Looking at Juneau's Integrated Database Development
One of the nice things about my day job as technical editor at MSDN Magazine is getting early looks at cutting-edge technologies and how-to guidance from some of the top experts in the world.
This month, for example, Jamie Laflen and Barclay Hill explore “The ‘Juneau' Database Project,” which promises that “you can now perform your database development in the same environment as your application development.” That sounds nice. No more jumping around from one tool to another.
I found it particularly intriguing that the new Database Project in the next version of Visual Studio enables offline SQL Server development. The two SQL Server Developer Tools experts explain this “project-based development” provides the following advantages over using a shared live database:
- Isolation of developer changes
- Rich T-SQL editing support
- Verification of source prior to deployment and enforcement of team coding standards through code analysis rules
- Automated migration-script generation
Furthering the move to more self-contained development is SQL Server Express LocalDB, as introduced in a sidebar. It provides a kind of simplified user instance and lets you develop against SQL Server Express without having to fuss with managing a full-fledged desktop Express instance, cutting way back on setup time. Check out the article for more technical details. Your job as a .NET/SQL Server developer is about to get a lot easier.
What are you looking forward to in Juneau? Comment here or drop me a line.
Posted by David Ramel on 09/07/2011