Need compare tables utility for SQL Server - sql-server

Question

Command line or library "compare tables" utility for SQL server with comprehensive diff output to a file in .Net
I can't find anything like that. Commercial or free ( XSQL Lite is suitable for my case and ) tools show diffs in grids with possibility to export to CSV. Also they generate sync SQL scripts when run from command line. What I need is an output as a comprehensive report ( XML , HTML ) suitable for parsing so that I would be able to show similar diff grid in my application ( updated old/new values for each column , added - all values for row , deleted - all values for row and etc... ) .

Answer 1

Since it sounds like you only want to show the diffs in your application, just write your own query, it isn't that hard, here is an example:
DECLARE #TableA table (RowID int, Col1 int, Col2 varchar(5), Col3 datetime)
DECLARE #TableB table (RowID int, Col1 int, Col2 varchar(5), Col3 datetime)
set nocount on
INSERT #TableA VALUES( 1,111,'AAA','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableA VALUES( 2,222,'BBB','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableA VALUES( 3,333,'CCC','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableA VALUES( 4,444,'DDD','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableA VALUES( 5,555,'EEE','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableA VALUES( 6,666,'FFF','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableA VALUES( 7,777,'GGG','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableA VALUES( 9,888,'HHH','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableA VALUES(10,111,'III','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableB VALUES( 1,111,'AAA','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableB VALUES( 3,333,'CCC','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableB VALUES( 4,444,'DD' ,'1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableB VALUES( 5,555,'EEE','2/2/2010')
INSERT #TableB VALUES( 6,666,'FFF','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableB VALUES( 7,777,'GGG','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableB VALUES( 8,888,'ZZZ','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableB VALUES( 9,888,'HHH','1/1/2010')
INSERT #TableB VALUES(10,111,'III','1/1/2010')
set nocount off
SELECT
a.RowID, CASE WHEN b.RowID IS NULL THEN 'A' ELSE '' END AS RowsOnlyExistsIn
,a.Col1,b.Col1, CASE WHEN a.Col1=b.Col1 OR (COALESCE(a.Col1,b.Col1) IS NULL) THEN 'N' ELSE 'Y' END AS Col1Diff
,a.Col2,b.Col2, CASE WHEN a.Col2=b.Col2 OR (COALESCE(a.Col2,b.Col2) IS NULL) THEN 'N' ELSE 'Y' END AS Col2Diff
,a.Col3,b.Col3, CASE WHEN a.Col3=b.Col3 OR (COALESCE(a.Col3,b.Col3) IS NULL) THEN 'N' ELSE 'Y' END AS Col3Diff
FROM #TableA a
LEFT OUTER JOIN #TableB b On a.RowID=b.RowID
UNION ALL
SELECT
b.RowID, 'B' AS RowsOnlyExistsIn
,null,b.Col1, 'Y' AS Col1Diff
,null,b.Col2, 'Y' AS Col2Diff
,null,b.Col3, 'Y' AS Col3Diff
FROM #TableB b
WHERE b.RowID NOT IN (SELECT RowID FROM #TableA)
ORDER BY 1
OUTPUT:
RowID RowsOnlyExistsIn Col1 Col1 Col1Diff Col2 Col2 Col2Diff Col3 Col3 Col3Diff
----------- ---------------- ----------- ----------- -------- ----- ----- -------- ----------------------- ----------------------- --------
1 111 111 N AAA AAA N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
2 A 222 NULL Y BBB NULL Y 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 NULL Y
3 333 333 N CCC CCC N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
4 444 444 N DDD DD Y 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
5 555 555 N EEE EEE N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-02-02 00:00:00.000 Y
6 666 666 N FFF FFF N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
7 777 777 N GGG GGG N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
8 B NULL 888 Y NULL ZZZ Y NULL 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 Y
9 888 888 N HHH HHH N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
10 111 111 N III III N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
(10 row(s) affected)
of course you would need to generate this dynamically so any two tables could be compared. This query will get you the columns of any tables:
SELECT
*
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE
TABLE_CATALOG ='database'
AND TABLE_SCHEMA='dbo'
AND TABLE_NAME ='yourtable'
ORDER BY ORDINAL_POSITION
here is a quick dynamic sql version (I attempt to pull in all the PK columns and use them to dynamically join the tables, but I only tested it on tables with 1 PK column):
set up for dynamic sql
CREATE TABLE TableA (RowID int primary key, Col1 int, Col2 varchar(5), Col3 datetime)
CREATE TABLE TableB (RowID int primary key, Col1 int, Col2 varchar(5), Col3 datetime)
set nocount on
INSERT TableA VALUES( 1,111,'AAA','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableA VALUES( 2,222,'BBB','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableA VALUES( 3,333,'CCC','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableA VALUES( 4,444,'DDD','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableA VALUES( 5,555,'EEE','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableA VALUES( 6,666,'FFF','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableA VALUES( 7,777,'GGG','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableA VALUES( 9,888,'HHH','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableA VALUES(10,111,'III','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableB VALUES( 1,111,'AAA','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableB VALUES( 3,333,'CCC','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableB VALUES( 4,444,'DD' ,'1/1/2010')
INSERT TableB VALUES( 5,555,'EEE','2/2/2010')
INSERT TableB VALUES( 6,666,'FFF','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableB VALUES( 7,777,'GGG','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableB VALUES( 8,888,'ZZZ','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableB VALUES( 9,888,'HHH','1/1/2010')
INSERT TableB VALUES(10,111,'III','1/1/2010')
set nocount off
dynamic sql
DECLARE #TableA sysname
,#TableB sysname
,#SQLa varchar(max)
,#SQLb varchar(max)
,#SQL varchar(max)
SELECT #TableA='TableA'
,#TableB='TableB'
,#SQLa=NULL
,#SQLb=NULL
DECLARE #PKs table (RowID int identity(1,1) primary key, PkColumn sysname)
DECLARE #index_id int
,#PK sysname
,#i int
SELECT #index_id=index_id from sys.indexes where object_id=OBJECT_ID(#TableA) AND is_primary_key=1
SELECT #PK=''
,#i=0
while (#PK is not null)
BEGIN
SET #i=#i+1
SELECT #PK = index_col(#TableA, #index_id, #i)
IF #PK IS NULL BREAK
INSERT INTO #PKs (PkColumn) VALUES (#PK)
END
SELECT #SQLa=''
,#SQLb=''''+#TableB+''' '
SELECT
#SQLa=#SQLa+' ,a.'+COLUMN_NAME+',b.'+COLUMN_NAME+', CASE WHEN a.'+COLUMN_NAME+'=b.'+COLUMN_NAME+' OR (COALESCE(a.'+COLUMN_NAME+',b.'+COLUMN_NAME+') IS NULL) THEN ''N'' ELSE ''Y'' END AS '+COLUMN_NAME+'Diff '
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME =#TableA
ORDER BY ORDINAL_POSITION
SELECT
#SQLb=#SQLb+' ,null,b.'+COLUMN_NAME+', ''Y'' AS '+COLUMN_NAME+'Diff'
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME =#TableA
ORDER BY ORDINAL_POSITION
SET #SQL='SELECT CASE WHEN b.'+(SELECT PkColumn FROM #PKs WHERE RowID=1)+' IS NULL THEN '''+#TableA+''' ELSE '''' END AS RowsOnlyExistsIn '
+#SQLa
+'FROM '+#TableA+' a LEFT OUTER JOIN '+#TableB+' b ON '
SELECT
#SQL=#SQL+ CASE WHEN RowID!=1 THEN 'AND ' ELSE '' END +'a.'+PkColumn+'=b.'+PkColumn+' '
FROM #PKs
SET #SQL=#SQL+' UNION ALL SELECT '
+#SQLb
+' FROM '+#TableB+' b LEFT OUTER JOIN '+#TableA+' A ON '
SELECT
#SQL=#SQL+ CASE WHEN RowID!=1 THEN 'AND ' ELSE '' END +'b.'+PkColumn+'=a.'+PkColumn+' '
FROM #PKs
SET #SQL=#SQL+'WHERE a.'+(SELECT PkColumn FROM #PKs WHERE RowID=1)+' IS NULL ORDER BY 2,3'
EXEC(#SQL)
output:
RowsOnlyExistsIn RowID RowID RowIDDiff Col1 Col1 Col1Diff Col2 Col2 Col2Diff Col3 Col3 Col3Diff
---------------- ----------- ----------- --------- ----------- ----------- -------- ----- ----- -------- ----------------------- ----------------------- --------
TableB NULL 8 Y NULL 888 Y NULL ZZZ Y NULL 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 Y
1 1 N 111 111 N AAA AAA N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
TableA 2 NULL Y 222 NULL Y BBB NULL Y 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 NULL Y
3 3 N 333 333 N CCC CCC N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
4 4 N 444 444 N DDD DD Y 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
5 5 N 555 555 N EEE EEE N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-02-02 00:00:00.000 Y
6 6 N 666 666 N FFF FFF N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
7 7 N 777 777 N GGG GGG N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
9 9 N 888 888 N HHH HHH N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
10 10 N 111 111 N III III N 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 2010-01-01 00:00:00.000 N
(10 row(s) affected)

Answer 2

I;m assuming you want to compare data not schema and I'm assuming that the tables are in diff databases.
I would not do it in SQL but load the data in generic .Net DataSet, and iterate thru Table
object, columns and rows. This way one piece of code would work for any database table, no need for awkward dynamic SQL, however the downside is possible perf hit since you will need to load the data into a dataset - in this case just run the code on SQl server itself and dump the result files to a file share.

Answer 3

Open Source DiffKit will do all of that except the .NET part.
www.diffkit.org