Microsoft recently updated SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) with support for Visual Studio 2012, improved LocalDB functionality and new SSDT Power Tools.
SSDT, if you're unfamiliar with it, is a hodgepodge of functionalities targeted at easier database project development from within Visual Studio. For example, one main feature is that data devs no longer have to switch back and forth between SQL Server Management Studio and Visual Studio, working entirely in the latter.
The September 2012 update comes in versions for Visual Studio 2012 and Visual Studio 2010. The big news, of course, is that SSDT now plays nicely with Visual Studio 2012. I wrote earlier about the problems users (including me) were having getting the two to work together. "This release of SSDT supports the Visual Studio 2012 shell," wrote Janet Yeilding in the team blog post announcing the update. "SSDT September 2012 contains several bug fixes to the SSDT version that shipped in Visual Studio 2012 and this release can be applied as an update on top of Visual Studio 2012 Professional, Premium, and Ultimate Editions. More
Posted by David Ramel on 09/26/20125 comments
Microsoft today released a new Community Technology Preview for SQL Server 2012, Service Pack 1. The CTP4 includes improved AlwaysOn Availability Group migration, better query capabilities over XML data and a better SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) for Express users.
The AlwaysOn Availability Group cross-cluster migration lets users move to a higher-level version of Windows Server cluster, which keeps intact service-level agreements when upgrading to the higher-level version, such as Windows Server 2012 cluster.
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Posted by David Ramel on 09/20/20120 comments
Microsoft has long been trying to get developers to store their data in the Windows Azure cloud, and the effort seems to be paying off. More cloud developers use Windows Azure than any other platform, according to a new Evans Data survey.
The survey costs money to actually view, of course, so all we can report to you are the highlights from a news release (and even it requires registration). It states that 36 percent of developers actively targeting a cloud used Windows Azure. The next most popular platform was Google Storage, with 29 percent, and Amazon Web Services closely followed at 29 percent.
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Posted by David Ramel on 09/13/20121 comments
Stop me if you've heard this one: Microsoft introduces a new technology and developers complain about lack of local database access.
Yes, it happened last year with Windows Phone. And Microsoft responded with SQL Server Compact Edition in its "Mango" update.
Now it's happening with Windows 8. "We should at least have the ability to connect to an embedded database like the one they added to the WP7 Mango update," said one developer on the customer feedback site for Visual Studio. This comment was under a heading of "Make System.Data available to Metro style apps," with 163 votes as of this writing. But there are plenty more likewise sentiments around the Web:
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Posted by David Ramel on 09/05/201210 comments
The recent announcement of Windows Azure Mobile Services included some interesting stuff for you data developers.
As explained by Scott Guthrie, when Windows Azure subscribers create a new mobile service, it automatically is associated with a Windows Azure SQL Database. That provides ready-made support for secure database access. It uses the OData protocol, JSON and RESTful endpoints. The Windows Azure management portal can be used for common tasks such as handling tables, access control and more.
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Posted by David Ramel on 08/29/20121 comments
A lot of data developers were frustrated with missing features of the Entity Framework as it continued to evolve in the past few years, such as the oft-requested enum support, for example.
Well, that support is included in the upcoming EF 5 release, of course. But beyond that, Microsoft -- in yet another implementation of its turnabout embrace of the open source movement -- has put its flagship object-relational mapping source code up for grabs on CodePlex, the company announced recently.
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Posted by David Ramel on 08/16/20120 comments
I was quite surprised to see a recent Slashdot post titled "SQL vs. NoSQL: Which is Better?" My first thought was: "Really? Hasn't this already been settled?" The politically correct answer to the question, of course, goes along the lines of: "Neither is better. They are separate tools. As with all tools, each addresses specific problems and should be used by programmers according to their needs ...." And so on.
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Posted by David Ramel on 08/07/20125 comments
Call it the duel of the database migration tools. "The free Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) makes it easy to migrate data from Oracle, Microsoft Access, MySQL and Sybase to SQL Server," reads the Microsoft SSMA Web site. It's probably no coincidence that Oracle was listed first in that list of targeted databases for its tool, which was announced almost exactly two years ago.
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Posted by David Ramel on 08/01/20125 comments
I found an interesting site that ranks the best SQL Server bloggers. Maintained by Thomas LaRock, the SQL Rockstar site provides his personal rankings of SQL Server-related bloggers in a number of categories.
For example, the RESOURCEDB group, which LaRock describes as “the bloggers you should immediately start following and never stop,” includes the following:
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Posted by David Ramel on 07/17/20120 comments
I recently wrote about an analyst firm's report on Agile software development that basically blasted the movement, calling it "a developer rebellion against unwanted tasks" and saying it's "designed to sell services."
Okay, this issue isn't strictly database development-related, but it brings up some interesting questions, so I'd like to get your opinions. Some 25 people had commented on the article as of Monday morning, and it was picked up by Slashdot, where it exploded with more than 477 comments.
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Posted by David Ramel on 07/17/201215 comments
Microsoft, for all of the perception that it's a monolithic, behind-the-times dinosaur, has been awfully responsive to the concerns of developers who provide feedback about its preview software releases.
I've said that before, but nothing illustrates it better than the recent decision to allow users to easily change uppercase top-level menu items in Visual Studio 2012.
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Posted by David Ramel on 06/29/201248 comments