I am comparing tools for synchronizing databases. The best I have found so
far is SQL compare from Red-Gate. Does the community have any suggestion on
other products that may work that are not as expensive?

I simply need to be able to generate a script to outline the changes that
were taken from one version of a db to the next.

thanks for any feedback

For me, this tool paid for itself in the first couple of days. And I
continue to use it almost daily.

You can also look at Diff from www.apexsql.com ... It is $399 but like
red-gate they have bundles that lower the price per product.

Of course you can do this kind of thing yourself, for free (or almost
free)... You can script the objects in the two databases yourself (with the
features available in Management Studio), compile the results into a single
file, and then perform a diff using windiff or other tools (e.g. That come
with Visual Studio, if you have that). If you have a source control tool,
you can check in one version, then check it out and check in the other
version (giving it the same name), and then you can diff the versions.

But never underestimate the cost of your time, not only when you do it
right, but especially the cost of fixing things if you do it wrong. For
example, unless you are very careful, the script from SSMS will not produce
things in dependency order (and sometimes this can be very difficult to
figure out manually as well). There is also no easy or free way to build a
script that will generate all of the ALTER, CREATE and DROP statements to
make one database look like the other.

A





On 10/16/08 1:12 AM, in article
91391CA1-8D13-44B7-B730-FB128F80AAA5...soft (DOT) com, "Online User"
<OnlineUser (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote:

For me, this tool paid for itself in the first couple of days. And I
continue to use it almost daily.

You can also look at Diff from www.apexsql.com ... It is $399 but like
red-gate they have bundles that lower the price per product.

Of course you can do this kind of thing yourself, for free (or almost
free)... You can script the objects in the two databases yourself (with the
features available in Management Studio), compile the results into a single
file, and then perform a diff using windiff or other tools (e.g. That come
with Visual Studio, if you have that). If you have a source control tool,
you can check in one version, then check it out and check in the other
version (giving it the same name), and then you can diff the versions.

But never underestimate the cost of your time, not only when you do it
right, but especially the cost of fixing things if you do it wrong. For
example, unless you are very careful, the script from SSMS will not produce
things in dependency order (and sometimes this can be very difficult to
figure out manually as well). There is also no easy or free way to build a
script that will generate all of the ALTER, CREATE and DROP statements to
make one database look like the other.

A





On 10/16/08 1:12 AM, in article
91391CA1-8D13-44B7-B730-FB128F80AAA5...soft (DOT) com, "Online User"
<OnlineUser (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote:

For me, this tool paid for itself in the first couple of days. And I
continue to use it almost daily.

You can also look at Diff from www.apexsql.com ... It is $399 but like
red-gate they have bundles that lower the price per product.

Of course you can do this kind of thing yourself, for free (or almost
free)... You can script the objects in the two databases yourself (with the
features available in Management Studio), compile the results into a single
file, and then perform a diff using windiff or other tools (e.g. That come
with Visual Studio, if you have that). If you have a source control tool,
you can check in one version, then check it out and check in the other
version (giving it the same name), and then you can diff the versions.

But never underestimate the cost of your time, not only when you do it
right, but especially the cost of fixing things if you do it wrong. For
example, unless you are very careful, the script from SSMS will not produce
things in dependency order (and sometimes this can be very difficult to
figure out manually as well). There is also no easy or free way to build a
script that will generate all of the ALTER, CREATE and DROP statements to
make one database look like the other.

A





On 10/16/08 1:12 AM, in article
91391CA1-8D13-44B7-B730-FB128F80AAA5...soft (DOT) com, "Online User"
<OnlineUser (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote:

For me, this tool paid for itself in the first couple of days. And I
continue to use it almost daily.

You can also look at Diff from www.apexsql.com ... It is $399 but like
red-gate they have bundles that lower the price per product.

Of course you can do this kind of thing yourself, for free (or almost
free)... You can script the objects in the two databases yourself (with the
features available in Management Studio), compile the results into a single
file, and then perform a diff using windiff or other tools (e.g. That come
with Visual Studio, if you have that). If you have a source control tool,
you can check in one version, then check it out and check in the other
version (giving it the same name), and then you can diff the versions.

But never underestimate the cost of your time, not only when you do it
right, but especially the cost of fixing things if you do it wrong. For
example, unless you are very careful, the script from SSMS will not produce
things in dependency order (and sometimes this can be very difficult to
figure out manually as well). There is also no easy or free way to build a
script that will generate all of the ALTER, CREATE and DROP statements to
make one database look like the other.

A





On 10/16/08 1:12 AM, in article
91391CA1-8D13-44B7-B730-FB128F80AAA5...soft (DOT) com, "Online User"
<OnlineUser (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote:

For me, this tool paid for itself in the first couple of days. And I
continue to use it almost daily.

You can also look at Diff from www.apexsql.com ... It is $399 but like
red-gate they have bundles that lower the price per product.

Of course you can do this kind of thing yourself, for free (or almost
free)... You can script the objects in the two databases yourself (with the
features available in Management Studio), compile the results into a single
file, and then perform a diff using windiff or other tools (e.g. That come
with Visual Studio, if you have that). If you have a source control tool,
you can check in one version, then check it out and check in the other
version (giving it the same name), and then you can diff the versions.

But never underestimate the cost of your time, not only when you do it
right, but especially the cost of fixing things if you do it wrong. For
example, unless you are very careful, the script from SSMS will not produce
things in dependency order (and sometimes this can be very difficult to
figure out manually as well). There is also no easy or free way to build a
script that will generate all of the ALTER, CREATE and DROP statements to
make one database look like the other.

A





On 10/16/08 1:12 AM, in article
91391CA1-8D13-44B7-B730-FB128F80AAA5...soft (DOT) com, "Online User"
<OnlineUser (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote:

For me, this tool paid for itself in the first couple of days. And I
continue to use it almost daily.

You can also look at Diff from www.apexsql.com ... It is $399 but like
red-gate they have bundles that lower the price per product.

Of course you can do this kind of thing yourself, for free (or almost
free)... You can script the objects in the two databases yourself (with the
features available in Management Studio), compile the results into a single
file, and then perform a diff using windiff or other tools (e.g. That come
with Visual Studio, if you have that). If you have a source control tool,
you can check in one version, then check it out and check in the other
version (giving it the same name), and then you can diff the versions.

But never underestimate the cost of your time, not only when you do it
right, but especially the cost of fixing things if you do it wrong. For
example, unless you are very careful, the script from SSMS will not produce
things in dependency order (and sometimes this can be very difficult to
figure out manually as well). There is also no easy or free way to build a
script that will generate all of the ALTER, CREATE and DROP statements to
make one database look like the other.

A





On 10/16/08 1:12 AM, in article
91391CA1-8D13-44B7-B730-FB128F80AAA5...soft (DOT) com, "Online User"
<OnlineUser (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote:

For me, this tool paid for itself in the first couple of days. And I
continue to use it almost daily.

You can also look at Diff from www.apexsql.com ... It is $399 but like
red-gate they have bundles that lower the price per product.

Of course you can do this kind of thing yourself, for free (or almost
free)... You can script the objects in the two databases yourself (with the
features available in Management Studio), compile the results into a single
file, and then perform a diff using windiff or other tools (e.g. That come
with Visual Studio, if you have that). If you have a source control tool,
you can check in one version, then check it out and check in the other
version (giving it the same name), and then you can diff the versions.

But never underestimate the cost of your time, not only when you do it
right, but especially the cost of fixing things if you do it wrong. For
example, unless you are very careful, the script from SSMS will not produce
things in dependency order (and sometimes this can be very difficult to
figure out manually as well). There is also no easy or free way to build a
script that will generate all of the ALTER, CREATE and DROP statements to
make one database look like the other.

A





On 10/16/08 1:12 AM, in article
91391CA1-8D13-44B7-B730-FB128F80AAA5...soft (DOT) com, "Online User"
<OnlineUser (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote:

For me, this tool paid for itself in the first couple of days. And I
continue to use it almost daily.

You can also look at Diff from www.apexsql.com ... It is $399 but like
red-gate they have bundles that lower the price per product.

Of course you can do this kind of thing yourself, for free (or almost
free)... You can script the objects in the two databases yourself (with the
features available in Management Studio), compile the results into a single
file, and then perform a diff using windiff or other tools (e.g. That come
with Visual Studio, if you have that). If you have a source control tool,
you can check in one version, then check it out and check in the other
version (giving it the same name), and then you can diff the versions.

But never underestimate the cost of your time, not only when you do it
right, but especially the cost of fixing things if you do it wrong. For
example, unless you are very careful, the script from SSMS will not produce
things in dependency order (and sometimes this can be very difficult to
figure out manually as well). There is also no easy or free way to build a
script that will generate all of the ALTER, CREATE and DROP statements to
make one database look like the other.

A





On 10/16/08 1:12 AM, in article
91391CA1-8D13-44B7-B730-FB128F80AAA5...soft (DOT) com, "Online User"
<OnlineUser (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote:

For me, this tool paid for itself in the first couple of days. And I
continue to use it almost daily.

You can also look at Diff from www.apexsql.com ... It is $399 but like
red-gate they have bundles that lower the price per product.

Of course you can do this kind of thing yourself, for free (or almost
free)... You can script the objects in the two databases yourself (with the
features available in Management Studio), compile the results into a single
file, and then perform a diff using windiff or other tools (e.g. That come
with Visual Studio, if you have that). If you have a source control tool,
you can check in one version, then check it out and check in the other
version (giving it the same name), and then you can diff the versions.

But never underestimate the cost of your time, not only when you do it
right, but especially the cost of fixing things if you do it wrong. For
example, unless you are very careful, the script from SSMS will not produce
things in dependency order (and sometimes this can be very difficult to
figure out manually as well). There is also no easy or free way to build a
script that will generate all of the ALTER, CREATE and DROP statements to
make one database look like the other.

A





On 10/16/08 1:12 AM, in article
91391CA1-8D13-44B7-B730-FB128F80AAA5...soft (DOT) com, "Online User"
<OnlineUser (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote: