No tables appear when trying to compare

rablack

Hi,

I've just installed the trial version of data compare, but there seems to be something wrong. After giving my server information, when I go to the 'choose tables and views' page of the wizard, I get an empty grey box where I assume a table list should be.

I have tried clicking 'select all' in case it was a wierd graphical bug and the list was just not being displayed, but this does not help. Both servers are definitely up.

Anyone got any ideas?

Richard

Brian Donahue

Hello Richard,

This sounds quite a lot like our most common issue with Data Compare: the fact that it requires primary keys or unique indexes to work properly:

http://www.red-gate.com/messageboard/vi ... .php?t=545

rablack

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response. Some tables do indeed lack primary keys, however, most do not. Do all tables in both databases need to have primary keys?

Brian Donahue

Hello,

Yes -- or a unique index or unique constraint on the same column. This way, Data Compare can have a basis for matching rows of data together based on a unique row identifier.

rablack

Sorry, what I meant to ask is: do ALL tables need to have primary keys for ANY tables to appear in the comparison selection?

Brian Donahue

Hi,

No -- tables without primary keys will simply not show up in the list. The rest of them will appear in the list.

rablack

Right, that's what I thought should happen, but I get NO tables at all in the list!

Brian Donahue

What is your version of Data Compare? >3.8 require that the indexes are identically-named. The next version after that, all you need to do is make sure that the unique index is placed on the same column in both databases.

Also, be aware that tables with different ownership will not be eligible for data compare, and it also checks the name of the primary key or unique index column case-sensitively!