Team Data - Creating a New Database Project
I'm going to be speaking and doing a couple of webcasts on
Team Edition for Database Professionals over the next few months, so I figured I put up some blog posts on Team Data (as I like to call it) while I'm getting ready for those. I've installed the newly released version of Team Data on my laptop. I'm also running SQL Server 2005 for Developers on my laptop as well. I'm going to be using the
Adventureworks database for SQL Server 2005 for my database.
First up, I'm going to create myself a new database project. Once I create this database project, I can then start doing all kind of cool things, like adding it to my version control system so I can track changes, make changes, deploy those changes to my test database, etc.
To get started, open Visual Studio. Select File->New->Project->Database Projects->Microsoft SQL Server->SQL Server 2005 Wizard. This opens the standard New Project window. I've chosen to call my database project DBAdventureworks.
I was prompted to select which local instance (I have two) of SQL Server 20054 I want to be used for design-time validation. I selected my default (local). This can be changed by going to Tools->Options->Database Tools->Design Time Validation Database Property. Next, the Database Project Wizard starts. The first screen of the wizard is the Welcome screen. I click Next to move on.
The Project Properties Screen is next. This screen allows you decide your project configuration. The main choice to make is whether to organize your project by object type or by schema. I prefer the schema organization, so that is what I choose. This is an important choice, because once you make it, you can't change your mind later. I leave everything else as the default, and click the Next button.
Up next is the Database Options screen, where you can set the various options for your database project. I just take the defaults and click the Next button.
The Import Database Schema screen is next. You can choose to go ahead and import the schema of your database at this point, or you can do it at a later date, after the project has been created. I wanted to go ahead and import the schema of the Adventureworks database. I check the Import existing schema checkbox, and select my Adventureworks database. I leave the import options as their defaults, and click the Next button.
The final screen of the wizard is the Configure Build and Deploy screen. All of the options that can be set on this screen can also be configured later, after the project has been created. I prefer to do that, so I'll leave all these options as their defaults. Note there is a target database name field, which defaults to the name of my team project. This target database is going to be my personal copy of the database, where I will deploy my database project, in order to test any changes I make. You'll see this in future blog posts. Click the Finish button to complete the wizard.
The database project will now be created, and because I chose it, the database schema for the Adventureworks database will be imported. For the Adventureworks database, this took me about 1-2 minutes. How much time it takes will ultimately depend on how extensive your database is. The following image shows the results of the creation.
Close the summary screen, and you will return to Visual Studio, with your newly created DBAdventureworks database project open. The following image shows the schema view of the imported information.
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