New Feature: Exclude unknown tables by default

David E

We have just released an update to SQL Data Compare V12 on the Frequent Updates channel containing a new option to exclude unknown tables by default.

We would love to hear your feedback on this feature.

scollis

The way this option is set up feels wrong - it's on by default, meaning the first time I open each project, it will automatically add new tables, I then have to go and turn this option off, find which tables it's just added and then save the project again.

Could it not be OFF by default, so this behaviour doesn't occur?

David E

Hi Zippy,

We considered this as part of adding the option. Unfortunately this would require all new projects to visit the "Tables and Views" mapping tab of project set up before anything would be seen in the comparison results. This did not feel like the expected behavior when first using the software, as you would have to understand mappings and selections before getting to see any results. Including all tables has also been the default behavior in previous versions of Data Compare, so we wanted to avoid changing the this if we could.

As deselecting tables is an action you discover by vising this tab, it seems the place best suited to introduce the concept of what should happen with additional tables.

Regards,
David

scollis

I'm not sure that this was the default behaviour before version 12, in all honesty. I don't remember seeing the problem before version 12, and it felt at the time like a regression.

I appreciate your point about the default value, but surely you can distinguish between projects that were saved before the flag came into existence and ones that were saved since, that surely shouldn't be too hard to implement?

To be clear - I'm only suggesting this should be the default for projects that were saved before this flag came into existence, if that wasn't clear from my previous message.

David E

Hi Zippy,

In versions of Data Compare before 12 all actions you performed on the mappings and selections screen were recorded and stored to the project file in order. Every selection and deselection of a checkbox was recorded and stored. The previous "Select None" button would be recorded as one of these actions. These were all replayed in order each time the project file was loaded, which would result in some cases of having exceptionally long times to complete the mappings step, or in the worst case, errors if objects had been removed or renamed.

As part of the changes we made in V12 to simplify how mappings and table selections work, we made the decision to calculate the minimal set of actions required to get the project in to the desired state and only record this in the project file. This removed the need to record everything that had ever happened on this screen to the file. In this process we choose to use "deselect item" actions as our way of recording the tables that had been selected as this was what would happen in V11 if you have never pressed the "Select none" button. In making this decision we removed the workflow that you have described. This latest option has been designed to restore that workflow and record "select item" actions instead.

I can see how this would be seen as a regression of functionality and that projects still saved in the old format should be loaded into V12 with the option set appropriately - I will see if we can find a way to populate the option based on the actions in the V11 project file. Unfortunately for projects that have been used in V12 already this information will have been lost as part of the above minimal actions calculation. These will no longer contain the "select none" action that indicates which behavior was being used in the V11 file.

David

scollis

Any progress on this? It's still causing me significant pain... I still have a lot of saved v11 files that every time I open them I have to deselect about 100 tables.

sam.blackburn

We shipped some improvements in 12.2.1 which is now generally available (as a default release). Does it open your projects correctly?

scollis

Hi,

Thanks yes, it seems to.

I've had a few occasions when I open a file and get 300+ tables instead of the 20 or 30 I'm expecting, but I think this is possibly down to the files having previously been upgraded. If I come across any more anomalies I will check they're not upgraded first.

Cheers