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SQL Compare with an existing TFS GDR directory structure
GrahamGoodwin
Posts: 25
For our current SQLServer 2008 projects we are using VS 2008 TFS GDR Edition. We have found this somewhat lacking in the area of DB comparison (eg. comparing one TFS branch with another) and are looking at SQL Compare to overcome these issues. So far SQL Compare shows promise.
Within DB Compare is is possible to register an existing TFD GDR schema objects directory structure as generated by TFS GDR or must we always stick to the DB Compare schema folders structure? The structure of schema objects in TFS GDR resembles much more closely the hierarchal layout as seen in the Object Explorer in SQLServer Mgmnt Studio.
Many thanks.
Regards
Graham Goodwin
Within DB Compare is is possible to register an existing TFD GDR schema objects directory structure as generated by TFS GDR or must we always stick to the DB Compare schema folders structure? The structure of schema objects in TFS GDR resembles much more closely the hierarchal layout as seen in the Object Explorer in SQLServer Mgmnt Studio.
Many thanks.
Regards
Graham Goodwin
Comments
The general rule-of-thumb for SQL Compare is that although we endeavour to support any SQL script files, we can't 100% guarantee that the scripts folders can be successfully registered and compared unless the scripts folders were created by SQL Compare.
For example, I've seen a few perfectly reasonable situations that cause SQL Compare to fail. If you put constraints in different files than the table they're applied to and the constraint files come before the table files alphabetically, SQL Compare claims it can't create the constraint because the table does not yet exist. It also fails if an object appears more than once in different scripts files (which hopefully data dude doesn't allow to happen). Certain syntax can potentially flag the file as suspect. You see some information in the "warnings" tab if this happens.
I'd say that you should give it a try and see and if you run into any trouble, we'd be happy to resolve any reasonable support issues that come up.
Thank you for your email. It helped me to resolve one of my problems.
I have managed to set up my own script folder structure so that it more or less matches that of GDR/TFS. There are a few exceptions as GDR try to force you to create DDL definitions for constraints, indexes etc as separate files in separate folders. I'll have to play around with this a bit more.
I kept on getting an error message concerning a duplicate table definition until I realised (after reading your email) that there is also a deployment script in the GDR folder structure - hence, duplicate definitions!!
I will spend more time tomorrow trying to see how smoothly things run.
Regards
Graham Goodwin