Phil Factor describes how custom pre- and post-deployment scripts work, when doing state-based database deployments with SQL Compare or SQL Change Automation, and how you might use them to, for example, add a version number to the target database, specify its database settings, or stuff data into some tables.
2019-11-18
Phil Factor demonstrates how using XML argfiles to pass parameters to SQL Compare cuts out a lot of the tedious scripting involved in modifying a database schema comparison and deployment process, as required for each target database.
2019-10-28
Your PowerShell process for database comparison and deployment is running smoothly, and your instinct is to 'leave well alone'. However, you continually need to delve into the script to tweak comparison settings or add a new command line switch. Phil Factor proposes a way to avoid this using SQL Compare projects.
2019-10-22
The latest version of SQL Compare now offers a Command Line Interface on Linux for the first time. Now teams can benefit from the industry standard tool for comparing and deploying SQL Server databases, whether they choose to work on Windows, Linux, or both.
2019-10-09
When we started SQLServerCentral, there were originally 7 of us. We all decided to "invest" $50 to get the site going. With this seed money, we paid for a VM that hosted both SQL Server and IIS. This was enough money to run the site for 6+ months, and we set about building an online […]
2019-09-04
268 reads
A script to drive SQL Compare for building upgrade scripts.
2019-07-11 (first published: 2019-06-26)
2,134 reads
This article from Tony Davis describes how to the use the Redgate SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare GUIs to get the current version of a database schema, and its static data, into version control, and then automate database deployments from the version control system using SQL Compare's command line and PowerShell.
2017-05-26
4,474 reads
Phil Factor shows how you can use the SQL Compare Pro command line with PowerShell to automate the task of getting a new database into version control, creating a new database build script, and creating a database migration script.
2017-04-12
4,185 reads
Sometimes, it's necessary to have different versions of a database running in production. But how do you establish a single source of truth in source control? Alex Yates from DLM Consultants shows how to use object filters in SQL Compare to build multiple database versions from the same source.
2016-12-19
3,159 reads
Feodor Georgiev explains how SQL Compare Pro makes it possible to automate the process of synchronizing a source and target database. By calling SQL Compare from a simple batch script, he shows how to make it work for a whole list of targets, one after another.
2016-12-15
3,077 reads
By Steve Jones
I had a customer ask about analyzing their Test Data Manager (TDM) usage to...
By Steve Jones
I had an idea for an animated view of a sales tool, and started...
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
I need to delete rows from both the temporal main and history tables. The...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item When SQL Server Central Went...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The String Distance I
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned by this code:
SELECT EDIT_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
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