WHAT

Postgresql, Oracle, Db2, and other platforms support the COMMENT ON {TABLE|COLUMN} statements, used to add descriptive comments to database objects for documentation purpose.

The SQL Server equivalent is sys.sp_addextendedproperty or sys.sp_updateextendedproperty, but these commands are not as intuitive or easy to write in a script. This utility works as a wrapper to these built-in SQL Server procedures.

COMMENT ON is not ANSI-SQL, but I think it's a really handy feature when used to document database objects.

Disclaimer

This is free, unsupported software. If you want guarantees, I'm available for hire.

HOW

Postgresql/Oracle/Db2 command:

COMMENT ON TABLE dbo.Widgets IS 'Contains a list of widgets in stock';
COMMENT ON COLUMN dbo.Widgets.Name IS 'The name of the widget';

The equivalent commands on native SQL Server would look like this:

EXECUTE sys.sp_updateextendedproperty
    @name=N'MS_description',
    @value='Contains a list of widgets in stock',
    @level0type=N'SCHEMA', @level0name=N'dbo',
    @level1type=N'TABLE',  @level1name=N'Widgets';

EXECUTE sys.sp_addextendedproperty
    @name=N'MS_description',
    @value='The name of the widget',
    @level0type=N'SCHEMA', @level0name=N'dbo',
    @level1type=N'TABLE',  @level1name=N'Widgets',
    @level2type=N'COLUMN', @level2name=N'Name';

Using this utility procedure, the code looks like this:

EXECUTE dbo.Comment_on_table N'dbo.Widgets', 'Contains a list of widgets in stock';
EXECUTE dbo.Comment_on_column N'dbo.Widgets.Name', 'The name of the widget';

Upvote my feedback item

I've also created a feedback item. Please help me out with your upvote to get this feature into a future version of SQL Server.