I'm having a problem with copying or scripting my database at a web host (which I need for use in a test application), and I'm not getting much help from their support. They don't seem to know what's wrong, but I can't do it because of some "access rights" problem.
So for the time being I'm trying to think of a temporary workaround. All I need is the schema, not the data. So I was thinking, maybe I could import the entire EF model into the test application and use the generate database from model command? But of course, that model is connected to the current database, and I want to generate the schema in a newly created database I have, leaving the current database intact.
Is it possible to do this? Can I just change the connection of the model to the new database, or won't this work, are there other dependencies or something? If it does work, how exactly do I do this? And if it doesn't, is there some other way to achieve this without relying on the web host to find the problem with copying in the near future...?
Please keep in mind that I'm no expert at databases, I just know the basics of the Entity Framework and Linq to Sql, so any specific SQL ideas I probably wouldn't understand (stored procedures and all that...)
You can copy your EF model and change the connection string. That should work fine.
You can export the schema of your database by: In server explorer => right click on the DB => Publish to provider and you follow the step. I will generate a SQL file that contains your schema and you import it on your server. Finally as Nik said you change the connection string.
Related
I have an Xamarin cross platform application. I am currently storing my data in a Sqlite Database. However we want to have bi-directional syncing with an Azure Sql Database. After much reading I decided to give Dotmim Sync a try. The initial sync worked, however when adding a column to a table and attempting to migrate the data (following the tutorial), I got an error stating that the tracking table was missing. I redid everything again and realized that the entity tracking table was never created and I am not sure why. However Sql created a tracking table but it was not the entity tracking table that the error stated was missing.
I am curious if anyone with Xamarin has been able to successfully create bi-directional syncing with Sqlite and Azure Sql using Dotmim Sync. I have yet to find anything else that will work. Other than hand jamming it in this tutorial: https://www.xamarinhelp.com/mobile-database-bi-directional-synchronization-rest-api/
I am not against that, just seems like a lot of room for error. I am hoping someone out there has had success with what I am trying to do.
Hello I'm using Dotmim sync to synchronize a Sql Server database with a Sqlite database hotsted in a xamarin forms application through an API.
I think that I had the same problem as yours.
The problem is, as far as I understood, that the tracking tables are created only on the first sync.
If you change the schema of those tables you will need to call the Deprovision method.
This method will re-create the stored procedures and the triggers with the new database schema.
I'll leave you the link to the docs:
https://dotmimsync.readthedocs.io/Provision.html#provision-deprovision.
We have an existing SQL Server database, and I'd like to create a Visual Studio database project for it and put some of the scripts for the stored procedures in that database in source control. So, I thought I would create a new database project. Is there a way I can wire up this database project to the database? I thought it might be "Add Database Reference", but that only gives me options to use some other database project in the current solution, not set up the current project to be connected to an actual database.
Ideally, I'd like to be able to right-click on my project and do a "Publish" and have all my database info prefilled. I realize that I might be thinking of this wrong, but searching around on the web is of little help. It is surprising how poorly these concepts are documented.
EDIT: After the first answer, maybe my question really is: How can I have only a part of a database managed in a database project? I had assumed this was an ordinary thing that people did all the time with database projects, but maybe not. In my case, I would like to have only some of the stored procedures in source control.
After further reasearch, it seems the answer is, "no, there is no way" to have only a part of a database managed in a database project.
I'm using vs 2013 but i think this is valid back VS 2008
Right click database project.
Then choose -> import -> database.
Setup a connection to your target database.
When you import select the import setting Folder structure Schema\Object type
And run the wizard.
This builds a folder structure containing sql script for your schema objects.
Alternatively if you have sql data tools you could run the schema compare against a blank project.
It has been requested of me to dump an entire database hosted on MS SQL Server 2005 with multiple tables for a third party to then import/use.
My first thought was to find something like mysqld_dump that would give them import commands, which lead me to the "generate scripts" with schema and data, which should work.
one concern with this option is data that has primary/foreign key requirements, does the script it creates keep this in mind, should it be no problem? I am doing a test import now to attempt to verify this; thought I would mention it.
It was suggested for quicker resolution to just dismount the database and give them the MDF file. I am not sure I like this idea, as I am not so familiar with everything that gets stored in this file. Is it a security risk to our server at all? is there references stored in this file that specifically relate to our server that may allow for damages?
My main concern is security here, as long as they get the data everyone will be happy.
Any advise or even better alternatives that i have not thought of would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Why don't you just backup and restore the database to a server that the 3rd party has access to, or deploy it on a server for them and restrict their access and only give them ability to run scripts and other basic permissions?
I'm working with an SQL Server database with about 50 tables and plenty of relationships between those tables. I have already written a backup and restore function which will retrieve all data from the model, export it to XML which it could then import again into a clean database. But maintaining this import/export is a lot of work when there are some major structural changes to the entity model. I want a more dynamic solution.
Is there a more dynamic solution to export data from an entity model and to import it back again into a clean database?
Oh, before I forget... I don't have direct access to the database itself, not it's connection. All I get and all I can use is this entity framework object...
I would be passing this back to your server support team. Seems a bit strange for an app developer to have to worry about data backup/restore.
Have you tried the SQL Server Publishing Wizard? It creates a nifty formatted SQL file that can be easily moved between application, I've also also used (with some search&replace based on regular expression) to move data from SQL Server to Oracle...
RegardsMassimo
The way I develop may not be correct, any advice welcome.
At the moment I have a WPF application that uses a SQL2008 database. I have a copy of the database on a laptop and on my home machine. My application is versioned using SVN and I am obviously able go from the work laptop to the home machine and update/commit as required to ensure I am using the latest code for the application.
However the database is a different story in that any change I make I create a backup and then transfer the backup to the other machine etc. This way I get the data and the changes made on each system. In order to do this the database connection using a different connectionstring and I change a setting in my app to use a different connection based on my location.
I have now started to use LINQ to SQL and DBML files in my application, and finally getting to the question, I don't know how I can change the connectionstring it uses in code so it will use the correct database in the DBML.
Also, is there a better way to transfer the database so I don't need to do the backups and restores? The only reason why I have not versioned the Schema is because I am not sure how that would handle my data as this is key to my development, ie various environment settings etc are stored in the DB and brought through at runtime.
Your Statement:
I have now started to use LINQ to SQL and DBML files in my application, and finally getting to the question, I don't know how I can change the connectionstring it uses in code so it will use the correct database in the DBML.
Yes it's possible.
MYDataContext mycontext = new MYDataContext("Your Connection String");
There is a Constructor where you can chage the Connectionstring.
This is such a common problem, and I have never found a minimal and clean solution to it. How to keep all the values and variables and databases and source files in sync between machines?
Well SVN works great for the source files.
For the database, I TRY to just use one DB if we can get away with it. All the devs point to one machine that hosts the db, then we aren't wasting time with DB setup and merging. If that's not possible, then we usually just end up dumping the database when there is a change and distributing the .bak file around. You can try adding this file to SVN, and it works. you can even have the DB dump to a schedule so that SVN is always getting a new copy. But it's still too much work to keep restoring a db over and over. Perhaps you could hook in some scripting to SVN (we use Tortise for windows) and have a job that would do that automatically. That'd be nice.
For the config files - I do ASP.NET so I have web.config, connectionstrings.config, etc, I do one of two things - either just manually copy sections that need to be changed between machines and comment out the part that doesn't need to be used (clunky), or I've at times written ConfigurationSettings helper objects that diagnose a config key to decide what setting to use, based on the current machine name. eg:
Say my current machine is DEV1. The server is SERVER1. I'll have config keys with names like DEV1.connections.sqlserver and SERVER1.connections.sqlserver. In the code I'll use the helper method GetConfig("connections.sqlserver"). GetConfig figures out which key to use based on the current machine name.
Using this method, I don't have to keep remembering to monkey around with the dozen .configs every time I upload to the server or change things. But I DO have to make a duplicate key for every machine that will be running the application, which can get a bit much. For large teams, instead of using machine names, I use group names and have a config key that assigns machine names to a group - with the idea that every machine in the group will have that application set up in an identical fashion - same file paths etc.
Now onto your second question about LINQ - when you create a linq dbml, it will add a connection string to your config. you just have to make sure that you find this connectionstring and copy it into your active application. eg:
I have a solution that has 2 projects:
1 - website
2 - library
I put the dbml into the library project. If I go and look into the App.config of the library project, I'll see the connectionstring that LINQ wants to use. If I copy this connectionstring into the website's connectionstrings.confing file, when I reference the library and run the website, LINQ will be able to see the connectionstring it wants to use.
You can try Sql Server Merge Replication and use SQL Compact 3.5 as your laptop database and use master as your work/home machine database. However you may do this with only Sql Server Standard Edition.
Other option is , Microsoft Sync Framework.. here..
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sync/default.aspx
You could use red_gate's SQL COmpare and SQLDataCompare to script out changes to the database. You should be in the habit of scripting database changes anyway as that is what you will need to do when it is time to move changes to prod. I would also make sure all database changes are in SVN, we don't make any changes to the database ever without a script in source control.
I ended up just using multiple connection strings and then manually changing the connection on the dbml file whenever I moved locations. However I also have some code in place to programmatically change it based on the project setting for the location.
I haven't really got a good solution to the transferring of the databases and continue to use the backup and restore method.