When checkboxes attack
I ran across a crazy behavior in the SQL Server 2008 CTP 6 tools around changing a table via the "Design" option in Object Browser. I typically script all changes to objects as I am not a fan of GUI development in general (and this may have cemented the opinion forever). Maybe I was just in a hurry today, but I connected to a database to add a column to an existing table and was presented with the following ugly message box:
I knew this wasn't permissions related as I had been happily altering schema in this instance for weeks (even a couple stored procedures that day). So what's a geek to do when his path is blocked? Dig into the options! So away I went down the Tools--> Options--> Designers path. And there it was, staring me in the face...
A rather odd little checkbox with the text "Prevent saving changes that require table re-creation". I was positive I hadn't seen this before, so positive I fired up SQL 2005 SSMS to compare, and found that it truly was new functionality. For the life of me I'm not sure why this was added as a default behavior. Especially one that might override the security privileges of a user.
The only documentation I found online for this is from the MSDN SQL Server Developer site. There was one Connect item with a Microsoft comment referencing the fact that it is on by default, I'm assuming the Change Data Capture feature is the answer. I've got some emails out to see what the true intention was here.
So if you see the nasty pop up above while working in your CTP you will now know that you've been attacked by a checkbox. ;)
UPDATE: I got an email back from Buck Woody of the SQL team right after posting last night with the purpose for this checkbox, you can check it out here. Thanks Buck!