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Options (Database Tools/Schema Compare)

You can specify options to customize how you compare the schemas (structures) of databases, database projects, and database schema files (.dbschema). These options apply only to new instances of Schema Compare. Existing instances will obtain the new options when you click Refresh.

  • Apply the following values for these options
    You can copy options between versions of SQL Server by clicking options and then clicking Apply. This approach quickly and accurately ensures that your comparisons provide consistent results across database schema providers. You can also restore options to their default settings by clicking (default) and then clicking Apply.

  • Specify the collation for the comparison
    You can specify whether the collation of the source schema or target schema should be used when you compare them.

  • Only compare elements that exist in the source
    If you select this check box, objects that do not exist in the source schema will not be compared and will not appear in the list of differences.

  • Ignore WITH NOCHECK clause on foreign keys
    If you select this check box, the "not trusted" flag on foreign keys is ignored. If the Ignore foreign keys check box is selected, differences in the WITH NOCHECK setting will still be reported. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore WITH NOCHECK clause on check constraints
    If you select this check box, the "not trusted" flag on check constraints is ignored. If the Ignore check constraints check box is selected, differences in the WITH NOCHECK setting will still be reported. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore seed for IDENTITY property
    If you select this check box, identity seed values are ignored when you compare databases. However, they still appear in synchronization scripts. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore increment values for IDENTITY property
    If you select this check box, increment values are ignored when you compare databases. However, they still appear in synchronization scripts. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore fill factor
    If you select this check box, the fill factor for indexes is ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore index padding
    If you select this check box, the index padding for indexes is ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore column collation
    If you select this check box, collation orders on columns that have the char data type are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore lock hints on indexes
    If you select this check box, lock hints for indexes are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore table options
    If you select this check box, table options are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore index options
    If you select this check box, index options are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore DML trigger order
    If you select this check box, the order of Data Definition Language (DDL) triggers is ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore role membership
    If you select this check box, the roles to which users belong are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore state of DML triggers
    If you select this check box, the state of Data Manipulation Language (DML) triggers is ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore the filegroup to which an object belongs
    If you select this check box, FILEGROUP clauses on objects such as tables, indexes, queues, partitions, full-text catalogs, and keys are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is selected.

  • Ignore file names and paths for files and log files
    If you select this check box, the file names and the paths of filegroup files and log files are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. You might select this check box, for example, if you use different files for your isolated development environment than for your staging or production environments. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore full-text catalog file path
    If you select this check box, the file paths on which full-text catalogs reside are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. You might select this check box, for example, if you use different paths for your isolated development environment than for your staging or production environments. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore comments
    If you select this check box, comments are ignored when you compare databases. Comments still appear in the synchronization scripts. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore white space
    If you select this check box, white space such as new lines, tabs, and spaces are ignored when you compare databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore objects for user settings
    If you select this check box, settings such as IsWithoutLogin are ignored for User objects when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore ANSI_NULLS
    If you select this check box, the ANSI_NULLS statement is ignored when you compare database objects such as views and stored procedures. These statements still appear in synchronization scripts. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore QUOTED_IDENTIFIERS
    If you select this check box, the QUOTED_IDENTIFIERS statement is ignored when you compare database objects such as views and stored procedures. These statements still appear in synchronization scripts. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore passwords
    If you select this check box, passwords for users are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. You might take this approach if you use different passwords for your development, staging, and production databases. By default, this check box is selected.

  • Ignore login SIDs
    If you select this check box, the login account security identifier is ignored. By default, this check box is selected.

  • Ignore auto-generated names
    If you select this check box, any auto-generated names, such as the names of temporary tables, are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore event notifications on queues
    If you select this check box, event notifications on queues are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore state of DDL triggers
    If you select this check box, the enabled or disabled states of DDL triggers are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore place of object on partition schema
    If you select this check box, the locations of objects in a partition schema are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore authorizers
    If you select this check box, authorizers are ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Ignore default schema
    If you select this check box, the default schema for databases is ignored when you compare and synchronize databases. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Use these settings when scripts are generated
    If you select this check box, the SET options under this node will be applied to your update script. If you clear this check box, these values will not be set in the update script. By default, this check box is selected.

  • SET ANSI_NULLS, SET ANSI_PADDING, SET ANSI_WARNINGS, SET ARITHABORT, SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL, SET NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT, SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER
    The values of these settings are applied to your update script if you select the Use these settings when scripts are generated check box. By default, these check boxes are all selected except for SET NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT.

  • Block the update if data loss might occur
    If you select this check box, compare two schemas, and try to update the target schema so that it matches the source, the update will end if those changes could cause data to be lost. For example, the update will end if one or more tables in the target database would be dropped and re-created, which would lose all data in those tables. However, you might clear this check box to update the target faster if it is in your isolated development environment and you plan to use Data Generator to refill the table with test data after you update the target. By default, this check box is selected.

    Warning

    If you clear this check box, data might be lost when you write updates to the target database. Clear this check box only if your tables do not contain data that you must preserve.

  • Include transactional synchronization scripts
    If you select this check box, transactions and associated error handling are added to the synchronization scripts. If you clear this check box, you can produce SQL that is more readable, but the updates will not be automatically rolled back if an error occurs during synchronization. You can also clear this check box to help debug synchronization problems. By default, this check box is selected.

    Warning

    If you clear this check box, your database might be left in an inconsistent state after you synchronize it with another database or database project.

  • Abort when the first error occurs
    If you select this check box, the synchronization will stop if an error occurs. If you clear this check box, the synchronization will try to continue even if an error occurs. By default, this check box is selected.

  • Enforce only minimal dependencies
    If you select this check box, dependencies in the bodies of stored procedures are ignored. For example, if you have a stored procedure, MyProc, that references a table, MyTable, if you select this check box, you can update the stored procedure even if the table does not occur in the target database. If you clear this check box, all dependencies with stored procedure bodies are also analyzed. Clearing the check box does cause schema compare to take more time, because it must analyze those additional dependencies. By default, this check box is selected.

    Note   This check box only applies when the target is a database. If the target schema is a project, dependencies are never enforced.

  • Do not use ALTER ASSEMBLY statements to update CLR types
    If you select this check box, stored procedures that instantiate and use common language runtime (CLR) types will be dropped and re-created instead of using an ALTER ASSEMBLY statement to update them. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Disable and later re-enable DDL triggers
    If you select this check box, DDL triggers will be disabled when synchronization starts and then enabled when it finishes. You might select this check box if you have DDL triggers that might interfere with the synchronization script. By default, this check box is cleared.

  • Objects (tab)
    If you select the check box that corresponds to a type of object, that type of object is ignored when you compare and synchronize schemas. By default, all check boxes are cleared.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Set Options for Comparing Database Schemas

How to: Compare Database Schemas

Concepts

Compare and Synchronize Database Schemas

Terminology Overview of Database Edition