How do I dynamically create a SQL table in ASP.NET?

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I am trying to determine the best way to solve the following problem:

My application needs to allow a user to define a table structure, then create a table in SQL out of this structure. Then the application needs to be able to allow the user to perform CRUD operations on the new table.

I think what I am looking for is similar to what CMS applications do when they create custom content.

What is the best way to accomplish this?

What I have tried:

I've been doing a lot of googling but I haven't found anything similar to what I have been looking for.

Posted 11-Aug-18 6:41am

Tharkis

Updated 11-Aug-18 8:54am

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#realJSOP · Answer 1 · 2018-08-11T08:54:00

0) Allow the user to specify the column names and types.

1) Create a collection of an object that store your column names and types. Make sure you add code to prevent duplicate column names. There are several techniques you can use to black-box this code so you can hide validation complexity. I'll let you be a programmer and finger out how much validation is necessary, and where it should be implemented.

2) Build a string that represents the desired query.

C#

string userTable = "MyTable";
HashSet columns = new HashSet<string,string>(); // populate this somewhere else

StringBuilder query = new StringBuilder();
query.AppendFormat("IF OBJECT_ID('{0}','U') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE dbo.{0}; ", userTable).AppendLine();
query.AppendFormat("CREATE TABLE dbo.{0} (", userTable);

MyColumnItem lastColumn = columns.Last();

foreach(MyColumnItem item in columns)
{
    query.AppendFormat("{0} {1}", item.ColumnName, item.ColumnType);
    it (!item.Equals(lastItem)
    {
        query.Append(",");
    }
}
query.Append(");");

3) Use ADO classes to execute the query.