Database Versioning and Documentation Tool for Microsoft SQL Server

March 31, 2009 · 1 min read

is my project on Codeplex. I have just released version 4.1 which generates reports combining the schema information and user documentation into HTML files.

Overview

MSSqlSchemaDoc extracts schema information from a SQL Server database and saves it as xml files - one per object. It also creates separate xml files loosely resembling the structure of each object but with placeholders where you can add comments to document your database schema. Finally, it can combine the schema information and documentation texts into HTML documentation.

The main benefit of using MSSqlSchemaDoc is that the generated xml files can easily be placed under version control, allowing you to track changes to both your database schema and database documentation separately. It also allows easy browsing of the database documentation through the HTML files. In the latest version, 4.1, HHP (project) and HHK (index) files are also generated to assist with the creation of CHM files - effectively making it a one-step process.

Technical

The application works by defining classes which represent database objects, like tables, views, etc. These classes are decorated with attributes which control how the objects get serialized to XML. XSD schemas specify the expected structure of the XML and are used to validate each serialized object.

Due to performance problems with SMO, custom queries are used to extract the desired data from the database.

Note: Only SQL2005 and SQL2008 is currently supported - SQL2000 support is in the pipeline.

Visit the project page at:

This article is part of the GWB Archives. Original Author: Henk Oberholzer

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