tablediff.exe – Compare and Synchronize your SQL Server tables

Need to check if your tables in 2 different servers are out-of-sync? SQL Server comes with a command line tool that does the job. It’s called tablediff.exe (read up BOL entry for this nifty tool).

By default, you can find this in the COM directory of your SQL Server install folder.

In SQL Server 2005 by default it will be in:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL Server90

In SQL Server 2008 / SQL Server 2008 R2 by default it will be in:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL Server100

These are the switches you can specify for the tool:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.
C:UsersAdministrator>cd C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL Server100COM
C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL Server100COM>tablediff.exe /?
Microsoft (R) SQL Server Replication Diff Tool
Copyright (c) 2008 Microsoft Corporation
User-specified agent parameter values:
/?
 Replication Diff Tool Command Line Options
        usage: tablediff
          -- Source Options --
 -sourceserver          Source Host
 -sourcedatabase        Source Database
 -sourceschema          Source Schema Name
 -sourcetable           Source Table or View
 -sourceuser            Source Login
 -sourcepassword        Source Password
 -sourcelocked          Lock the source table/view durring tablediff
          -- Destination Options --
 -destinationserver     Destination Host
 -destinationdatabase   Destination Database
 -destinationschema     Destination Schema Name
 -destinationtable      Destination Table or View
 -destinationuser       Destination Login
 -destinationpassword   Destination Password
 -destinationlocked     Lock the destination table/view durring tablediff
          -- Misc Options --
 -t             Timeout
 -c             Column Level Diff
 -f             Generate Fix SQL (You may also specify a file name and path)
 -q             Quick Row Count
 -et            Specify a table to put the errors into
 -dt            Drop the error table if it exists
 -o             Output file
 -b             Number of bytes to read for blob data types
 -strict        Strict compare of source and destination schema
 -rc            Number of retries
 -ri            Retry interval

Here is an example usage. Note this has to be all in one line at the Command Prompt (I just separated them out into different lines for clarity):
Read the rest of this entry »

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To view your SQL Server (or SSRS) reports using PowerShell, you can either use

  • plain browser + URL string combo
  • Report Viewer
  • Web Services

The script below shows the first two options.
If you are going to go with Report Viewer (and personally, that’s my preference), you will need to download the ReportViewer redistributable package

  • Report Viewer Redistributable 2005 SP1
  • Report Viewer Redistributable 2008 SP1

One of these days I will hammer through the Web Services option, and also play more with what can be done with Report Viewer. And when I have good demos, I definitely will post them here :)

#==============================================================
#VANPASS August 2009
#PowerShell and SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services)
#Donabel Santos
#http://www.sqlmusings.com / http://www.twitter.com/sqlbelle
#==============================================================
 
#--------------------------------------------------------------
#Approach 1: simplistic approach - accessing report via URL
#--------------------------------------------------------------
Set-Alias ie "$env:programfilesInternet Exploreriexplore.exe"
 
#note you can control how the report is rendered via the parameters in the URL string
ie "http://localhost/ReportServer/Pages/ReportViewer.aspx?%2fReports%2fSample+Report&rs:Command=Render"
 
 
#--------------------------------------------------------------
#Approach 2: using the ReportViewer
#You need to download the ReportViewer redistributable package
#--------------------------------------------------------------
#I am qualifying this because I have more than one version in my system
#If you need webforms, use Microsoft.ReportViewer.WebForms
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::Load("Microsoft.ReportViewer.WinForms, `
	Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, `
	PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a")
 
#Windows.Forms for viewing dialog box
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
 
#System.IO because I want to export to Excel
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.IO")
 
#System.IO because I want to open Acrobat
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Diagnostics")
 
#for credentials, if needed
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Net")
 
$rv = New-Object Microsoft.Reporting.WinForms.ReportViewer;
$rv.ProcessingMode = "Remote";
$rv.ServerReport.ReportServerUrl = "http://localhost/reportserver";
$rv.ServerReport.ReportPath = "/Reports/Sample Report";
 
#if you need to provide basic credentials, use the following
#$rv.ServerReport.ReportServerCredentials.NetworkCredentials= 
#	New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential("myuser", "mypassword");
 
$rv.Height = 600;
$rv.Width = 800;
$rv.RefreshReport();
 
#--------------------------------------------------------------
#Show as Dialog Using Windows Form
#--------------------------------------------------------------
#create a new form
$form = New-Object Windows.Forms.Form;
 
#we're going to make it just slightly bigger than 
$form.Height = 610;
$form.Width= 810;
$form.Controls.Add($rv);
$rv.Show();
$form.ShowDialog();
 
#--------------------------------------------------------------
#Export to Excel
#--------------------------------------------------------------
#now let's try exporting to Excel
$mimeType = $null;
$encoding = $null;
$extension = $null;
$streamids = $null;
$warnings = $null;
 
$bytes = $rv.ServerReport.Render("Excel", $null, 
                                [ref] $mimeType, 
                                [ref] $encoding, 
				[ref] $extension, 
				[ref] $streamids, 
				[ref] $warnings);
$file = "C:VANPASSsamplereport.xls";
$fileStream = New-Object System.IO.FileStream($file, 
              [System.IO.FileMode]::OpenOrCreate);
$fileStream.Write($bytes, 0, $bytes.Length);
$fileStream.Close();
 
#let's open up our excel application
$excel = New-Object -comObject Excel.Application
$excel.visible = $true;
$excel.Workbooks.Open($file) | Out-Null;
 
#--------------------------------------------------------------
#Export to PDF
#--------------------------------------------------------------
$bytes = $rv.ServerReport.Render("PDF", $null, 
                                [ref] $mimeType, 
                                [ref] $encoding, 
				[ref] $extension, 
				[ref] $streamids, 
				[ref] $warnings);
$file2 = "C:VANPASSsamplereport.pdf";
$fileStream = New-Object System.IO.FileStream($file2, 
             [System.IO.FileMode]::OpenOrCreate);
$fileStream.Write($bytes, 0, $bytes.Length);
$fileStream.Close();
[System.Diagnostics.Process]::Start($file2)
 
 
#--------------------------------------------------------------
#Other ways to render or access your reports:
#SSRS Web Services
#--------------------------------------------------------------
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List all ASCII characters

   1: -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   2: -- displays ASCII characters, and identify which ones are printable
   3: -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   4: DECLARE @min int, @max int
   5: DECLARE @chars TABLE
   6: ( 
   7:     ASCIIValue       int,
   8:     ASCIIString      nvarchar(3),
   9:     IsPrintable      bit 
  10: )
  11: SET @min = 0
  12: SET @max = 300
  13:  
  14: -- Codes 33 to 126 are printable characters
  15: -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII
  16: WHILE @min <= @max
  17: BEGIN
  18:     INSERT INTO @chars
  19:     SELECT 
  20:         @min, 
  21:         CHAR(@min),
  22:         CASE 
  23:             WHEN @min BETWEEN 33 AND 126 THEN 1
  24:             ELSE 0
  25:         END
  26:     SET @min = @min+1
  27: END
  28:  
  29: SELECT 
  30:     * 
  31: FROM 
  32:     @chars
  33: WHERE 
  34:     ASCIIString IS NOT NULL
  35:  
  36:  
  37:  

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`