Hi Christopher,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. The new tab we're currently implementing is making use of side-by-side trees. At least initially this will only contain nodes that are different but we may review this based on feedback. I hope we'll have something to share with you soon.

David, thanks for incorporating this. I've been waiting for this one since I started using the tool!

I think your proposed first step is helpful and I welcome it.

Have you talked about your direction long term? I would propose grid or tree views, where the first column (or tree root) is the sql column name, and successive columns (or branches) are properties such as data type, defaults, and the other properties you compare.

This abstract view of the objects could replace the existing text view and the new "reasons" tab that you are starting with. This would be similar to how SQL Effects Clarity did it, which was the tool I used before yours.

They used side-by-side trees. This is the best screenshot I could find: http://sql-effects-software.ab-archive.net/graphics/screenshots/sql_effects_clarity-51348.gif

Would you guys consider something like that?

We have "Force Column Order" in the options tab of SQL Compare tool and when we uncheck it and compare the objects, we except not to see any tables that have same column definition but in different order. This is surely a BUG - not a feature request and need to be fixed. Please do the needful.

I add my vote. I just downloaded the trial and this is a definitive turn off. I understand SQLs' Alter will always add the column at the en whereas the DBA may add the column in a more logical spot in the list of columns. Therefore this shows as a large number of differences. Is there a workaround? The only one I can think of is to force the DBA to always add columns at the end. Knowing our DBAs, whish me good luck with that!

This feature would add a great deal of value to your product. I can see from the dates on the comments in this thread, this is something you aren't prepared to respond to. In my experience, it is better to respond than appear to ignore - could someone at RedGate please evaluate this request and reply to this, it was first opened in 2012 - we're now in 2016 (4 years without any response is not making you look very good)

I have spent hours trying to figure this out. I am now considering alternative after seeing this has not even been addressed.

I've been hoping for this one with each major release. I understand it is difficult to support, because the diff happens on the text script, which is ignorant of objects as it is merely characters.

Perhaps you could provide an alternative view. Rather than a text view, we could select an "Object View". This would list objects (columns) on each side, and highlight only the objects that are different. Even if you could not support comparison of all properties on each object, this would be a welcome addition. Sometimes I just want a simple list of what is missing.

Please fix this! In my scenario it is a show-stopper. I am using sql compare from the command line to create html reports.

If the tables are compared with ignoring the column order, you can show the target table columns lined according to first table. First, show the columns exists on both, then show the source table columns those are not in target table and for last show target table columns those are not in source table. This is a very easy solution. So we will see the differences (when occurs) easily. This can be an option for users like us. Thank you very much.

I agree with all comments; every time i compare I have to manually check every highlighted column to see whether it's different or not.

Is there any plan to fix it?

This is a huge issue. The synchronization script doesn't see them as different tables, but the window does.

This also makes it a little harder to see the important differences at a glance.

This is definitely a bug and needs to be addressed. Column order alone should not require changes to a table

This has been a long standing bug from previous editions and has not been fixed. Checking the box, "Ignore the column order" only works in some instances. The impact of this bug at the time is deployment is huge because it then requires a rebuild on the table in some circumstances.