Excluding columns from being generated

vijaybasra87vijaybasra87 Posts: 2
edited February 26, 2015 6:24PM in SQL Data Generator
Hi,

I would like to generate data for a table but exclude certain columns from being generated/randomised.

As an example. I have a table that holds employee information which contains a Primary Key EmpID. This links back to other associated tables which I want to keep in synch.

I can't see where I can deselect this column from being re-generated.

I am on a trial version of the software which expires in a few days and this is the only thing holding me back from purchasing the paid version.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards
Vijay

Comments

  • Hi,

    I have the exact same problem except I am on the paid version. I have a database that I wish to only randomise about 20 columns in total throughout various tables leaving all of the other data intact.

    I have searched and researched but can’t seem to find a way to do it. Like the ability to Select/Deselect All using the Populate Tickbox against the tables I am expecting to see the same for column selection within the tables. Am I missing something?

    Regards,

    Brendan
  • Hi Vijay,

    Here is the response I received from support,


    Thanks for your email.
    The best way to do this would be to make a copy of your database and use the original database as a source to populate and randomize data in the copy.
    Here is the documentation on that http://documentation.red-gate.com/displ ... ata+source
    Alternatively we do have a tool (called Data Refresh) that only masks data, and it can be used to mask the table on a column by column basis.
  • Hello Vijay and Brendan,

    Thanks for contacting us, and thank you Brendan for helping answer this question! :D

    The documentation page that Brendan linked is the main method to mask columns within your database. It seems that I do not have Vijay's email address, but if you have any questions or issues you can reply to this or submit a request to support@red-gate.com.

    Thanks!

    Warm Regards,

    Andrew Pierce
    Product Support Engineer
    Redgate Software
    Andrew Pierce
    Technical Sales Engineer
    Redgate Software
  • pavlokmpavlokm Posts: 1 New member
    Hey Guys,

    I also had some nullable columns I wanted excluded from the generation, because a trigger fills in that data. Was able to do it by setting the "% null" to 100. But I agree it would be nice to simply be able to deselect the columns you want to exclude.


    Matt
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