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
Related
A client wants to host their MS Access 2003 backend database into SQL Server 2008 that resides in a different server. They will be using upsizing wizard to move their databases and tables into SQL server.
A client also has MS Access front end application written in VB. After upsizing their database tables to SQL, they want to use SQL server to read/write data and also use adv. programmability features of SQL Server like stored Procs, functions etc. My team will host their SQL database.
Client will have a growing # of users entering data. So what would be the best option for our team to provide access to our SQL server so that they can use only their databases in our SQL Server?Is there a way to provide them a connection string or something like that so that they could test it in their front end application to see if they could connect to our SQL Server to read/write?Basically I want to know What are the different avenues to connect MS Access 2003 front end application written in VB to connect to SQL Server database hosted in a different server so that a user could read/write to SQL database tables? Any thoughts? Thanks.
Actually, how this setup works is not any different than if your developers were using c++, vb.net, c# or even asp.net. At the end of the day these software development tools such as c++, or FoxPro or MS Access are simply tools that let you write software. The ability of Access to connect to MySql or Oracle or insert your favorite X database brand has existed from day one.
As long as your database supports what is called "open database connectivity" then you are off to the races. And how you setup that database server to allow some software written in say c# or FoxPro or MS Access will not really change much of anything to my knowledge.
So Access is just like any other software tool such as c++ or vb.net – it is a tool that lets you write code and you connect that application and user interface to some database system you choose.
The connection technology that Access uses here is based on industry standards and thus your setup and maintains of the server side will quite much be the same for any other application(s) that you have running on premises that utilize SQL server now.
About the only relevant issue here is that in Access you have a choice of two data object models, ADO and DAO. Right now, since Microsoft is depreciating ADO and they are continuing investment in DAO and also recommending to use open database connectivity. For example, Access 2010 ships with support baked in for SQL Azure (cloud sql), and that support is based on open database connectivity.
So at this point time as it did back in 2003 the recommend data object model in Access is to use DAO.
You can read about the depreciation of ADO support in SQL server here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlnativeclient/archive/2011/08/29/microsoft-is-aligning-with-odbc-for-native-relational-data-access.aspx
While a for good number of general exports and imports and that of linking to SQL server can occur 100% inside of Access, those users will STILL need a set of client tools beyond Access to effectively work with SQL server if over time they going to start using SQL server features. This thus suggests they will need some edition of SSMS (Sql server management studio). The free express version of SSMS should more than suffice in this case.
hope that everybody here is OK.
We are using VS 2008 as development tool, TFS 2008 as version control as well as build automation. Some of our developer use dbpro for databases changes and some use SQL Server management studio.
I am trying to automate build for Web Application built using C# and VB.Net.
Our scenario is such that we have a central database to which our web application connects.
Whenever we supply our clients with a new functionality or a bug fix, we supply them incremental builds.
The SQL script is checked into source control for every incremental build when they have made and tested there changes on our central DB Server.
I want to generate Differential script that can be run at the client as an incremental update script. Now to come about it is a problem. Sometimes our developers tend to forget the database change-sets and the script in the source control is missing an SP or a two.
Also, sometimes we need to insert default data into some of the tables that have strict stringent values and not test values. Like a table that contains Services provided by the panel, we add a new service name, signature, credentials and service address, etc etc in the ServiceTable. Besides this many other tables may have test data that may not be needed.
If we use DataCompare, it will generate changeset for required data (important for client to enable certain services) and our test data that was added to the database as a result of our testing of the functionality or bug fix.
Currently i am using SQLSchemaCompareTask (from Visual Studio 2008 Team Database Professional Power Tools API) in the TFSBuild.proj file of the build definition for TFS 2008.
Using SQLSchemaCompareTask, the script generated contains database names like [dbo]. etc which are not desired as the script fails when run against SQL Server 2000 databses (Some of our client still use SQL Server 2000) databases as teh backend of the application.
Also default data can't be generated by this process.
To overcome this problem, i have to come up with a solution that can compare databases and generate script automatically that does not have to be manually reviewed again before being sent to the client.
Please suggest effective methodology of such SQL script generation and suggest whether two different databases may be used or something ? Is there any toolkit or api that can enable build automation for SQL Server databases?
Thank you all.
Regards
Steve
Try to use SQL Examiner Suite for this:
http://www.sqlaccessories.com/SQL_Examiner_Suite/
The tool compares both schema and data and produces synchronization scrips (or differentials scripts). You can automate script creation with supplied command-line tool.
Rather than collating many individual change set scripts (and therefore occasionally missing objects out), why not use schema compare and data compare to create a single script from your database project using a database equivalent to your client's on the target? This should create a script tailored to their requirements.
In data compare you can exclude test data records that you don't want pushed to your client by unchecking them in the lower grid.
I can't see to find a quick explanation of the differences so I can figure out which to use.
One is for a server one is for a Database? Im not sure what that means..
Basically we are doing a new web app and I want to see what these project types can offer me in terms of tracking the DB code/schema etc..
SQL Server 2008 Project: this is used to create a SQL-CLR module, e.g. create a stored proc, a function, an aggregate etc. in C# (or VB.NET), that will be run inside SQL Server.
When you create such a project, and you click "Add New Item" in Solution Explorer, you're given the choice of creating a stored procedure, a trigger, an aggregate, a user-defined function, a user-defined type or a helper class. These will all be compiled into a .NET assembly, which will be deployed to SQL Server and be executed inside SQL Server in the SQL-CLR runtime environment.
SQL Server Database Project: that's only a collection of SQL scripts to be run against a database, to create and manipulate database objects
In a SQL Server Database Project, you basically only get to add SQL scripts - .sql files. Nothing else, really. So it is indeed quite different from the SQL Server 2008 Project type!
The answer here doesn't seem to actually answer the posted question. "SQL Server 2008 Server Project" "SQL Server 2008 Database Project" are both things that exist in Visual Studio 2008 Database Edition, but sadly while there isn't one named "SQL Server 2008 Project" as the answer suggests, there is one "SQL Server Project" that matches the description. Moreover, there isn't a project type anymore called "SQL Server Database Project" (at least not in Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite), although the description given above seems to describe the much older database projects that were at one point available in VS.
After thinking about it further, I'm going to guess that marc_s doesn't have the Database Edition (otherwise known as Data Dude or DBPro) installed. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Sql Server 2008 Database Projects and Sql Server 2008 Server Projects seem to do basically the same thing. I would have hoped that the Server projects would be used for the installation and configuration, and change management of a Sql Server instance, while Database Projects would be used for individual databases inside them...but this doesn't seem to be the case. Has anyone actually been able to determine the differences between them?
After playing around for a bit, the only difference I've been able to find is that Sql Server 2008 Server Projects will always deploy to the master database on the server you deploy to, regardless of what kind of database you import (master or otherwise) when you create the project. So in that case, Database Projects are for your business databases while Server Projects are specifically for the master database on the server that houses your business databases.
Edit: After scouring the VS2008 documentation a little harder, I came across this specification:
"Deploying Server Projects
A database project can contain definitions for database objects, for server objects, or for both. In most environments, developers can change database objects, but only the database administrator can change server objects. You can enforce this restriction by putting server objects in a separate project (known as a server project). You can then restrict version control so that only your administrators can change the server project. In a staging or production environment, the server project and its objects will most often be deployed separately from the project that contains the database objects.
You deploy a server project by using the same procedures that you use to deploy a schema project."
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd193413.aspx
I have a SQL Server 2008 DB. I want to extract SOME tables (and associated schema, constraints, indexes, etc) and create a SQL Server Express DB. It isn't a sync of the target, we stomp on it.
We ONLY need to do this in the file system (not across the wire). We are not fond of the synchronization stuff and at this point don't know how to run SSIS. We are a C# shop and a little code is ok. Like using the C# bulk import stuff, but that won't create the schema.
Suggestions?
My suggestion:
Back up the database
Restore under new name and file
Detach restored database from SQL Server
You now have a standalone file that you could use with SQL Server Express.
We use a tool from Red-Gate called SQL Compare to generate schema-complete SQL scripts. It's about $400, but well worth it. You pick the objects you want (users, tables, views, functions - whatever) you want, and it will generate a SQL Script to re-create them in your new database. Essentially, it's the same as Right-Click -> "Script To... New Window" in SSMS, but all at once, and it has a number of other features your shop might find useful as well.
As Scott pointed out (I couldn't figure out how to comment on his post), you can do a backup and restore, detach and attach from one server version to another assuming that the database is less than 4GB.
I have been developing in VB.NET and SQL Server 2008 for a while now, but haven't got into live installs yet. In the database system I used be on it had the ability to archive multiple tables into a .dga file, as it was called. I could then restore the .dga file into another database or on another server.
I'm looking for the easiest way to accomplish something similar in SQL Server.
If you want to transfer specific tables, then using Data Transformation Services (right click on the database in SQL Server Management studio and select "Import Data" and it will bring the dialog up for it). Of course, this assumes that you have both databases available to you.
If you are comfortable with replacing the database as a whole, you can easily backup the database and then restore it into a new one through SQL Server Management studio (or through calling the appropriate SP).
I would go for one of the following :
From MS SQL Management Studio, right click on the database / Tasks / Generate scripts
From Visual Studio, in the Server Explorer tab, "publish to provider"
Both will launch a wizard allowing you to export the tables you want the way you want (including data or not, creation scripts or not, etc etc.)
If you want to move tabless without data, the simpliest thing is to script the tables you want and run the script.
We script all our db changes and commit them to subversion and then run them as part of the deplyment process.
If you want to put the whole database on prod including data (scrub out test records first!), then do a backup and restore onthe other server.
For future changes, wescript all our db changes and commit them to subversion and then run them as part of the deployment process. There also are tools that look at the structural differnces bewteen the two servers and creates scripts. REd-Gate's SQL Compare is really good for this.
In addition to HLGEM's suggestions, you can look into SSIS if this is an ongoing process.