Can Access generate CREATE TABLE script code like SQL Server can? - database

I have a MS Access file containing hundred of tables, I should create these tables using C# at runtime. So I should generate a script and use that query inside C# to create the tables.
Is there a way that MS Access can generate this SQL script automatically?
Best regards

No, Access itself cannot automatically create DDL (CREATE TABLE ...) code like SQL Server can. It is entirely possible that some third-party product might be able to scan through an Access database and write DDL statements for each table, but recommendations for such a third-party product would be off-topic on Stack Overflow.
Also, as mentioned in the comments to the question, creating an empty database file and then creating each table "from scratch" via DDL is not really necessary for an Access database. Since an Access database is just a file you can distribute your application with a database file that already contains the empty tables (and other database objects as required).

You can use an SSIS package to generate the create table command.
Start a new SSIS package. Add a connection manager for the Access database.
Then add a connection manager for a SQL Server database.
When you configure the dataflow task. Select the Access database as the source, then the SQL server as the destination. When choosing the table or view for the destination hit the [New] button and you will get the table creation script from the Access table DDL translated to MS SQL Server.

Related

Cleared SQL Server tables still retain some data

I made a custom application that is running from several years and is full of company data.
Now I need to replicate the application for another customer, so I set up a new server then i cloned the databases and empty all the tables.
Then I made a database and file shrink.
On the SQL Server side, the databases looks empty but if I run a grep search on the database files .mdf and .log I still can find recurrence of the previous company name also in system databases.
How do I really clean a SQL Server database?
Don't use backup/restore to clone a database for distribution to different clients. These commands copy data at the physical page/extent level, which may contain artifacts of deleted data, dropped objects, etc.
The best practice for this need is to create a new database with schema and system data from scratch using T-SQL scripts (ideally source controlled). If you don't already have these scripts, T-SQL scripts for schema/data can be generated from an existing database using the SMO API via .NET code or PowerShell. Here's the first answer I found with a search that uses the Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SMO.Scripter class. Note you can include scripts data too (insert statements) by specifying the ScriptData scripting option for desired tables.

Dynamically create destination table from source server with SSIS

I need a bit advice how to solve the following task:
I got a source system based on IBM DB2 (IBMDA400) which has a lot of tables that changes rapidly and daily in structure. I must load specified tables from the DB2 into a MSSQL 2008 R2 Server. Therefore i thought using SSIS is the best choice.
My first attempt was just to add both datasources, drop all tables in MSSQL and recreate them with a "Select * Into #Table From #Table". But I was not able to get this working because I could not connect both OLEDB Connections. I also tried this with an Openrowset statement but the SQL Server does not allow that for security reasons and I am not allowed to change that.
My second try was to manually read the tables from the source and drop and recreate the tables with a for each loop and then load the data via the Data Flow Task. But I got stuck on getting the meta data from the Execute SQL Task... so i dont got the column names and types.
I can not believe that this is too hard to archieve. Why is there no "create table if not exist" checkbox on the Data Flow Task?
Of course i searched for the problem here before but could not find a solution.
Thanks in advance,
Pad
This is the solution i got at the end:
Create a File/Table which is used for selection of the source tables.
Important: Create a linked Server on your SQL Instance or a working Connectionstring for the OPENROWSET (i was not able to do so - i choosed the linked server)
Query source File/Table
Build a loop through the resultset
Use Variables and Script Task to build your query
Drop the destination table
Build another Querystring with INSERT INTO TABLE FROM OPENROWSET (or if you used linked Server OPENQUERY)
Execute this Statement
Done.
As i said above i am not quite happy with this but for now it should be ok. I will update this if i got another solution.

getting SQL from one database to create a similar database using only SQL

I want to dump one SQL Server database - get all SQL code necessary to create a similar database. I have full online rights to DatabaseA, I can feed it with SQL and get the results back in rows in a table.
I do not have the possibility to use Enterprise Manager, any applications, utilities or the like. I can only feed it with pure SQL.
What I am after is SQL code, like CREATE TABLE and so on. So that I just can paste this into a query and voila - tables, procedures, functions are created in DatabaseB.
I will not copy the data.
This partly does what I want, it gives me procedures and functions:
Select object_Name(object_ID),definition from sys.SQL_Modules
But not for tables.
You can use the command line or you can create a stored procedure to create a back up, then use that backup to create a new database. I have used the command line often. Here is a previous Stack question that has a command line example and a link to a stored procedure example.
You can generate scripts in SQL Server Management Studio for an entire database or specific database objects.
To do this, right click the database then select Tasks then select Generate Scripts.
It will then open a wizard which will give you the option to choose to script the full database or just specific database objects.

Copy table to a different database on a different SQL Server

I would like to copy a table from one database to another. I know you can easily do the following if the databases are on the same SQL Server.
SELECT * INTO NewTable FROM existingdb.dbo.existingtable;
Is there any easy way to do this if the databases are on two different SQL Servers, without having to loop through every record in the original table and insert it into the new table?
Also, this needs to be done in code, outside of SQL Server Management Studio.
Yes. add a linked server entry, and use select into using the four part db object naming convention.
Example:
SELECT * INTO targetTable
FROM [sourceserver].[sourcedatabase].[dbo].[sourceTable]
If it’s only copying tables then linked servers will work fine or creating scripts but if secondary table already contains some data then I’d suggest using some third party comparison tool.
I’m using Apex Diff but there are also a lot of other tools out there such as those from Red Gate or Dev Art...
Third party tools are not necessary of course and you can do everything natively it’s just more convenient. Even if you’re on a tight budget you can use these in trial mode to get things done….
Here is a good thread on similar topic with a lot more examples on how to do this in pure sql.
SQL Server(2012) provides another way to generate script for the SQL Server databases with its objects and data. This script can be used to copy the tables’ schema and data from the source database to the destination one in our case.
Using the SQL Server Management Studio, right-click on the source database from the object explorer, then from Tasks choose Generate Scripts.
In the Choose objects window, choose Select Specific Database Objects to specify the tables that you will generate script for, then choose the tables by ticking beside each one of it. Click Next.
In the Set Scripting Options window, specify the path where you will save the generated script file, and click Advanced.
From the appeared Advanced Scripting Options window, specify Schema and Data as Types of Data to Script. You can decide from here if you want to script the indexes and keys in your tables. Click OK.
Getting back to the Advanced Scripting Options window, click Next.
Review the Summary window and click Next.
You can monitor the progress from the Save or Publish Scripts window. If there is no error click Finish and you will find the script file in the specified path.
SQL Scripting method is useful to generate one single script for the tables’ schema and data, including the indexes and keys. But again this method doesn’t generate the tables’ creation script in the correct order if there are relations between the tables.
Microsoft SQL Server Database Publishing Wizard will generate all the necessary insert statements, and optionally schema information as well if you need that:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=56E5B1C5-BF17-42E0-A410-371A838E570A
Generate the scripts?
Generate a script to create the table then generate a script to insert the data.
check-out SP_ Genereate_Inserts for generating the data insert script.
Create the database, with Script Database as... CREATE To
Within SSMS on the source server, use the export wizard with the destination server database as the destination.
Source instance > YourDatabase > Tasks > Export data
Data Soure = SQL Server Native Client
Validate/enter Server & Database
Destination = SQL Server Native Client
Validate/enter Server & Database
Follow through wizard

Create & Copy Access tables to SQL via SSIS? SQL 2008

I am trying come up with a way to pull the tables out of an Access database, automate the creation of those same tables in a SQL 2008 DB, and move the data to the new tables. This process will happen on a regular basis and there may be different tables each time.
I would like to do this totally in SSIS.
C# SQL CLR objects are an option.
The main issue I have been running into is how to get the Access table's schema and then convert that to a SQL script that I can run via SSIS.
Any ideas?
TIA
J
SSIS cannot adapt to new tables at runtime. (You can change connections, move a source to a table with a different name, but the same schema) So, it's not really easy to do what I think you are saying: Upsize an arbitrary set of tables in an Access DB to SQL (mirroring their structure and data, naming, etc), so that I can then write some straight SQL to transform the data into another SQL database or the same part of the database.
You can access the SSIS object model from C# and build a package (or modify a template package) programmatically and then execute it. This might offer the best bang for your buck, but the SSIS object model is kind of deep. The SSIS Team blog have finally started putting up examples (a year after I had to figure a lot of this out for myself)
There is always the upsizing wizard, and I'm sure there are some third party tools.

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