Database Modifications...

Hi, I've got a question concerning database modifications. OK here's our situation, we have a rather large database structure (lots of tables and constraints) and we're in constant development, so the database structure changes a bit between versions of our software. Now, we have clients that may have a certain version of software/database combination, not the latest version, but eventually we want to upgrade them to the latest version (lots of bug fixes, etc). For the most part, if it were just adding a table we would just generate the proper SQL statements and have them run those. This is made more complex when we've got to add a column and constraints flying around, gotta drop constraints first. (Newbie type question: Constraints are specific to the table and not the row, right? So, if I were to drop the constraint on a table with pre-existing data, it won't affect later, if I add the same constraint back?)

    Now, I was wondering if there were any tools that could inventory all the objects in a particular schema and compare it with the objects of another schema and do an automated "upgrade." The primary problem is that I'm afraid that interim hotfixes may have left some older traces (because of the piecemeal way of upgrading that we've been doing rather than the wide scale, whole schema approach, which seems to be better).

    I've played with PowerDesigner DataArchitect and modification orders are pretty cool, but the problem is that the databases in the field may not match those in our physical models to the "T." Any suggestions from people on "upgrading" databases? (tools, etc?)

-Jeff Received on Sun Aug 30 1998 - 01:55:18 CDT