Can I add a not null column without DEFAULT value

Question

Can I add a column which is I specify as NOT NULL,I don\'t want to specify the DEFAULT value but MS-SQL 2005 says:

ALTER TABLE only allows columns to

Answer 1

@Damien_The_Unbeliever's comment , Is it adding computed column? Neither question nor answer implied anything like that. In case of computed column the error states:

"Only UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY constraints can be created on computed columns, while CHECK, FOREIGN KEY, and NOT NULL constraints require that computed columns be persisted"

OK, if to continue this guessing game, here is my script illustrating the adding of "NOT NULL" column in one "ALTER TABLE" step:

CREATE TABLE TestInsertComputedColumn 
(
    FirstName VARCHAR(100),
    LastName CHAR(50)
);  

insert into TestInsertComputedColumn(FirstName,LastName)
     select 'v', 'gv8';
select * from TestInsertComputedColumn;

ALTER TABLE TestInsertComputedColumn 
      ADD FullName As FirstName + LastName PERSISTED NOT NULL;

select * from TestInsertComputedColumn;
--drop TABLE TestInsertComputedColumn;

Answer 2

As an option you can initially create Null-able column, then update your table column with valid not null values and finally ALTER column to set NOT NULL constraint:

ALTER TABLE MY_TABLE ADD STAGE INT NULL
GO
UPDATE MY_TABLE SET <a valid not null values for your column>
GO
ALTER TABLE MY_TABLE ALTER COLUMN STAGE INT NOT NULL
GO

Answer 3

No.

Just use empty string '' (in case of character type) or 0 (if numeric), etc as DEFAULT value

Answer 4

No, you can't, as SQL Server, or any other database engines will force this new column to be null for existing rows into your data table. But since you do not allow a NULL, you are required to provide a default value in order to respect your own constraint. This falls under great sense! The DBE will not extrapolate a value for non-null values for the existing rows.