SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)

Introduction
This week I've installed the new version of SQL Server 2012 RTM. I'm not going to show you the windows of the installation process of SQL Server 2012. You can find more info about the installationprocess in one of my former posts describing the installation of  CTP3 and RC0. The installation of RTM is mostly the same as RC0 and I haven't found  significant differences. The errors have disappeared and all works smoothly.

In this blogpost I'll describe the installation of SQL Server Data Tools and the creation a simple SSDT project with a table.

You can download the webinstallar at Microsoft.com. Below I'll show the installation of SSDT and the creation of a simple table with SSDT.

Installing SQL Server Data Tools
Double click on the ssdt.exe webinstaller.

Press install.

Pompidom...Accept

And  it's finished.

Press Finish.

Creating my first table with SSDT
In this paragraph I'll show you how to create a table with SSDT. Double click on the SQL Server Data Tools in the start menu and choose a SQL Server Database project.

In the solution explorer choose 'Add' and then 'Table':

Choose table (again?).

Design the table.

And then choose the option in the contextmenu in the solution explorer to publish.

Press Edit and enter a . for the servername and then press generate script (or you can choose to publish the code right away but don't forget to set to re-create the database)

Press Advanced.

And the script is generated:

Press now on the 'play button' and the script is executed.

And here is the result  in SQL Serve Management Studio. The table is created.

 

If you try to execute the SSDT code in SSMS errors appears. The code is not interchangable between  SSDT and SSMS.

The project folder contains the following files. I tried to open the DBMDL file but that is not  human readable format.

Conclusion
Wow! This tools looks promising for (BI, DB and Azure) developers. When you look at the videos on MSDN there seems a lot of things possible with this tool and it's more suitable for developers. The SSMS is more a management tool than a developer tool. The good thing is you can generate code for 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012 and Azure.

I think i'm going to use this tool in all of my next projects.

Greetz,
Hennie