Adding a default value to a column

To add a function as a default to a column at table creation you must single quote the function name.

CREATE TABLE LogEntries
(
   EntryID int IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
   Entry varchar(8000) NOT NULL,
   Tags varchar(200) NOT NULL,
   DateEntered datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT 'GETDATE()',
)

The DEFAULT 'GETDATE()' is required. You can also type in GETDATE() in the DataBuilder and it will quote the function for you.

Remove Column Default

To remove the default from a column through SQL you must execute an ALTER TABLE syntax with all the same table parameters, but no default specified.

ALTER TABLE [LogEntries] ALTER COLUMN [DateEntered] datetime NOT NULL; 

This would remove the default applied in the statement above.

DEFAULT and Binary Columns