I need to change a column from varchar to decimal. Is there a simple
way to do this? I've copied the data from the column, and set all the
values to null. I then try to alter the column type, but get:

Cannot change datatype for column PRODUCTID from a character type to a
non-character type.

There is no data conversion to be done, because I've cleared all the
data.
Dropping and reading the column would be VERY difficult, as there are
dozens of views and SP that depend on that column, either directly or
indirectly.

Rick DeBay
Senior Software Developer
RxStrategies.net