Understanding Existing Database Objects and Settings

In Visual Studio, you can learn more about your current databases, database servers, and the objects and settings that each contain. You can create an offline representation of your database objects in a database project. You can then view the objects, object details, and the relationships between objects. Visual Studio does not yet provide an integrated logical or physical database diagram.

By understanding the existing database code, you can communicate more easily with the people involved with your project. For example, you can create a common glossary to discuss the system with project stakeholders, users, and team members.

Common Tasks

Tasks	Associated Topics
Create an offline representation of your database: You can create a database project and import your existing objects and settings. After you do this, you can examine the objects, settings, and relationships without connecting to your database again.	Starting Team Database Development An Overview of Database and Server Projects
Understand the objects and settings for your database: You can use Schema View to explore the definition of the objects in your database. You can examine database settings by reviewing the properties of the database project.	Creating and Modify Database and Server Objects Creating and Modify Database Scripts An Overview of Database Project Settings How to: Configure Database Properties for Database Projects How to: Configure Server Properties for Server Projects How to: Configure Properties for Deployment Details
View relationships between database objects: You can examine the dependencies between objects within your database. Important You must have Visual Studio Premium or Visual Studio Ultimate to view dependencies. This feature is not available in Visual Studio Professional.	How to: View Dependencies for Database Objects
Refactor database code and data: If the current database design does not meet your requirements, you can apply refactoring techniques to perform common actions such as renaming database objects or moving objects between schemas. Important You must have Visual Studio Premium or Visual Studio Ultimate to view dependencies. This feature is not available in Visual Studio Professional.	Refactor Database Code and Data

Related Scenarios

• Setting Up Development Environments
  Before you can create or modify code, you must set up your development and test environments with the appropriate source code. If you are working with databases, you must also have access to the offline representation of those databases.

• Performing Common Development Tasks
  During a development cycle, you spend most of your time making code changes. This process includes selecting a task or bug, checking out the required files, modifying the code, and then verifying that your changes are correct before you check them in.

See Also

Concepts

Modeling the Application

Developing Models for Software Design

Modeling User Requirements

Modeling the Architecture of a Software System

Using Models within the Development Process

Visualizing Existing Code