Linking An Access DataBase to Sql Building and building VB InterFace - sql

Hey IO have an old access data base and I have reeated the New data base using SQL Server Management Studio but all the data is still in the Access data base and I was wondering how to link these two. I have been trying to create the linked tables in access using the ODBC tool but none of the table I want are appearing?
Was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how I can do this?
Also I then have started to create the front end of the database using Visual Studio but cant get the fields to populate as the SQL database currently has no data linked to it

Instead of linking tables have you considered using SQL Server Express (you did not mention what the 'new database' is, assume Access?) and the data import wizard to port the data to SQL Server? You get all the tools by downloading 'SQL Server with tools' from Microsoft. And use SSMS for management functions, it is much easier than the Visual Studio interface.

Related

What SQL type is used in Excel

This is my first post in here,
I am new to SQL and I started learning it, I use it mainly in excel to get data from an outer Database
I first go to data then Refresh all then from the menu I choose connection properties
Then a dialogue appears and I input my code in the window called Command text from the Tab Definition
I added images to show where I input my SQL code
My question is what type of SQL do I input there ?
is it mySQL or SQLServer or what ??, so I can learn it, because some commands just don't work with me the way they are supposed to do
You can connect to any database type as long as you have the appropriate ODBC drivers. For example, here is documentation for MySQL for Excel. Quote from article "Use Microsoft Query to retrieve external data":
If the external database that you want to access is not supported by the
ODBC drivers that are installed with Microsoft Query, then you
need to obtain and install a Microsoft Office-compatible ODBC driver
from a third-party vendor, such as the manufacturer of the database.
Contact the database vendor for installation instructions.
OLAP databases do not require ODBC drivers. When you install Microsoft Query, drivers are installed for databases that were created
by using Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services. To connect to other
OLAP databases, you need to install a data source driver and client
software.
Whichever database type you connect to, you will still be using Microsoft's SQL variant (as developed for SQL Server). As a beginner you're not going to notice too many differences right off the top. Most of the differences are related to data types, such as DATE vs DATETIME. Here is a wiki on SQL Compliance and this article on MS Access SQL will also apply to Excel Query.
You can connect to many data source including: SQL Server database, Access database, MySQL database, PostgreSQL database etc..
You can find the full list here: Link

Swap Database in visual studio from Access to SQL

I have created a windows form project which is based in vb.net in Visual Studio. This form acts as the front end to the database.
I decided this time round to try use the Dataset Designer in Visual Studio and found it convenient. Using the Wizard I linked up the MS Access database to create the Dataset in the project. This then automatically generated all the relevant table adapters, datasets, bindingsources and so on.
Now, the aim is to transition the same Access database to SQL-server.
The Question is whether it is possible to simply swap the Dataset in Visual Studio to from Access to SQL which have the same table names, structure, relations... I tried modifying the connection string in Settings.settings with no success.
This would save me a lot of time from going through each object and updating the datasource to the new SQL database.
You should be able to establish a separate connection to sql server using ado. You can find typical connection strings easily: try http://www.connectionstrings.com/microsoft-ole-db-provider-for-sql-server-sqloledb/ for example. If the tables exist in sql server, you can SELECT from Access and INSERT into SSvr using 2 different connections, 2 sql command objects. If you have trouble with the SQL (which is very possible, I have not done this with Access), create a dataset from the Access SELECT and use that as an intermediate step. If the tables do not exist yet, get the script for CREATE TABLE in Access or in SSMS, and execute that before doing the SELECT/INSERT operation.

Export MS Access Database to SQL Server 2008 Express

Is there an easy way to export a MS Access Database backend (Tables & relations) into an SQL Server database, so that it then can be used as a backend for a tailored application written in C# using Entity Framework?
The Access Database contains at least 50 tables and the export should not ruin its structure and relations.
Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant for Access
As Gabriel indicates using the SSMA is the best solution for upsizing the tables, indexes and relationships in Access. Then I'd suggest working on the Access front end, containing the queries, forms, reports, macros and VBA code so it works with the SQL Server data storage. This won't take very long by comparision to rewriting the app.
Then you may find you don't need to rewrite the application in another environment. This assumes that the tables are properly normalized and clean. Even then it may be simpler to do some cleanup in that respect in Access.
The Microsoft SSMA link in the comment from 2010 only worked when I chose NOT to register. Also, here is an updated link to the MS SSMA executable.
There are Upsizing Wizard for Access to do the migration to MSSQL 2008.
Goto [Database Tools] menu and click on [SQL Server] icon, then proceed the migration with the wizard.

References/walkthroughs for maintaining database schemas with Visual Studio 2010?

I have Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and SQL Server 2008 installed. I'm working with a populated database and want to modify various column types. SQL Server Management Studio requires me to drop tables to do this, and get pretty finicky given my moderate level of knowledge of SQL Server.
However, I heard the new database project type supports changing the database schema to the desired format and it will handle creating and running all the scripts to implement the changes.
I've created a VS2010 database project using the existing database as the source, but so far haven't had much luck figuring out the appropriate method to make the changes without getting an error.
As a result, I'm looking for any reference info I can find on using VS2010's capabilities in this area. Any suggestions?
write scripts instead of using the gui. You can use alter table for instance to change a column. Never use a GUI of any kind to create a change to a database table.
Here's a walk through of the new VS2010 "Deploy-SQL" tab in the properties page of web application projects.

Can SSMA for migrating Access databases to SQL Server 2005 be automated?

I need to migrate Access databases to SQL Server 2005. Since this needs to be done from within a setup so that a customers' installation is transparently migrated to SQL Server 2005, I wonder if it is possible to automate the SSMA toolkit from Microsoft.
Actually SSMA had command-line interface (special console executable in the SSMA installation folder). It was available at some time but I'm not sure whether it made its way to last release. You should ping SSMA support about what versions had it and what examples of its usages are available. I hope this will help you.
To my own knowledge, such an automation is not available. But it is still possible for you to generate the SQL code that creates the database (the one that will begin with the "CREATE DATABASE" sentence) and launch it through your user interface on your SQL server.
To generate this code, you can
Create the access database with the Access toolkit
Generate the corresponing "CREATE DATABASE" SQL code with (for example) SQL Server Management Studio (right-click on database, choose "script database as CREATE". EMS SQL Studio offers a very nice alternative to SQL Server Management Studio
Save the code for further use
With EMS Studio, You can even decide if this code also updates the data. But I'd prefer to automate data transfer through code: you can for example browse the tables (in the right order, depending on relationships), open recordsets (one local, one SQL), and transfer data by browsing the fields (you do not even need to name them) with code like:
(localRecordset links to local table. can be DAO or ADODB; Adjust code accordingly)
(sqlRecordset links to the SQL server. can be DAO or ADODB; Adjust code accordingly)
localRecordset.moveFirst
Do while not localRecordset.EOF
sqlRecordset.addnew
For each field in localrecordset.fields
sqlRecordset.fields(field.name).value = field.value
Next field
sqlRecordset.update
localRecordset.moveNext
Loop