Visual Studio 2012 SSDT - How do I create/manage tables now? - visual-studio-2012

I'm trying out Visual Studio 2012 and so far it's good but I created database project, added database *.mdf file to my App_Data and tried to create simple database with relations and I have no clue what to do next. I can't even name my database.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh272680(v=vs.103).aspx - AFAIK this article shows how to add relations but I can't find any Foreign Keys node. And also, why can't I edit name? VS2010 database management was so easy and intuitive, now I don't understand how to work with it.
More visual representation of my question and my simple table for example.

Table name you can change in Properties window:
relations by right clicking on Foreign Keys:
You can also modify sql in lower pane - all changes will be reflected in graphical tools. I'm find this useful e.g. when I want to copy some columns from one table to another.
You can also make changes on database with another tools, like SSMS (better FK tools I think) and then import this changes via Schema Compare by setting database as source and project as destination.

Right click on the database where you like to execute the query and then select add new query and execute the following query in it.
sp_rename 'oldtablename','newtablename'

Not so far. Right clic on this element.

check out this answer: Visual Studio 2012 Database Designer - Has the functionality changed?
I'm new to sql anyway if you right click the toolbar there is a "table designer" set of buttons but are all grayed out. Not sure if to initiate them the db must be Online.

Related

Is there a way to reassign multiple change requests within Visual Studio at one time?

I'm working in Visual Studio and I need to reassign more than fifty change requests to different people. Is it possible to reassign multiple CRs at one time and if so, is there a limit on the number that can be reassigned within one instance?
There are two easy ways to do bulk updates:
Excel. Query all the work items you need in Visual Studio then in the work item query page select all work items and choose Open in Excel update the items in Excel and Publish them back to TFS.
Web Access. The Assign To... in Web Access (or the Edit Selected Work Items... options from the Work item query results. Select the work items you want, right-click them and pick the option that applies.
You can also mass re-assign items using the Powershell cmdlets and the commandline tools from the Team Foundation server power tools:
tfpt Query /format:id "project1\Team Queries\My Work Items" | tfpt workitem
/update # /fields:"Assigned To=Jason"

Which Visual Studio project types support Shift+Alt+D to open the Data Sources window?

In Visual Studio 2012, it appears that only maybe a third of the 20 or so C# project types support using Shift+Alt+D to open the "Data Sources" window (and none that I've found ever display the mythical "Data" menu bar option).
Is there any sort of guide as to which project types will allow you to work with data sources?
Also, is there any way to "adjust" the features of a project after it's been created?
Update: See my answer below for how to add the Data Sources function to an existing project.
I believe you are looking for this page:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yft2c9ad.aspx
To quote msdn: "You can add a data source to a project only if it supports creating and working with data sources. For example, you can't open the Data Sources window in a project for a Windows Store app."
Basically, if using a database seems logical in your application, you can probably use one.
To answer your question about the "mythical 'Data' menu bar option", here's how you access it:
You just have to select "View", then "Other Windows", and finally "Data Sources"
And to answer your final question about, "Also, is there any way to 'adjust' the features of a project after it's been created?"
Yes, yes there is. If you mean as a compiled executable, one could simply decompile the project or use an ILcode editor. If you mean as a solution in visual studios, using the solution explorer you can access "My Project" and simply double click that to get a nice little gui for adjusting your project.
EDIT:
For an overload of information about data in visual studios, you can visit: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/wzabh8c4.aspx
For more information about just the data source window, you can visit:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6ckyxa83.aspx
Aha! There is a way to add data access to a project that lacks it, per: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb907587.aspx. To quote:
To create a class from a database table
If you are working with a Web site project, and the project does not already have an App_Code folder, in Solution Explorer, right-click the project, click Add ASP.NET Folder, and then click App_Code.
In Solution Explorer, right-click the App_Code folder (for a Web site project) or the project (for a Web application project) and then click Add New Item.
Under Installed templates, select Linq to SQL Classes template, type a name for the .dbml file, and then click Add.
-- The Object Relational Designer window is displayed. [Note that this is the window that Shift-Alt-D displays]
In Server Explorer, drag the database tables or other objects (such as views) that you want to use with LINQ to SQL into the Object Relational Designer window.
-- The tables and their columns are represented as a entities in the designer window.
Save the .dbml file.
This creates .designer.cs or .designer.vb file that is located under the .dbml file. The file contains a class that represents the database and a class that represents the table. The parameterless constructor for the database class reads the connection string from the Web.config file.
(Note that, after performing this procedure you may get a message "The type or namespace name 'Linq' does not exist in the namespace 'System.Data'". The solution to this problem is found here.)

Update database with visual studio database projects

Hy,
I'am trying to use Visual Studio 2012 database project to upgrade a database to a newer version but i'am having a weird problem.I select the source database then the target database and hit compare.Visual Studio generates the script with the differences and when i execute it fails because it tries to drop tables without first dropping the FK constraints that are on those tables.(normally it should first script all the constrains from a table,drop them,drop the table,after that create the new table and finally recreating the constraints)
Do you have any ideas why it tries to do directly drop table without dropping constraints first.
Am i missing some settings?
Sounds like a bug to me. Try posting the same question on the SSDT forum.
If you have access to a copy of SQL Compare, it might be worth trying the same comparison to see if this works better. If you're using a database project as a data source, you'll need to select "source control", then "scripts folder", and browse to the folder that contains the .sqlproj file. Here at Red Gate we're working on improving database project support in SQL Compare so we'd welcome any feedback or questions.
If the tables that are being dropped in your database are not in your schema definition and you have got the "DROP objects in target but not in project" option selected in the Deployment Options, then it will try to drop them.
Have you checked this is not the case?
Whenever i work with database generating code from data models, or scrips, i often get that problem, so i have an script just for deleting those keys, sometimes i have to drop my database manually rather than executing the query, because most of the times it does but not completely, so i first dro the database, generate the script and run the script just for erasing the keys

Update target button is disabled after schema comparison

I have created database project using VS 2012. Once the schema comparison is done, the update target button should be enabled to sync with target.
But it's not getting enabled. Any help plz.
I'm using VS 2012 with sp 3, SQL Server 2012,
Check the Error List if you have any error, I had a non recognized word in VS (but it did in SQL Server), I commented it out, re-compared and it was enabled successfully.
See if you have a "warning" message stating "Cannot generate deployment plan due to an internal error". If so, the Update and Generate Script buttons will be disabled.
Close Visual Studio, navigate to the folder containing the Database project and remove all (*.dbmdl) files. Then restart Visual Studio, re-run the compare schema at which point the Update button should be enabled.
Workaround:
In my case. Fixing Error was not priority task. Also i was not able to find any Error in Error List.
Its just you dont have to use your "Visual Studio Database Project" in source or target. Instead of using project, create a temp DataBase using script already with you.
Select this (or these) temp database(s) in source and (or) other in target.
Button must be Enabled.
For me getting difference was far more important than fixing the issue. Hope it helps you. With some more improvisation.
It seems your database project has sqlcmd variables without default values.
See:
http://www.andrewburrow.net/vs2012-schema-compare-buttons-disabled/
Hope this helps.
I couldn't see any errors in Error List, but I could see the errors in the Output tab
the everytime you open the "options" on "schema comparison" you must click on "compare" button again to activate the "update" button. However if it doesn't work at the first time, just close and reopen the Schema comparison file again.
For me, there were no errors visible in the Error List. This was because I had the "Show Issues Generated" drop down was set to "Build Only"; changing it to "Build + IntelliSense" allowed me to see the SQL errors that needed to be fixed to enable the Generate Script and Update buttons.
In SSDT I had the case where the update button was enabled but the generate script was not enabled. This was because my destination schema was my local solution (the *.sqlproj vs project).
It took a few minutes to dawn on me that the destination needed to be a real database to correctly generate the script.
And after all, when you have the available Update Target button and the disabled Generate Script button.
See if your source is a database and your target is your SSDT project.
If so then click "Switch source and target" button.
The Generate Script button will become available.
I.e. a SSDT project must be the source and a database must be the target in the Schema Compare window.
Workaround 2:
In my case, the Update button was greyed out because of there were errors warnings about a view that I created and added to the project earlier.
The problem was that the view was scripted to use full database qualified object naming. E.g. [databasename].[schemaname].[objectname], which works fine in SSMS, but causes a problem when it is checked in a DB Project.
If you use three part naming for referring an object in same DB project results in a error/warning in Visual Studio.
By changing the code to [schemaname].[objectname] in the definicion of the view removed the error warnings and enable the Update option. Happy days!
Credits:
https://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio-ide/suggestions/3577074-allow-three-part-naming-for-referring-a-db-object
https://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio-ide/suggestions/17396128-keep-update-and-generate-update-script-buttons
Typically the update button is grayed out when the database objects are available in the separate sql files physically inside the database project but are not included in the database project itself. I simply added those sql scripts into the project and the update button got enabled after comparing the schema.
In my case, the Update button was disabled because there was a scalar function that was modified and that function was used in a computed column definition.
My solution was to:
Manually drop the computed column(s) in the database
ALTER TABLE <your table> DROP COLUMN <your computed column>
Re-run the schema compare
The Update button was enabled, and the update completed successfully

How to export work items from one TFS server to another TFS server using Excel

I need to migrate Work Items from one TFS server to another TFS server. I tried migrating them using the TFSMigration tool available in CodePlex.
The problem I am encountering is the schema for the work item on the source TFS is different from the schema of the work item type on destination. I don't want the destination TFS server schema for the work item to be modified. The change in schema is one new column only, but still don't want to take that change.
In one blog it was said that we can do that using Excel but not much details were available. I am not sure we can even use Excel to migrate the entire history related to Excel.
Have a look at the TFS Integration Tools on VS gallery. This supports custom field mappings as part of a migration, documentation here (direct download).
I did this a while back and, not finding an appropriate tool, resorted to copying the title and description etc across manually, as we only had a few active work items at the time, so it only took about an hour.
however, if I need to do it again, I'll use the TFS API to read fields of interest and write them to the new database. that way any schema differences don't matter, and the process is automated but under your control. Search for studying work items with the TFS API for details - it's really very easy.
Of course with both of these approaches (and all the migration tools AFAIK) you will only get a snapshot of the data - all history will be lost (or at best you can query using AsOf to get historical data, but all the entries you make will be timestamped at the moment you write them, not with the historical time that the event originally occurred.)
You can use the Excel editor to edit the source query All Items "Open Query in Microsoft Excel". Then open the destination query All Items "Open Query in Microsoft Excel". Copy and paste the contents from one excel window to the other. Certain fields like attachments will not transfer.

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