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.
Related
I have problem that is all my team members are altering the Sps and functions and
some conflicts occurred through the development
is there anyway or tool to store and get all version of them ?
the problem is before releasing the new version, i don't want a tool to compare difference between two databases like what Red gate SQL_Compare
thanks in advance
You may make use of the features in Visual Studio and TFS(or any other source control mechanisms). All that you need to do is to
Create a SQLServer DB Project in Visual studio and configure it to
your desired database.
Bind the project to a source control (TFS,
SVN etc.,)
Every time you have a change in DB, you can just compare the changes using .scmp file and click update.
You may refer this post for more information:
http://candordeveloper.com/2013/01/08/creating-a-sql-server-database-project-in-visual-studio-2012/
I'm fairly newb when it comes to programming and even newer when it comes to database management and integration.
So I have a VB.NET Windows Application that uses a SQL Database. I use LINQ to SQL to fill datagridviews in windows that show table data and also use LINQ to SQL to save data to the database.
All works wonderfully however...
When I publish the application, the database isn't external as far as I can tell. It seems to build itself into the application so once the application is installed, the database is there, it views and saves data, but if the computer crashes or the application is uninstalled, all that data is going to be lost without a way to back it up.
I'm using Visual Studio 2010 Express. I created the SQL Database in VS2010-Exp as well. I feel like there's something simple I'm missing here. When the application gets published and then installed, where is the physical database going?
Thanks!
It is running as part of the application. If you wanted a separate, central database, you would need to have an instance of SQL server running in some accessible location.
I have created a functioning LightSwitch (Visual studio 2012 Pro) application...
Now it's time to publish! The only problem is that I can't seem to figure out how to change the schema name to something other than dbo.
That is, I don't want the output tables to be dbo.XXXX, I want them to be my_schema.XXXX instead.
Also, note that the database is on SQL Server 2005.
Does anyone have suggestions on how to achieve this?
Thanks!
Update: Sorry for not being specific. I don't want to change the schema for existing tables in my database. I want my LightSwitch application to use the new schema. I don't mind publishing it and then modifying the schema on the tables, if I can then somehow also modify the LightSwitch application to use the new schema. But ideally, there would be a way to tell LightSwitch to use a different schema when it publishes.
For those who don't know what LightSwitch is, it is a Microsoft .Net Rapid Application Development tool for SilverLight business applications, and is built into Visual Studio 2012. My application is written in VB.Net
You can't change the schema name for an intrinsic database (the database that is created with LightSwitch). Maybe you'll be able to in V3, but you can't currently do it in V1 or V2. To achieve this, you'll have to create the database in something like SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio, then attach to it as an external data source.
Seeing as you've already done all the creating in LightSwitch, you could publish it as is, then attach to it as I mentioned above. I hope you don't have screens created, because unless you want to manually edit all of the lsml, you won't be able to use the attached database in any already created screens.
Any time you need to do something "out of the ordinary" with LightSwitch's database, you need to create it outside of LightSwitch, then attach to it. Why? LightSwitch was originally created with the idea in mind that the users didn't need to know anything about SQL Server.
I'm working on a project which relies on the presence of a number of tables, views and stored procedures. Until now I have built these all in SQL Server Management Studio.
Now I would like to continue to work on them inside of Visual Studio. This will provide the benefit of version control (along with a number of other benefits hopefully).
I have added a new project to my solution and started working on one of the views. When I tried to build the solution it failed as the new project didn't have a server/database associated: Error 1 SQL03006: View: [dbo].[vw_Test2] has an unresolved reference to object [EV870_ACCT_MASTER].
I was able to overcome this by
-creating a dbschema dump using vsdbcmd.exe
-adding the dbschema dump as a reference to my database project
Is this the correct approach?
Now i can see the schema (tables, views, sprocs etc) in the Schema view (I had to enable display of "external elements") and the error message has gone away. Note: I had to reference like: [$(SQLDatabase)].[dbo].[EV870_ACCT_MASTER]
Now I want to know how I can work with these objects that i've scripted. I don't know how to use the new tables, views, sprocs etc (I want to use LINQ). Do i have to run the scripts first? How then if they are "CREATE OBJECT" scripts, will they run in future (presumably they'd fail as the object already exists in the database). Will my project/solution know which objects need updating and update them?
Ultimately want to take it a lot further- my aim is that the solution will be portable and a the server/database will be configurables. Then my tables, views and stored procedures will be created or amended if they don't exist or are out of date. Is this possible?
When I then start working with the views etc using LINQ I want those server/database references to remain dynamic?
I know there are quite a few questions in there but i'm hoping someone will be able to point me in the right direction- there doesn't seem to be much useful documentation online (or that i've stumbled across so far).
Thanks
Lee
Where I work (and the last place I worked) we distribute the sql scripts to create the database along with the app. In sql a version number is stored and when the app is run it checks to see if its version is newer than the number stored in the database. If so then it knows it may need to run some new sql scripts in case there were any schema changes. When this happens, we just run through all the scripts because they are written in a way that running them multiple times won't hurt anything... this way we don't have to worry about tracking which scripts are the new ones. Just check the version number and that's it.
As far as working with this stuff in Visual Studio instead of Management studio, I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that. Depending on what you use for source control you may be able to get hooks for Management Studio, but even if not that doesn't stop you from keeping your sql scripts in source control. And I wouldn't switch from working with my sql files in management studio to visual studio for the benefit of having built in source control any day.
I enjoy using SQL Server Management Studio for change and updating my database. Its easier, faster, and safer than writing changes myself.
I was looking into using some sort of version control for databases and read about using a SQL Server Database Project in Visual Studio 2010.
I scripted out an existing database and imported it into a new SQL Server Database Project. Now, from what I can tell, there is no GUI to edit the database; I can't add columns, change datatypes, or edit existing data without scripting it myself. For instance, in SQL Server Management Studio I can right click on a table-name and select "Design" and then add/edit columns, change datatypes, etc from there.
While Visual Studio's Database Projects has some features SQL Management Studio does not have I don't think I can live without a "table designer".
Is there a table designer built into VS's Database Project I'm just not seeing?
No, there's no table designer.
If you're starting to think about version controlling your database, you ought also to be thinking about writing actual SQL to implement your database objects. That's the route that the Database Projects force you down. If you can't write the SQL for your database changes, how are you going to be able to review and appreciate a diff between how a table was 6 months ago, and how it currently is in your project?
I've been using VS2008 Database Projects for about 10 months now for our version control. Every now and then I do still use the table designer, it is a quick and easy tool. I believe the majority of your question centers around workflow as this is what I found to be the most challenging part about development in a version controlled environment. I would recommend continuing to design your objects in Management Studio or however you're comfortable and then do a create script and import that script into your Database project. There are some quirks when doing this, you'll need to always script the create statement even if you're performing an alter in your environment. As well you'll need to remove any USE statements for your database as the context in which you're importing your scripts will always be in the project you're importing to.
We have found that a successful workflow for us to facilitate code deployment is to have a production branch which is branched to a Main (development branch) and then to test. All new development is done in Main and merged by changeset to each other environment as required.
You can import your scripts from your development environment by right clicking in the solution and clicking import scripts. I recommend that you check all the options to overwrite objects that exist, import extended properties and import permissions.
After changing your DB schema using SSMS's GUI tool, you can use Database project's Schema Compare tool to update your project files (set the source to be your database and target to be your project). This way you can keep using GUI tool to manage the schema and the database project will manage the versioning.
There is no visual table designer in Visual Studio 2010 Database Project. But, concerning version control for databases, there is a workaround - you can use SQL Server Management Studio together with Red Gate's SQL Source Control. It costs some money but definitely is worth it.