When calling to SQL SERVER on remote hosting with query below a problem occurs:
SELECT COLUMN_NAME, TABLE_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_NAME = '..ş'
Table Names, having Local Culture Alphabet do not return in query, although they are in schema. For example, tables with Turkish Chars like 'ı' 'ş' not seen in query result...
you have to set collation when creating or altering:
use master
ALTER DATABASE YourDataBase SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE
ALTER DATABASE YourDataBase COLLATE Turkish_CI_AS
ALTER DATABASE YourDataBase SET MULTI_USER
this time no need to use N' in each query.
I've searched high and low but can't find an answer, can you set the collation of a variable? According to the MS documentation, it seems that it's only possible on SQL Azure:
-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse
DECLARE
{{ #local_variable [AS] data_type } [ =value [ COLLATE ] ] } [,...n]
Currently I have to do this:
DECLARE #Test nvarchar(10) = N'Crud';
IF ( #Test = N'Crud' COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AI )
Print N'Crud';
IF ( #Test = N'cRud' COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AI )
Print N'cRud';
IF ( #Test = N'crUd' COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AI )
Print N'crUd';
IF ( #Test = N'cruD' COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AI )
Print N'cruD';
When what I'd like to do is this:
DECLARE #Test nvarchar(10) = N'Crud' COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AI;
IF ( #Test = N'Crud' )
Print N'Crud';
IF ( #Test = N'cRud' )
Print N'cRud';
IF ( #Test = N'crUd' )
Print N'crUd';
IF ( #Test = N'cruD' )
Print N'cruD';
I'm guessing the answer is no but I wanted to confirm and at the very least, someone else ever needing this info will get a definitive answer.
Much appreciated.
Well, you're guessing correctly.
In most SQL Server systems, (meaning, not including Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse) A collation can be set on four levels:
The default collation of the SQL Server instance:
The server collation acts as the default collation for all system databases that are installed with the instance of SQL Server, and also any newly created user databases.
The default collation of a specific database:
You can use the COLLATE clause of the CREATE DATABASE or ALTER DATABASE statement to specify the default collation of the database. You can also specify a collation when you create a database using SQL Server Management Studio. If you do not specify a collation, the database is assigned the default collation of the instance of SQL Server.
You can set a collation for a table's column:
You can specify collations for each character string column using the COLLATE clause of the CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE statement. You can also specify a collation when you create a table using SQL Server Management Studio. If you do not specify a collation, the column is assigned the default collation of the database.
You can set a collation for a specific expression using the Collate clause:
You can use the COLLATE clause to apply a character expression to a certain collation. Character literals and variables are assigned the default collation of the current database. Column references are assigned the definition collation of the column.
So yes, with the exception of Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse, you can't set a collation on a local scalar variable.
Multiple SQL Server databases with the exact same schema somehow ended up having different collations. How do I change them all to be the same with a scripted approach without any manual clicking around?
declare #rename_models table (
wrong nvarchar(256) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS, -- tried overriding collation, but this conflicts with some of the databases
correct nvarchar(256) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
);
The query I run against a models table:
select code as to_be_deleted from models where code in (select wrong from #rename_models);
Throws this for some databases:
MESSAGE
"Msg 468, Level 16, State 9, Line 140
Cannot resolve the collation conflict between ""SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS"" and ""Latin1_General_CI_AS"" in the equal to operation.
You can use the COLLATE keyword in your Select Query.
Casting the collation of an expression.
You can use the COLLATE clause to apply a character expression to a
certain collation. Character literals and variables are assigned the
default collation of the current database. Column references are
assigned the definition collation of the column.
References :
COLLATE
Alter Collation
I need to change the collation of one of our databases on a particular server from Latin1_General_CI_AS to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AI so that it matches the rest of our databases.
The Problem
However, when I attempt to do this, I get the following error:
ALTER DATABASE failed. The default collation of database 'XxxxxXxxxxx' cannot be set to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AI. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 5075)
My Research
My googling on the topic has revealed a number of articles which indicate that I need to export all the data, drop the database, re-create it with the correct collation, then re-import the data.
For example: Problem with database collation change (SQL Server 2008)
Obviously this is a significant task, especially since primary-foreign key relationships must be preserved, and our database is quite large (over ten million data rows).
My Question
Is there a way to change the collation of an existing SQL Server 2012 database which does not require exporting and re-importing all the data?
Alternatively, is there some tool or script(s) which can automate this process in a reliable manner?
The following works for me on SQL Server 2012:
ALTER DATABASE CURRENT COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AI;
The accepted answer in the linked question is not entirely correct, at least not for SQL Server 2012. It says:
Ahh, this is one of the worst problems in SQL Server: you cannot change the collation once an object is created (this is true both for tables and databases...).
But I was just able to change the default collation and I have tables that are populated. The MSDN page for ALTER DATABASE states in the "Remarks" section, under "Changing the Database Collation":
Before you apply a different collation to a database, make sure that the following conditions are in place:
You are the only one currently using the database.
No schema-bound object depends on the collation of the database.
If the following objects, which depend on the database collation, exist in the database, the ALTER DATABASE database_name COLLATE statement will fail. SQL Server will return an error message for each object blocking the ALTER action:
User-defined functions and views created with SCHEMABINDING.
Computed columns.
CHECK constraints.
Table-valued functions that return tables with character columns with collations inherited from the default database collation.
So, I would suggest making sure that the database is in Single-User mode, and that if you have any of those four items, that you:
drop them
change the collation
and then re-add them
BUT, at that point all that has been changed is the Database's default Collation. The Collation of any existing columns in user tables (i.e. non-system tables) will still have the original Collation. If you want existing string columns -- CHAR, VARCHAR, NCHAR, NVARCHAR, and the deprecated TEXT and NTEXT -- to take on the new Collation, you need to change each of those columns individually. And, if there are any indexes defined on those columns, then those indexes will need to be dropped first (disabling is not enough) and created again after the ALTER COLUMN (other dependencies that would prevent the ALTER COLUMN would have already been dropped in order to get the ALTER DATABASE to work). The example below illustrates this behavior:
Test Setup
USE [tempdb];
SET NOCOUNT ON;
CREATE TABLE dbo.ChangeCollationParent
(
[ChangeCollationParentID] INT NOT NULL IDENTITY(1, 1)
CONSTRAINT [PK_ChangeCollationParent] PRIMARY KEY,
ExtendedASCIIString VARCHAR(50) COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS NULL,
UnicodeString NVARCHAR(50) COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS NULL
);
CREATE TABLE dbo.ChangeCollationChild
(
[ChangeCollationChildID] INT NOT NULL IDENTITY(1, 1)
CONSTRAINT [PK_ChangeCollationChild] PRIMARY KEY,
[ChangeCollationParentID] INT NULL
CONSTRAINT [FK_ChangeCollationChild_ChangeCollationParent] FOREIGN KEY
REFERENCES dbo.ChangeCollationParent([ChangeCollationParentID]),
ExtendedASCIIString VARCHAR(50) COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS NULL,
UnicodeString NVARCHAR(50) COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS NULL
);
INSERT INTO dbo.ChangeCollationParent ([ExtendedASCIIString], [UnicodeString])
VALUES ('test1' + CHAR(200), N'test1' + NCHAR(200));
INSERT INTO dbo.ChangeCollationParent ([ExtendedASCIIString], [UnicodeString])
VALUES ('test2' + CHAR(170), N'test2' + NCHAR(170));
INSERT INTO dbo.ChangeCollationChild
([ChangeCollationParentID], [ExtendedASCIIString], [UnicodeString])
VALUES (1, 'testA ' + CHAR(200), N'testA ' + NCHAR(200));
INSERT INTO dbo.ChangeCollationChild
([ChangeCollationParentID], [ExtendedASCIIString], [UnicodeString])
VALUES (1, 'testB ' + CHAR(170), N'testB ' + NCHAR(170));
SELECT * FROM dbo.ChangeCollationParent;
SELECT * FROM dbo.ChangeCollationChild;
Test 1: Change column Collation with no dependencies
ALTER TABLE dbo.ChangeCollationParent
ALTER COLUMN [ExtendedASCIIString] VARCHAR(50) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AI NULL;
ALTER TABLE dbo.ChangeCollationParent
ALTER COLUMN [UnicodeString] NVARCHAR(50) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AI NULL;
ALTER TABLE dbo.ChangeCollationChild
ALTER COLUMN [ExtendedASCIIString] VARCHAR(50) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AI NULL;
ALTER TABLE dbo.ChangeCollationChild
ALTER COLUMN [UnicodeString] NVARCHAR(50) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AI NULL;
SELECT * FROM dbo.ChangeCollationParent;
SELECT * FROM dbo.ChangeCollationChild;
The ALTER COLUMN statements above complete successfully.
Test 2: Change column Collation with dependencies
-- First, create an index:
CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IX_ChangeCollationParent_ExtendedASCIIString]
ON dbo.ChangeCollationParent ([ExtendedASCIIString] ASC);
-- Next, change the Collation back to the original setting:
ALTER TABLE dbo.ChangeCollationParent
ALTER COLUMN [ExtendedASCIIString] VARCHAR(50) COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS NULL;
This time, the ALTER COLUMN statement received the following error:
Msg 5074, Level 16, State 1, Line 60
The index 'IX_ChangeCollationParent_ExtendedASCIIString' is dependent on column 'ExtendedASCIIString'.
Msg 4922, Level 16, State 9, Line 60
ALTER TABLE ALTER COLUMN ExtendedASCIIString failed because one or more objects access this column.
ALSO, please be aware that the Collation of some string columns in database-scoped system catalog views (e.g. sys.objects, sys.columns, sys.indexes, etc) will change to the new Collation. If your code has JOINs to any of these string columns (i.e. name), then you might start getting Collation mismatch errors until you change the Collation on the joining columns in your user tables.
UPDATE:
If changing the Collation for the entire Instance is the desire, or an option, then there is an easier method that bypasses all of these restrictions. It is undocumented and hence unsupported (so if it doesn't work, Microsoft isn't going to help). However, it changes the Collation at all levels: Instance, all Database's, and all string columns in all User Tables. It does this, and avoids all of the typical restrictions, by simply updating the meta-data of the tables, etc to have the new Collation. It then drops and recreates all indexes that have string columns. There are also a few nuances to this method that might have impact, but are fixable. This method is the -q command-line switch of sqlservr.exe. I have documented all of the behaviors, including listing all of the potentially affected areas by doing such a wide-sweeping Collation change, in the following post:
Changing the Collation of the Instance, the Databases, and All Columns in All User Databases: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
For anyone else stumbling to this problem, the solution is to set DB in single_user mode before change the collation and then set again the multi_user mode after it.
Make sure to not close the connection before setting the multi_user mode!
/* block all other users from connecting to the db */
ALTER DATABASE YorDbName SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
/* modify your db collate */
ALTER DATABASE CURRENT COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AI;
/* allow again all other users to connect to the db */
ALTER DATABASE YorDbName SET MULTI_USER;
I just installed SQL Server 2008 and imported AdventureWorksDatabase (for SQL 2005, as for 2008 that didn't worked).
It is now enforcing case sensitivity when I searched for any tables, views etc
Hence Person.contact table when written throws an error of Invalid column name, but when Person.Contact is written it shows all rows.
Plus the intellisense too doesn't work great.
Case sensitivity is controlled by the collation the database uses - check this by querying the system catalog views:
select name, collation_name
from sys.databases
A collation name will be something like: Latin1_General_CI_AS
The _CI_ part is telling me here that it's a case insensitive collation. If you see a _CS_ then it's a case sensitive collation.
You can change a database's default collation using:
ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks COLLATE .......
and pick any valid collation here - use one with a _CI_ to get a case-insensitive collation.
Trouble is: even if you change the collation on the database level, certain tables might still have individual column that had a specific collation defined when the table was created. You could also change all of these, but that's going to be a bigger undertaking. See this article for more info and a script to check and possibly change individual columns in your tables.
The reason the intellisense might not be working properly is that the case sensitivity of database objects per se is controlled by the server collation - which can again be different from any database default.
To find out what the server's collation is, use:
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('Collation')
Changing the server's system collation is quite a messy process and requires you to use the original setup.exe as explained here.
The problem here is Case Sensitivity of the table name Contact. You should set collation_name of the Database AdventureWorks as Latin1_General_CI_AS
Check for collation_name:
SELECT name, collation_name
FROM sys.databases
WHERE name = 'AdventureWorks';
GO
If the collation_name is Latin1_General_BIN or Latin1_General_CS_AS change it to Latin1_General_CI_AS
ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks
COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS ;
GO
If the Database has locked to do this action "The database could not be exclusively locked to perform the operation." . Alter the Database to Single User
ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE
and do
ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks
COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS ;
GO
Revert back the Database to Multi User finally
ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks SET MULTI_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE
Or
You can change the Collation in Database Properties.