Schema Compare in SSMS 22.7.0

One of the coolest features released lately with SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) is Schema Compare feature, which released on version 22.7.0.

To me it is one of anticipated feature. Yes, I know we had commercial products like Redgate SQL compare, but most organisations I worked with (small to mid size), doesn't have budget to afford that (or don't want to spend money on that).

There fore I had quick look at what it can do.

Currently it can be invoked through "Tools" menu in SSMS.

Worth noting, this feature is still in "Preview" mode, so it is not fully production ready and might not compare all of the database objects.

Schema Compare UI is as follows:

It has two main panes, one in top (showing what it compare) and one in bottom showing differences in objects when selected.

Optoins button give ability customize your comparison. When pressed following dialog box is opened:

Dialog box has two tabs.

1. General Options
2. Object types to compare

General options tab give you control over the comparison process and change script generation process. It gives options such as "Ignore ANSI NULL". Object Types to compare tab allows you to select which objects to compare:

You can compare following database types:

• Databses
• Databse Projects
• Data-tier Application Files (dacpac)

As the source you can select any of these.

In my demo I have selected two versions of Stack Overlow database:

Then press "Compare" button.

Comparison takes little while, if you database has thousands of ojects, it will definitely take considerable time. I think this is something they need to focus on before release to production.

Here are the results from comparison:

It shows deleted table in target table -> dbo.LegacyPostVotes. New table in source database -> dbo.Badges. And also shows several changes. If you click on one of these lines, you can see detail view of the change. For example following screenshot shows, what appear when I select db.usp_GetUserById stored procedure, which was changed:

You can include/exclude changes you want or don't want. Then press either "Generate Script" button or "Apply" button. Generate Script button, generates the change script and open in a new Script Window. Apply button directly apply included changes into target database.

In my openion, It is not perfect, but start to walk write direction I would say.

I'm hoping to test this more with future releases and write about it.