Table Properties
There are two sets of properties you can access for tables, one in Server Explorer and the other in Table Designer. In either case the properties appear in the Properties window.
When you select a table in Server Explorer a small set of read-only properties show in the Properties window.
When you open a table in Table Designer a larger set is shown. Unless otherwise noted, you can edit these properties in the Properties window.
Note
The properties in this topic are ordered by category rather than alphabet.
Note
Your computer might show different names or locations for some of the Visual Studio user interface elements in the following instructions. The Visual Studio edition that you have and the settings that you use determine these elements. For more information, see Customizing Development Settings in Visual Studio.
Show Table Properties from Server Explorer
Identity Category
Expands to show the Name and Database Name properties.Name
Shows the name of the selected table.Misc Category
Expands to show the Row Count properties.Database
Shows the name of the data source of the selected table. (Applies only to OLE DB.)Schema
Shows the default schema of the selected table. (Applies only to OLE DB.)Type
Shows the kind of object that is selected. (Applies only to OLE DB.)Approximate Row Count
Shows the number of rows in the selected table. (Applies only to Microsoft SQL Server.)Owner
Shows the name of the database.
Show Table Properties in Table Designer
Note
These properties only apply to Microsoft SQL Server.
Identity Category
Expands to show properties for Name, Description, and Schema.Name
Displays the name of the table. To edit the name, type in the text box.Warning
If existing queries, views, user-defined functions, stored procedures, or programs refer to the table, the name modification will make these objects invalid.
Database Name
Shows the name of the data source of the selected table.Description
Shows a description of the selected table. To see the entire description, or to edit it, click the description and then click the ellipses (…) to the right of the property.Server
Shows the name of the server for the data source.Schema
Shows the name of the schema to which this table belongs. (Applies only to Microsoft SQL Server.)Table Designer Category
Expands to show properties for Identity Column, Is Indexable, and Is Replicated.Identity Column
Shows the column used as the table's identity column. To change the identity column, choose from the drop-down list. Only columns of a numeric data type will show in the list.Is Indexable
Shows whether the table can be indexed. If the table is not indexable it may be because you are not the table owner or because the table contains columns with data types of text, ntext, or image.Is Replicated
Shows whether the table is replicated in another location.Regular Data Space Specification Category
Expands to show properties for (Data Space Type), Filegroup or Partition Scheme Name, and Partition Column List.(Data Space Type)
Shows whether this table is stored using a filegroup or partition scheme.Filegroup or Partition Scheme Name
Shows the name of the filegroup or partition scheme.Partition Column List
Provides access to the Partition Column List dialog box.Row GUID Column
Shows the column used by Microsoft SQL Server as the table's ROWGUID column. To change the ROWGUID column, choose from the drop-down list. (Applies only to SQL Server 7.0 or higher.)Text/Image Filegroup
Provides a drop-down list from which you can choose the filegroup for columns that have text or image data types. If the table is stored using a partition scheme, leave this field blank.