How to convert int to decimal

[BCS]

I have a table called BOLDetail and I need to update a column called "Tons"
from int to decimal with a precision of 5 and scale of 3. I attempted to
change the setting in Table Design but received an error when trying to save
my changes.

There's only about 12 records in this particular table, so I guess I could
delete their Tons value and then update the Table Design and reinsert the
values afterwards. Just wondering what the proper syntax would be to convert
them in their present state.

Thanks,

Barry

[Allan Mitchell]

What was the error you received?

Was it something like

Server: Msg 8115, Level 16, State 8, Line 1
Arithmetic overflow error converting numeric to data type numeric.
The statement has been terminated.

Could it be the data in the INT attribute is too big to fit the new
datatype?

For example

CREATE TABLE IntNowWillBeDecimal(col1 int)
GO
INSERT IntNowWillBeDecimal VALUES(1)
INSERT IntNowWillBeDecimal VALUES(100)
INSERT IntNowWillBeDecimal VALUES(1000)
INSERT IntNowWillBeDecimal VALUES(10000)
INSERT IntNowWillBeDecimal VALUES(100000)
GO
ALTER TABLE IntNowWillBeDecimal ALTER COLUMN Col1 decimal(5,3)
If you want 3 places after the decimal then the highest number you can have
in the INT attribute before conversion is 99.
--
--

Allan Mitchell MCSE,MCDBA, (Microsoft SQL Server MVP)
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"BCS" <bc*******@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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I have a table called BOLDetail and I need to update a column called "Tons" from int to decimal with a precision of 5 and scale of 3. I attempted to
change the setting in Table Design but received an error when trying to save my changes.

There's only about 12 records in this particular table, so I guess I could
delete their Tons value and then update the Table Design and reinsert the
values afterwards. Just wondering what the proper syntax would be to convert them in their present state.

Thanks,

Barry