TABLE CONSTRAINT

Some parts in the output code are omitted for clarity reasons.

Description

Specifies the properties of a PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY, UNIQUE, or CHECK constraint that is part of a new column definition added to a table by using ALTER TABLE. (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/statements/alter-table-column-constraint-transact-sql)

Translation for column constraints is relatively straightforward. There are several parts of the syntax that are not required or not supported in Snowflake.

These parts include:

  • CLUSTERED | NONCLUSTERED

  • WITH FILLFACTOR = fillfactor

  • WITH ( index_option [, ...n ] )

  • ON { partition_scheme_name ( partition_column_name ) | filegroup | "default" }

  • NOT FOR REPLICATION

  • CHECK [ NOT FOR REPLICATION ]

Syntax in SQL Server

[ CONSTRAINT constraint_name ]   
{   
    { PRIMARY KEY | UNIQUE }   
        [ CLUSTERED | NONCLUSTERED ]   
        (column [ ASC | DESC ] [ ,...n ] )  
        [ WITH FILLFACTOR = fillfactor   
        [ WITH ( <index_option>[ , ...n ] ) ]  
        [ ON { partition_scheme_name ( partition_column_name ... )  
          | filegroup | "default" } ]   
    | FOREIGN KEY   
        ( column [ ,...n ] )  
        REFERENCES referenced_table_name [ ( ref_column [ ,...n ] ) ]   
        [ ON DELETE { NO ACTION | CASCADE | SET NULL | SET DEFAULT } ]   
        [ ON UPDATE { NO ACTION | CASCADE | SET NULL | SET DEFAULT } ]   
        [ NOT FOR REPLICATION ]   
    | CONNECTION
        ( { node_table TO node_table } 
          [ , {node_table TO node_table }]
          [ , ...n ]
        )
        [ ON DELETE { NO ACTION | CASCADE } ]
    | DEFAULT constant_expression FOR column [ WITH VALUES ]   
    | CHECK [ NOT FOR REPLICATION ] ( logical_expression )  
}

Syntax in Snowflake

Sample Source Patterns

Multiple ALTER TABLE instances

SQL Server

Snowflake

DEFAULT within constraints

SQL Server

Snowflake

Known Issues

1. DEFAULT is only supported within CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE ... ADD COLUMN

SQL Server supports defining a DEFAULT property within a constraint, while Snowflake only allows that when adding the column via CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE ... ADD COLUMN. DEFAULT properties within the ADD CONSTRAINT syntax are not supported and will be translated to ALTER TABLE ALTER COLUMN.

  1. SSC-EWI-0040: Statement Not Supported.

  2. SSC-EWI-TS0055: Default constraint was commented out and may have been added to a table definition.

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