desktop shortcuts?

rbennet8

What causes the SQL Compare 5 to create shortcuts on my desktop and how do I stop this from happening? My desktop is cluttered enough without 5 or more SQL Compare short cuts. Do they have a purpose?

Brian Donahue

Hello,

I can't say how they could have got there. The installer, unlike lots of other program installers, doesn't give you the option to create a desktop shortcut. It only creates shortcuts in the start menu program group (SQL Bundle 5).

rbennet8

But these shortcuts are not from the install but rather after executing a SQL compare 5.

This is the content of one of the .scp shortcuts

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16" standalone="yes"?><!--
SQL Compare 5
SQL Compare
Version:5.2.0.32--><Project version="5" type="SQLCompareProject"><DataSource1 version="2" type="LiveDatabaseSource"><ServerName>.</ServerName><DatabaseName>PD0006</DatabaseName><Username /><SavePassword>True</SavePassword><Password encrypted="1" /><IntegratedSecurity>True</IntegratedSecurity></DataSource1><DataSource2 version="2" type="LiveDatabaseSource"><ServerName>.</ServerName><DatabaseName>PD0008</DatabaseName><Username>sa</Username><SavePassword>True</SavePassword><Password encrypted="1">NVZNTaxCHa8=</Password><IntegratedSecurity>True</IntegratedSecurity></DataSource2><ObjectHashtable type="Hashtable" version="1" /><LastCompared>8/3/2006 6:43:49 PM</LastCompared><Options>377966034959</Options><InRecycleBin>False</InRecycleBin><Direction>0</Direction><Filters type="ArrayList" version="1"><value type="ObjectType">Table</value><value type="ObjectType">StoredProcedure</value><value type="ObjectType">View</value><value type="ObjectType">Default</value><value type="ObjectType">FullTextCatalog</value><value type="ObjectType">Function</value><value type="ObjectType">UserDefinedType</value><value type="ObjectType">Rule</value><value type="ObjectType">Role</value><value type="ObjectType">User</value><value type="ObjectType">DdlTrigger</value><value type="ObjectType">Assembly</value><value type="ObjectType">Synonym</value><value type="ObjectType">XmlSchemaCollection</value><value type="ObjectType">MessageType</value><value type="ObjectType">Contract</value><value type="ObjectType">Queue</value><value type="ObjectType">Service</value><value type="ObjectType">Route</value><value type="ObjectType">EventNotification</value><value type="ObjectType">PartitionScheme</value><value type="ObjectType">PartitionFunction</value><value type="ObjectType">Schema</value><value type="ObjectType">ServiceBinding</value><value type="ObjectType">Certificate</value><value type="ObjectType">SymmetricKey</value><value type="ObjectType">AsymmetricKey</value></Filters><UserNote>Master Defaults</UserNote><ObjectSelectionUserActions type="ArrayList" version="1" /><OwnerMappingUserActions type="ArrayList" version="1" /></Project>

Brian Donahue

Something has happened to SQL Compare that's told it to use your desktop folder as storage for all of your projects. Have you got a folder called %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Red Gate\SQL Compare 5? Can you read and write to it?

I wonder if it could also be a roaming profile issue. Anything unusual about your user profile?

rbennet8

I do have the folder you mentioned and yes I have .scp files in the folder as recent as Yesterday. I am not aware of any roaming profile issues. I regularly other servers using remote desktop with my profile.

These seem to be created when I connect to a remote server and do several compares with the connection. The other thing is that I have Red Gate Bundle both version 4.1 and 5.2 installed. When I double click the desktop icon for one of these, it attempts to start the version 4.1 compare and errors out.

Brian Donahue

The second problem is well-known. You can't open a SQL Compare project by double-clicking an SCP file in version 5, but you could in version 4, so all SCP files are associated with v4, which causes an additional problem in that you can't open the v5 file in v4. This is by design.

Brian Donahue

Are the same SCP files showing up in both your desktop and profile folders?

rbennet8

No, they are either created on the desktop or in the appropriate local settings folder. Actually, it has not created an scp file in the local settings folder since 8/10. Currently, they all seem to placed on my desktop. I don't think I have changed any settings before or after 8/10.

Is there a registry entry that I should examine?

Brian Donahue

Hi,

I double checked this against the code and found that SQL Compare is hard-coded to save the projects into your user profile's local settings folder. The location isn't configurable in any way, such as with a registry entry or ini file.

rbennet8

I found the answer. I have a master project that I use for all comparisons on my local server so that I do have to reset the compare options each time. I reuse the project by changing the database names. I discovered this was the only project writing the short cuts to my desktop.

Somehow, the .scp file in my local settings was set to read only for this project. None of the other scp files associated to my other projects were read only. I turned off read only on the scp file and I no longer get shortcuts every time I use that project.