A behind the scenes glimpse of SQL Clone

It has always been a difficult task to provision development and test environments so that they reflect as closely as possible what’s present in production. With the rise of containerization and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) technologies, some parts of this are becoming much easier. We can automate the process of spinning up and configuring new virtual Read more

Generating test data with localized addresses using SQL Data Generator

With basic grasp of regex expressions, a tool like SQL Data Generator can generate test data with addresses that are realistic for your part of the world. Read more

SQL Change Automation

Solving Visual Studio database delivery problems with SQL Change Automation

For .NET developers working with Visual Studio (VS), the introduction of Database Projects with SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) brought to VS the ability to manage changes to the database schema and code objects, just like any other type of application code. An added advantage is that the declarative style of SSDT’s project files lends itself Read more

How to accelerate your SQL Server performance using SQL Monitor

I’ve been lucky enough to spend some time as a racing driver, racing BMWs for three years before joining the BRSCC Porsche Championship. Steve McQueen famously said ‘Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting’. When I’m waiting, I’m a SQL Server DBA consultant and throughout my racing and DBA career, I’ve realised Read more

Comparing SQL Server Databases using DacPacs and SQL Compare

How to compare SQL databases using DACPACs, script out differences and then run a database deployment task to synchronize the schema of the target database. Read more

Cleaning up common T-SQL coding issues with SQL Prompt

Some SQL coding habits are just annoying. Commas in front of column names? No way! Others are actively harmful; they’ll make your code error prone, harder for others to read and understand, and even harder to edit without making mistakes. This article covers five harmful problems that I see regularly in T-SQL code, and shows Read more

SQL Deployment Automation using SQL Compare Command Line

SQL Compare provides a command line interface (CLI) for running database schema comparisons and generating a deployment script, as part of a scripted process. I'll demonstrate how to do this with a 1-click process, using a batch (.bat) file. Read more

Quick SQL Prompt tip – using the ii snippet

SQL Prompt includes a number of snippets by default that can help you quickly write T-SQL code. These are templates of code that users use regularly. One of the more popular snippets is the “ii” snippet that helps with inserting data into a table. If I type “ii” and hit tab, I quickly get the Read more

Versioning an existing database using SQL Source Control

How to bring an existing database under Git version control. Read more

How to format a set of SQL scripts using SQL Prompt

Any database developer or DBA who spends much of their working week staring at SQL code quickly becomes set in their ways. They like to see the code laid out in a very particular way. They will struggle to look at, let alone digest and understand, code formatted in a ‘foreign’ style. It’s also rare Read more

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