SqlDataComparison

Installation:

To get the release files:

• Either download then unzip the latest release hosted here
• Or add the current NuGet package to any .NET Core or .NET Framework project; the release files will automatically appear in a new SqlDataComparison virtual directory (or actual directory, for older NuGet clients) in your project

Then:

• Run Install.sql on your development SQL Server
• Optionally also run InstallMaster.sql on your development server, to add thin wrapper commands in the master database which can detect the current database, see below

Do not use InstallMaster.sql on a production server - this is normal SQL Server good practice.

To uninstall, run CleanMaster.sql (only required if you previously ran InstallMaster.sql) then simply delete the SqlUtils database to remove everything else.

Usage

Compare data with:

EXEC SqlUtils.CompareData '[linked-server1.]<db1>.[<schema1>].<table1>', '[linked-server2.]<db2>.[<schema2>].<table2>'

E.g.:

-- schema defaults to dbo
EXEC SqlUtils.CompareData 'db1..table1', 'db2..table2'

Or:

-- 'ours' table defaults to current database, this requires (optional) install of wrapper sp_ commands in the development server master db
EXEC sp_CompareData 'table1', 'db2..table2'

Followed by:

EXEC [Import|Export][Added|Deleted|Changed|All] (e.g. ImportAdded) with the same arguments to transfer changes.

E.g.:

EXEC sp_ExportAll 'table1', 'db2..table2'

To see what would happen without commiting the changes use the following pattern:

BEGIN TRANSACTION
EXEC sp_ExportAll 'table1', 'db2..table2'
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION

and then look at the SSMS Messages window to see what went on.

In addition to specifying 'ours' and 'theirs' tables as above, the following optional additional parameters are available:

• @use: the columns to consider when comparing the two tables, e.g. 'col1, col2'
• @join: the column(s) on which to join the 'ours' and 'theirs' tables, e.g. 'col1, col2'; the default is the primary key column(s) of 'ours'
• @map: the mapping between 'ours' and 'theirs' columns, e.g. 'col1, map_col1; col2, map_col2'
• @ids: range or set of ids to process, e.g. '2-7' or '1, 2, 3, 5, 9' (applicable to a single integer join/key column only; use @where for more complicated scenarios)
• @where: where condition constraining which rows to process; qualify columns with 'ours' or 'theirs', e.g. 'ours.valid = 1'
• @showSql: show the generated SQL as well as running it; especially useful in combination with the ROLLBACK TRANSACTION trick shown above, to be sure of what will happen before committing it
• @interleave: set to 1 to use an alternative diff view, which may make it easier to see some types of row differences

Development

Clone the GitHub repository.

Download a copy of tSQLt and unpack it so that /OpenSource/tSQLt_V1.0.5873.27393/tSQLt.class.sql exists (or unpack it somewhere else - as far as I know, there is no strong requirement for a particular version of tSQLt as long as it's at least the version shown here - in which case modify the path to tSQLt.class.sql in SqlDataComparison.proj to match before building).

Build with msbuild or dotnet build.

Clean with msbuild -target:clean or dotnet build -target:clean.

After building, run the contents of the following files from the build directory on the development SQL Server, in the following order, to install the project and tests:

Install.sql
InstallMaster.sql
tests\InstallTSQLt.sql
tests\InstallTests.sql

Run all tests with EXEC tSQLt.RunAll.