Visual SourceSafe integration and comprehensive database documentation.
The awarded solution avaliable for Microsoft SQL Server developers, that enables source control and comprehensive documentation of your databases by Visual SourceSafe integration.
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Source control
Enabling SQL Server code and database schema to be fully source controlled was the first intention to write SQL Source Control™ 2003. During the development process the features list grown long and now we can offer you all of them in one, easy to use environment.
Teamwork is one of the more important source control advantages. By working with a team of developers, you can create applications faster, and
can develop more complex applications. You can blend the skills of different
developers to create applications that would be difficult or impossible for a
single developer to create.
However, team development requires extra effort in the development process.
Successful team development depends on:
- Allowing several developers to work with the same databases at the same time.
- Coordinating the changes that are made to the same database elements, so that one developer's changes don't overwrite those of
another developer.
 | Adding database to source control |
When you add connection to the project, you provide source control database (Visual Source Safe) connection properties. Using this data, the wizard automatically adds database to the source control database.
If you want to point your existing connection to another source control database, you simply use Change Source Control option.
| Check In and Out |
When you open project in SQL Source Control™ 2003, it initializes all the connections with current source control state. Each database item may be in one of three different states:
- not checked out
Treeview node icon not modified.
- checked out to you
Treeview node icon checked.
- checked out to another user
Treeview node icon checked and grayed-out. The name of the developer, that has the item currently checked-out is displayed in parentheses.
Fig.1 Connection pane elements, tables checked out visible
You may check the selected database item out, in, undo checkout you have made and get latest version for viewing. This functionality is accessible from the application main menu, toolbar and treeview context menu.
CAUTION! SQL Source Control™ 2003 does NOT put data (rows) contained in the tables under source control. Source Control functionality applies to table schema definition.
| Database items history |
To ensure, that each version of a database item is recoverable, SQL Source Control™ 2003 provides version control and history services, thanks to Visual Source Safe integration. The date/time stamp is used to record when files are
checked out or changed.
You have access to database item history through Source Control \ History dialog window.
Fig.2 Source Control History for selected database item
When there, you may either preview each historic version using View, or get it as current version of the database item through Get. Due to complicated database schema issues, Rollback feature is not supported in this version of the application.
| Undelete database items |
When you delete database item through SQL Source Control™ 2003, the source control history is retained. That's why you are able to browse through deleted database items and put each of them back to the database.
Fig.3 Source Control Deleted Elements for selected database
You may either preview selected item using View, or open it for editing using Get.
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