T-SQL equivalent of PL/SQL %TYPE?

Question

Is there any equivalent to %TYPE in MSSQL2005?

CREATE TABLE TEST (ID NUMBER(5));

DECLARE
myVar TEST.ID%TYPE;
BEGIN
................
END;

Answer 1

No, there isn't any way to inherit the type of a table column when declaring variables in SQL Server 2005 (or 2008, for that matter).

The closest you could get would be to create a user-defined type, and then use it in the table and the code.

Answer 2

It's amazing to me that there isn't an enormous amount of complaint about this. The absence of this capability makes SQL Server code maintainability miserable. What a waste of everyone's time.