Add a column if it doesn't exist to all tables?

Question

I\'m using SQL Server 2005/2008. I need to add a column to a table if it does not yet exist. This will apply to all tables in a given database. I hoped I was close, but I\'m h

Answer 1

You'll need to mix in a bit of dynamic SQL. This should work:

EXEC sp_MSforeachtable '
    declare @tblname varchar(255);
    SET @tblname =  PARSENAME("?",1);
    declare @sql nvarchar(1000);

    if not exists (select column_name from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.columns 
                   where table_name = @tblname and column_name = ''CreatedOn'') 
    begin
        set @sql = N''ALTER TABLE '' +  @tblname + N'' ADD CreatedOn datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT getdate();''
        exec sp_executesql @sql
    end
'