MergeArticle.ColumnTracking Property

Gets or sets how conflicts are detected when synchronizing data rows.

Namespace:  Microsoft.SqlServer.Replication
Assembly:  Microsoft.SqlServer.Rmo (in Microsoft.SqlServer.Rmo.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Property ColumnTracking As Boolean
    Get
    Set
'Usage
Dim instance As MergeArticle
Dim value As Boolean

value = instance.ColumnTracking

instance.ColumnTracking = value
public bool ColumnTracking { get; set; }
public:
property bool ColumnTracking {
    bool get ();
    void set (bool value);
}
member ColumnTracking : bool with get, set
function get ColumnTracking () : boolean
function set ColumnTracking (value : boolean)

Property Value

Type: System.Boolean
A Boolean value. If true, each column in a row is evaluated separately for conflicts. If false, the entire row is evaluated to determine conflicts.

Remarks

If ColumnTracking is set to true, each column in a changed row is evaluated separately for conflicts. For example, column-level tracking enabled, if the Publisher and Subscriber both modify the same row but each modifies a different set of columns, no conflict is found and all changes are merged. If ColumnTracking is set to false, changes in the same row are determined to be in conflict.

If you set ColumnTracking after the initial snapshot has been created, a new snapshot must be generated.

If row tracking is used for conflict detection (the default), the base table can include a maximum of 1,024 columns, but columns must be filtered from the article so that a maximum of 246 columns is published. If column tracking is used, the base table can include a maximum of 246 columns. For more information on the tracking level, see the "Tracking Level" section of How Merge Replication Detects and Resolves Conflicts.

The ColumnTracking property can be retrieved by members of the sysadmin fixed server role at the Publisher and at the Subscriber (for republishing Subscribers). It can also be retrieved by members of the db_owner fixed database role on the publication database, by members of the replmonitor fixed database role at the Distributor, and by users who are members of the publication access list (PAL).

The ColumnTracking property can be set by members of the sysadmin fixed server role at the Publisher. It can also be set by members of the db_owner fixed database role on the publication database.

Retrieving ColumnTracking is equivalent to executing sp_helpmergearticle (Transact-SQL).

Setting ColumnTracking is equivalent to executing sp_addmergearticle (Transact-SQL) or sp_changemergearticle (Transact-SQL).

The ColumnTracking property is available with Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, and Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

Release

History

5 December 2005

New content:
  • Documented column restrictions on published tables.