- Tim _______________________________________________ sqlite-users mailing list sqlite-users@mailinglists.sqlite.org http://mailinglists.sqlite.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sqlite-users
