Will getting latest change remove any existing table rows?

jrummell

Will getting latest change remove any existing table rows in changed tables? I don't want to lose my test data.

MartinU

This is a must for us to be able to move to SSC from Visual Studio. The most appealing aspect of SSC is the performance compared to VS. However, if we have to replace our data each "get latest" operation then I believe the benefit will be negligible and we will stay with VS.

David Atkinson

If I understand the question, are you asking whether 'get latest' will wipe all pre-existing data from your linked development database?

Rest assured that SQL Source Control will preserve your existing data in this circumstance. Tables will be ALTERed where possible. In some situations they will need to be rebuilt, in which case SQL Source Control will create a temporary table in which the data is copied, and then replaces it once the table has be recreated.

I'd encourage you to test the tool on a few of your own scenarios to fully satisfy yourself that the behavior is how you expect it to be, and of course let us know if it falls short.

Kind regards,

David Atkinson
Product Manager
Red Gate Software

MartinU

Correct, my concern is of existing testing data not so much the static data as we already replace thaton each Visual Studio deployment operation.

Take a c# programmer for example debugging and testing their code they may have populated their local DB with testing data. However, they need to get latest on the DB so they are certain they are coding against the most recent schema.

We would not want their test data to removed.

David Atkinson

In that case it should be fine. The only exceptions are when you are getting latest on a table where a column has been truncated or removed. In this case the data will be lost and not recoverable by the undo feature, as it isn't in source control.

In other cases, we preserve the pre-existing data.

Kind regards,

David