I have problems to refresh the structure of a table in my universe.
We have added some data to a reference table which is used in universe. After checking the new data in (Oracle 11g) database, found everything OK.
Then opened up designer in BO, imported the universe, looked up the associated table which only shows the existing items (not the new ones) - which seemed ok for me. I clicked on "View"/"Regenerate structure" but BO says that the structure does not need to be regenerated?
I have no idea what goes wrong and how I can add the new items to the table in my universe. Or do I have to update the content of a table differently?
It's possible that Designer isn't properly reading the database's data dictionary, and therefore not seeing the new column.
Data fields do not have to be present in the model in Designer in order for objects to reference them. So I would create a new universe object that references one of the new fields, and parse it. If it parses, then the field really is there and Designer just isn't seeing it. However if it doesn't work (i.e., you get an "invalid identifier"-type error), then the field is not there.
Joe's answer gave me the hint to check again why the new fields have not been there. And finally I found it. My "table" was a view which had to be actualized (SQL-select statement) and after that I could pick up the data into my universe and as shown in reports. Now everything is fine.
Related
I've been teaching myself SSDT for use on an upcoming project that I expect to be working on. My understanding of the "publish" operation is that it will take my SQL Server Data Project code, use that to generate something like a reference database, and then use that to compare against my target-deploy database, figure out what changes are required to get the schema into line with the reference db, and then make them.
But for a table rename, this did not happen, and I'm hoping somebody can explain what is wrong with my mental model of the process.
I've got a very simple "library" themed test database with tables like "Libraries", "Books", and "Categories". All very simple 2-3 columns just to experiment with. Then I added a 4th table "Books_MM_Categories" to represent a many-to-many link table between "Books" and "Categories".
I published that, and all was as expected. But, I'd deliberately named the link table 'wrong' to that I could try renaming it. So I renamed the sql file in my DB project, and changed its code to instead create a table named "Books_Categories_Link".
This time when I published, I expected the "Books_MM_Categories" table to be deleted from the DB, and the new one added... or to have some kind of sp_rename procedure show up to rename the table.
Instead, what I got was that both tables are now present. I can understand that my sloppy rename would have lost all the data, simply just causing one new table to be created, and the old one dropped, instead of ACTUALLY renamed... But what I can't figure out is why the original table is not dropped. In my mental model of how this works, a table/column/view/sproc that no longer exists in the reference should be likewise eliminated from the published database. If not, then I should expect to see some error messages telling me it chose not to drop the table because of anticipated dataloss.
I did see a couple of post explaining how to use the "refactor" option in the code view window... That is working as I would expect. So I understand how to do it properly going forward.
Can anybody explain whats wrong with my mental model of how this works? I'm sure its working as it is supposed to, but I'd like to understand where I went wrong. Why does a table not listed in my project not get deleted on publish (I've not tried it but expect the same exact behavior if I export a .dacpac first and then use that to perform the deployment of the new scheme.
Thanks
EDIT 1
Somewhat curiously, when running a "Schema Compare" operation, the extra table is detected and flagged for deletion.
Your mental model seems to be correct. Check 'Advanced' options in 'Publish Database' dialog.
In the 'Drop' tab you can enable 'Drop objects in target but not in source' to produce the intended result.
I have an application with a dataset linked to an sql server database. I have updated some of the names or foreign keys and primary keys in the sql server. How do I make those changes translate to the data set. For example, I had a primary key called fk_temsempl_xxxxx. I changed it to fk_temsempl on the sql database. How do I get that change to show in the dataset designer in visual studio?
I have tried running custom tool by right clicking on the dataset and clicking run custom tool. That didnt work. I tried configuring the table adapter of one of the tables where a change occured, but the name of the relation didnt change.
You actually just right click the relation and choose Edit Relation... or double click on the line (when the mouse cursor changes from arrow to drag symbol) but I honestly wouldn't bother; you'll then have further refactoring to do in the code anywhere the relation is used, and it can be heavily used by visual designers.
You also get the problem that VS may not help you with the refactoring: in data binding scenarios most things that can be a source of data can also be a collection of multiple things that can be a valid DataSource. They then rely on a string DataMember to determine which of the collections of data in the data source should be used for the data.
For example, when a bindingsource is bound to list a DataTable, the bindingsource.DataSource property might be the DataSet object that contains the DataTable, and thebindingsource.DataMemberis a string of "YOUR_TABLE_NAME". the BindingSource might not be bound asmyBindignSource.DataSource = myDataSet.MyDataTable`. Refactoring inside strings involves a find and replace
DataRelations in a DataSet are created from foreign keys as they were discovered when the relevant table(s) were added to the dataset but it is important to note that, like DataTables and everything else, they are NOTHING to do with the database schema objects at all - they aren't permanently associated with them, the dataset entities are just set up looking something like the database objects when they (dataset entities) are first created. DataTables are created from only those columns selected, and whatever .NET datatypes closely resemble the types output by the query. For a table of:
Person
------
Name VARCHAR(50)
SSN INTEGER
Birthdate DATE
If you created the table with SELECT * FROM Person you'd get a datatable with Name (string), SSN (int), Birthdate (datetime) but if you made a new datatable in the dataset based on SELECT LEFT(Name, 1) as Initial, PADLEFT(SSN, 20) as PadSSN, DATEDIFF(day, Birthdate, NOW()) as AgeDays FROM Person then you'd get a datatable of Initial (string), PadSSN (string), AgeDays (int) - i.e. the datatable looks nothing like the db table. This concept of disconnection between dataset and db is pervasive, and really the only things that relate in any way to the database are the properties that specify which DB table/column a particular DataTable/DataColumn relates to for purposes of loading/saving data. Your Person.Name datacolumn can be renamed to Blahblah, but it will still have a .SourceColumn property that is set to "Name" - that's how the mapping between dataset and db works; dataset is predominantly completely independent of the db. Renaming a DB column would require a change to the SourceColumn property only
DataRelations don't even have this notion of linking to the parent relation in the database; there's no SourceRelation or SourceFK proeprty because there is no need to. They're set up with the same rules and a generated name all based on the rules of the FK, but then they function independently and only within the dataset. If you rename or even remove an FK from the db the dataset will carry on working in the same restricted way it always did; adding a datarow to a child table when no aprent row exists for it will throw an exception - none of it anything to do with the FK in the db, and the DataRelation can have different rules to the FK (e.g it can cascade deletes when the FK is NOACTION) or even different columns. You can have more or fewer DataRelations than the DB has FKs
Run Custom Tool is not a "contact the DB and see what changes have occurred there and replicate them into the dataset", it is a "turn the XSD that describes the dataset into a bunch of C# classes that implement strongly typed dataset/table/relation/column etc objects". Any time you change the XSD by making an edit in the visual designer and hit save, the custom tool is run. If you edit the XSD directly in a text editor you may need to run it manually to have your changes reflected in c# classes
Reconfiguring a tableadapter probably won't do anything to the relations either; its solely concerned with changing the datatable and tableadapter. If you really want to refresh the relations, delete the datatable from the set and recreate it. Be prepared for a potentially significant mop up/refactoring of code
Im working on an online store project where I have already made it possible for an administrator to update different table entries via the store gui (like items, user profiles, orders etc). SaveChanges(); is used to save the changes.
Im currently trying to figure out how to make this work:
An entry in table "items" gets updated.
Before the entry in the table "items" gets updated, a copy of the old entry gets saved into a table named "history-items".
The copy that is saved to "history-items" preferably has a timestamp.
How would I go about doing this? (As you might tell, I just recently picked up visual studio, and am pretty new to everything)
Thank you.
There are atleast 3 ways to do this:
If you are using SQL Server 2008 or newer this is now built in functionality, see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb933994.aspx
If you opt not to use that then the simplest solution is to use database triggers.
If you want to do it in C# code, then you need to read the original values before saving, and save these original values to the history table. For reading original values see: How to get original values of an entity in Entity Framework?
I would go for option 1 if possible.
Ok, so I have 2 entities: Course and Industry
The industry entity is just a reference table which lists all available Industries that can be tagged to a course, to categorizing them. I put in a many to zero or one relationship (a course can choose to have an industry or not, while an industry can be tagged with many courses).
I know I've played around with the diagrams a bit, adding and removing associations in the past.
Now here is the odd part: The column mappings for Course has 2 similar columns, IndustryId and Industry_Id
I suspect it's from a past association, but thought EF would have taken care of that.
Here is the problem:
In my view that creates the course, the IndustryId is the property which needs to be populated. When I create new courses, I see the IndustryId in the database populated.
However, when I access Industry's properties through Course (Course.Industry.Description) nothing is populated. It can't seem to get the Industry entity.
I see the IndustryId populated in the db, so I tried to populate the Industry_Id column. That fixed it.
Weird enough, the property declared in the model is IndustryId, so that column is populated in the db. But when I try to get Industry entities through Course, it needs the Industry_Id, which I don't quite know where it is from.
Anyone have any ideas?
It sounds like in your updating from the database, you changed the column name on your tables from Industry_Id to IndustryId. The next time you updated from the database, EF5 (which can't determine that this is the same column, as it matches on names) dropped the mapping for Industry_Id, and added a new column called IndustryId.
However, you had already created the foreign-key mapping in your EDMX file based on the Industry_Id column - which is why you get the issue around needing it when loading related records.
In general, when using Database-First, whenever you rename a column in the database, you need to update your EF5 model and update / correct any such discrepancies.
I have inhereted some project which uses Entity Framework in a way which makes it hard to make there any changes. It uses QueryViews for almost all tables (cca 50 tables) and of course stored procedures. Now I have to change there quite a lot of things ... rename tables, add tables, change columns etc.
When I tried to use the "Update Model from database ..." wizard, than after the update (where I added/removed the tables and let refresh the others using the wizard) from the database the Entity Data Model Designer rendering stops working ... there is just blank window with the text "The Entity Data Model Designer is unable to display the file you requested."
So I tried different approaches (like manually editing the edmx file), but the problem remains. The editor shows only the "The Entity Data Model Designer is unable to display the file you requested."
The mapping using QueryViews makes it probably more complicated. It is well known that the designer can not work with the QueryViews properly (one can not edit them using the designer) and the Entity framework engine even does not recognize that the columns from CSDL are mapped using the QueryViews and complains on each and every column (which is mapped using QueryView) that "Error 11009: Property 'XXX' is not mapped." I see exactly 100 errors like this. Maybe somewhere after the 100th error, there is some hint (in the form of other errors) how to fix the issue with Designer, but I don't know how to see them. The 100 limit is most likely hardcoded in VS2010 (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2880936/how-to-increase-error-limit-in-visual-studio).
Btw. the code (classes for entities etc.) is generated without problems.
So, the question is:Is there a way how to see some log or something, where would be noted why the Entity framework Data Model Designer is not able to render anything?
Or is there at least some way how to see the rest of the errors (besides the 100 errors)?
Or does anybody know the ideal way of dealing with updating schema in EF besides using the wizard?
Try to add new EDMX and right click >> open with >> XML editor, then you can see a complete set in an empty model definition in EDMX. So you can compare the two EDMX and check notice which part of the EDMX is missing.
Here is the error link
In the end I have just do all the changes manually by editing the xml. However, I used the model designer (the GUI integrated in VS for EF) for creating the whole CSDL layer. So my approach was to carefully choose tables in the correct order and add them one by one in the multiple iterations of the following steps:
Use the model designer to create the csdl layer for the chosen table including all relations with already existing table. This at least ensured that the designer was usable later on and it saves the manual writing of the CSDL objetcs.
Write the SSDL layer, which should reflect the DB table.
Write the mapping layer (in my case using the QueryViews).
Try to compile and resolve all compile errors.
Repeat for next table (or more tables if you find it easier).
I hope this will help somebody.