How to add description property to table designer view in SSMS?

Question

In SSMS (currently running SQL Server 2008 R2), I would like to add the Description property next to the Allow Nulls property in the table designer window.

I looked at the registry change to set the default value of the null property, as shown in this SO answer. How to set the Allow Nulls property in the SSMS table designer is always false? However, I cannot figure out how to add a new property to a new view of the table designer.

I thought the following registry entry would help.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Microsoft SQL Server \ 100 \ Tools \ Shell \ DataProject \

 SSVPropViewColumnsSQL70 SSVPropViewColumnsSQL80 

I changed the registry entries above the keys from 1,2,6; up to 1,2,6,9; but nothing has changed in the designer.

Does anyone have any additional thoughts on this?

Answer 1

The following are steps to add a property to the table designer in SQL Server Management Studio. These steps include changing the values ​​in the registry settings.

NOTE: Please be careful while altering registry keys.

• Type regedit at the Windows Start → Run command prompt to open the registry editor.

• Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Shell\DataProject

• You may need to change the version of SQL Server. I am using SQL Server 2008 R2 Express and therefore version 100. For SQL Server 2012, I found this option in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\11.0\DataProject

• In the registry path above, find the SSVPropViewColumnsSQL70 and SSVPropViewColumnsSQL80 .

• By default, these registry keys will have a value of 1,2,6; . The section of the sequence of properties mentioned below shows the number associated with each property. For my requirement to add a description column to the table designer, I had to change the registry key values ​​to 1,2,6,17;

• Right-click on the key and select the Modify option. Change the value from 1,2,6; up to 1,2,6,17; . This must be done both on the SSVPropViewColumnsSQL70 keys and on the SSVPropViewColumnsSQL80

• NOTE: Remember to restart SSMS between each registry change.

The sequence of properties:

• Column name
• Data type
• Length
• Accuracy
• Scale
• Allow Nulls
• Default value
• Identity
• Seed of Identity
• Personality increment
• Row guid
• Nullable
• Condensed type
• Not for replication
• Formula
• Reconciliation
• Description

Hope this helps someone.

Answer 2

For SQL-Server-Management Studio 2014 (SSMS 2014), it’s a bit difficult to get the Description column (17):

1) SSMS 2014 opens, wait until the Login-Dialog dialog box appears. (Do not click "connect"!)

2a) Open Regedit, go to: "HKEY_USERS \ S-1 ... ### YOUR-WINDOWS-USER-SID ### - \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ SQL Server Management Studio \ 12.0 \ DataProject"

2b) Change the keys: SSVPropViewColumnsSQL70 and SSVPropViewColumnsSQL80 of 1,2,6; up to 1,2,6,17;

3) Now click “Connect” in the SSID 2014 Login-Dialog.

Answer 3

For those of you looking for a .REG file for this, copy / paste these lines into a text file with the extension .REG. Double-click on it to add it to your registry. Column numbers are spelled out in the answer . The example below uses "14.0", which means the version of SSMS that began to be released as a standalone tool since SQL 2017. I expect the registry path to remain at 14.0 for some time, even with regular updates to SSMS.

 Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\14.0\DataProject] "SSVPropViewColumnsSQL70"="1,2,6,3,7,8,17;" "SSVPropViewColumnsSQL80"="1,2,6,3,7,8,17;" 

Please note that when applying these registry changes, you must close SSMS.

Answer 4

For SQL Server Management Studio version 18.x (2019):
Open Regedit and go to: "Computer \ HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ SQL Server Management Studio \ 18.0_IsoShell \ DataProject" and then change the data of SSVPropViewColumnsSQL70 and SSVPropViewColumnsSQL80 from 1,2,6; up to 1,2,6,17