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Showing posts with the label DataDude

Automated Unit Testing SQL Server Code

I have never been a fan of automated unit testing of SQL code mainly because previous frameworks / tools, which I came across, all seem to miss the point of SQL code which is either retrieving or manipulating data. Some of the frameworks would only test SQL scalar functions which limited code coverage. Others would test stored procedures but only the output parameter not the data being returned which limited the usefulness of the test.  The methods used to determine if a test pass or fail were also limited. As some would only check the return value; the correct number of rows were returned; a single row of data appeared in the dataset or within a row and column a value is returned. This meant that you could write code that would satisfy the test and could still be functionally incorrect as the rest of the data not checked could be inaccurate. Another problem that some of the previous frameworks forced upon you to solve was how to make the test repeatable. As data has state whic...

Cannot update a database that has been registered as a data-tier application

Within SQL Server 2008 R2 a new feature was introduced, which was the data-tier application database. This feature allow developers / database administrators to package a database schema so that it could be deployed to any other database server and versioned. More about this feature can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee240739(v=sql.105).aspx or http://dacguy.wordpress.com/ This feature has been included, as I have just found out, to previous versions: SQL Server 2005 via Services Pack 4 and 2008 via Services Pack 2. However SQL Server Management Studio, for SQL Server 2008, hasn't been updated with the tools for the new feature, you have to use the SQL Server 2008 R2 version. The reason for including the support to the previous version might have something to do with the release of the new SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), the replacement to visual studio database professional, which uses DAC Packs and the framework to deploy a database. I have been using the...