July 16th, 2009 

SQL Data Compare Version 8.0 is a major release introducing support for static data in scripts folders, user interface and command line enhancements, and bug fixes.

New features

SQL Data Compare 8.0 introduces the following features:

• The ability to store static data in scripts folders

  SQL Data Compare 8 allows you to store data scripts in a scripts folder, making it easier to keep databases under source control.

• The ability to share projects with SQL Compare

  To open a SQL Data Compare project in SQL Compare, on the Projects dialog box, select a project, right click, and click Launch in SQL Compare.

  Alternatively, to open the current project in SQL Compare, click the SQL Compare icon on the toolbar of the main window.

  You can open a SQL Compare 8.1 (or later) project in SQL Data Compare 8.0 or later.

  You can open a SQL Data Compare 8.0 (or later) project in SQL Compare 8.1 or later.

• Multiple transactions in the synchronization script

  In previous versions, the synchronization can be enclosed in a single transaction. This allows rollback, but can result in poor performance for large databases. In SQL Data Compare 8.0 you have the option to use multiple transactions. You can specify the amount of data included in each transaction using the Application Options.

• User interface refinements

  SQL Data Compare 8.0 includes many of the user interface improvements made for SQL Compare 8, bringing the workflow of the two products closer together.

• Command line changes

  The command line interface now supports column-level inclusion and exclusion. There are changes to the behavior of some existing switches and options.

• Stability and performance improvements

  SQL Data Compare 8.0 addresses some known stability issues. There are now fewer Out of memory errors when comparing large databases.

Working with scripts folders

A scripts folder is a set of SQL scripts representing a database's schema and data.

For the schema, each object's creation script is saved as a file.

For the data, an insert script is created for each table. A metadata file that allows SQL Data Compare to compare the scripts is also created. The metadata file has the extension .sdcs

When using scripts folders, note that:

• Scripts folders created using SQL Compare version 8.0 and below are not supported.

  To accommodate static data, the structure of scripts folders has changed. SQL Data Compare can only be used with script folders it creates, or that are created by SQL Compare 8.1.

  If an invalid folder is used, the message Scripts folder metadata file incomplete is displayed, and you are recommended to re-create the schema scripts using SQL Data Compare.

• Views are not supported.

  Scripts folders can only represent data in tables.

• filtering with a WHERE clause is partially supported.

  For scripts folders, on the Tables and Views tab of the Project Configuration dialog box, you can use a WHERE clause to restrict which rows are compared. However, only one of the data sources can be a scripts folder. If you are comparing two scripts folders, a WHERE clause cannot be used.

• Scripts folders must contain schema scripts.

  SQL Data Compare cannot create, compare, or synchronize data scripts if the associated schema scripts are not present in the folder. The schema scripts must be created by SQL Data Compare or SQL Compare 8.1.

• SQL Data Compare does not support user-created sql scripts.

  SQL Data Compare can only compare and synchronize a scripts folder if the files in that folder were created by SQL Data Compare, or SQL Compare 8.1

• You are recommended not to edit a SQL Data Compare script file.

  If you edit the contents of a scripts folder, the comparison and synchronization may fail or produce unexpected results.

• You are recommended to use SQL Data Compare to synchronize databases with scripts folders.

  If you run the scripts manually, they may fail or produce unexpected results.

• You are recommended not to delete or modify the .sdcs metadata files created by SQL Data Compare.

  These files contain index information that enables SQL Data Compare to compare and synchronize scripts folders. You will encounter poor performance if valid metadata files are not present in the scripts folder.

Other known issues

• Project compatibility

  You can open a SQL Data Compare 7, 6, or 5 project in version 8. Projects from earlier versions are not supported.

  You cannot open a SQL Data Compare 8 project in earlier versions.

  If you open and save a project in SQL Data Compare 8, it is converted to version 8 and cannot be opened in earlier versions.

  You can open a SQL Compare 8.1 (or later) project in SQL Data Compare 8.0 or later.

  You can open a SQL Data Compare 8.0 (or later) project in SQL Compare 8.1 or later.

• Performance

  If you are using a scripts folder as a data source, and the folder contains a lot of data, the comparison may be slow.

• Installing in a 64 bit environment

  There is a known issue that, in some cases, when installing in a 64 bit environment, the installer displays incorrect progress messages. However, the installation proceeds normally.

  If an earlier version of SQL Data Compare is installed, and you install version 8.0, the two versions are installed side by side. This is confirmed by progress messages in the installer. However, in a 64 bit environment, a successful side by side installation mistakenly shows progress messages for a clean install. In these cases, SQL Data Compare 8 is installed, and previous versions are unaffected.

• Option to launch SQL Compare disabled

  The toolbar of the Comparison Results screen and the right click menu of the Projects dialog box show the option to launch a project using SQL Compare. This functionality is only compatible with SQL Compare version 8.1, and later.

• SQL Compare 8.0 shows parser errors for data scripts

  If you are using a SQL Data Compare 8 scripts folder with SQL Compare 8.0, the Error Parsing Scripts dialog box is displayed each time you compare the data sources.

  This is because SQL Compare 8.0 does not parse the INSERT statements used to store static data. However, SQL Data Compare scripts folders are supported by SQL Compare 8.1

  This potentially leads to a large number of errors. In most cases, these errors can safely be ignored.

If you encounter any issues not documented here, or if these issues have unexpected consequences, you are recommended to contact support, or post a detailed description of the error you encountered in the SQL Data Compare 8 support forum

Command line syntax changes

In SQL Data Compare 8, there are changes to the names and functions of some command line switches and options, as well as their aliases.

The command line syntax of previous versions of SQL Data Compare is considered deprecated, but continues to be supported.

For example, in SQL Data Compare 7, the alias for /BackupSet1 was /bs1. In SQL Data Compare 8, the alias is now /bks1. You can continue to use /bs1 in SQL Data Compare 8, but a message is displayed informing you of the new alias.

Deprecated command line syntax will cease to be supported at a future release.