Question

Is there something similar to Diff for SQL Server 2008

Asked by: kasiencja

Hi,

I have a huge database and an even bigger spaghetti code that I'm supposed to learn.  I was wondering if there is some kind of a tool or a way to see what tables were affected and what was changed after a user action.

Thanks,
Kathryn

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Asked On
2009-10-22 at 08:27:21ID24834894
Tags

SQL Server 2008

,

Diff

Topics

SQL Server 2008

,

Databases Miscellaneous

,

SQL Query Syntax

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: aneeshattingalPosted on 2009-10-22 at 08:43:28ID: 25635537

Hello kasiencja,

you can debug the code, that will give you an idea of whats happening during the execution, eventhough it didnt give you the contents you are inserting (unless u have a select statement after the insert ). it will be pretty handy



Regards,

Aneesh

 

by: Allister_ReidPosted on 2009-10-22 at 09:29:48ID: 25636055

You may also consider looking at SQL Server Profiler, with some configuration this will show what queries are running and the associated parameter values.


Regards

 

by: billprewPosted on 2009-10-22 at 10:45:53ID: 25636956

Quest's TOAD utility has the ability to do a DIFF-like data compare between two tables, but it can't scan a whole database and tell you which tables have changed.  You would have to copy off the tables that you are interested in, run the code, and then compare the current live tables to the saved copy one at a time.

Not terribly efficient and may be hard to follow, but since that was your original question I figured I'd reply to that.  I'm not sure if the freeware version has this capability in it or only the commercial product.  It's a good tool for working with SQL Server or Oracle, but isn't cheap.

http://www.quest.com/toad-for-sql-server/
http://www.toadsoft.com/toadsqlserver/toad_sqlserver.htm

ApexSQL Diff is another tool like this, but I don't have any experience with it.

http://www.apexsql.com/sql_tools_diff.asp

~bp

 

by: kasiencjaPosted on 2009-10-22 at 10:59:11ID: 31644584

I've also just installed a package from Redgate, which looks quite promising.  It compares databases including data changes.  Testing it now.

 

by: aneeshattingalPosted on 2009-10-22 at 17:06:53ID: 25640255

i dont really understand the question, i thought your intention was to learn the code and i think i did answer the question, correct me if i am wrong

 

by: kasiencjaPosted on 2009-10-22 at 18:09:45ID: 25640621

I'm sorry if I didn't make the question clear.  What I wanted to find out was if there is a way to compare before and after database snapshots.  After would be when a user action happens, this way I can easily figure out which tables are used where, instead of going through thousands of lines of code.

Regards,
Kasia

 

by: aneeshattingalPosted on 2009-10-22 at 19:09:06ID: 25640869

that makes sense :) in future make sure that you clearly specify the requirements

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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