Checking for and dropping an existing table via C# and SMO

Question

I am trying to look for a SQL table by name and if it exists drop it. This all needs to be done in C# using SMO.

To complicate it a bit more the table also has a schema other then "dbo".

Ultimatly the table will be recreated via SMO (I have this working) but I have to make sure it is not there before I can recreate it.

All of the examples that I have seen seem to be creating and then dropping the table all in the same context. In my case the table will have been created and populated in a previous session.

Elope

Answer 1

First question is, why can you not drop and recreate with DDL?

And in answer to your question:

Table table = new Table(myDatabase, "MyTable", "MySchema");

Neisse

Thank you for your answer. I have actually gone down the same route but different path: myTable.Schema = "MySchema" The table structure itself is determined on the fly by parsing an XML schema. – Elope

Answer 2

var connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString);
var server = new Server(new ServerConnection(connection));

db = server.Databases["YourFavDB"];

db.Tables["YourHatedTable"].Drop();

Sparing

The only one to answer the question and not a single upvote until now. Is there any justice on SO? – Apothecium

There's no mention of schema here. It could be either completely reasonable, or dangerous to assume the schema is dbo, depending on your environment – Rival

Good answer, I think DropIfExists() would be better – Listlessness

Answer 3

I think the best approach would be:

Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Database myDataBase = myServer.Databases["myDataBaseName"];
bool tableExists= myDataBase.Tables.Contains("myTable");
if (tableExists)
{
   myDataBase.Tables["myTable"].Drop();
}

Frager

This should absolutely be the accepted answer to this question. – Pyknic

Answer 4

Couldn't you just wrap your DROP TABLE statement in a try/catch block, and discard any errors that occur?

Anyway, the sql to determine if a table exists is:

IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[TableName]') AND type in (N'U'))

Enface

It goes against my grain to use errors for program flow control. Thanks for the response. – Elope

Well, couldn't you use the IF EXISTS I provided to check first, if you don't like the Try/Catch? – Enface