Connected Database Development

 

This section describes features provided by SQL Server Data Tools for designing and querying a connected database.

Using the SQL Server Object Explorer in Visual Studio, developers can now create, edit and browse database objects located in either an on-premise database server, such as SQL Server 2008 or Microsoft SQL Server 2012, or off-premise in SQL Azure. Developers can easily clone an existing production database to a test instance, perform additional development work on it, and publish the changes back to the production database.

Note

How To topics in this section contain a series of tasks that can be completed in a sequence.

In This Section

Topic	Description
How to: Connect to a Database and Browse Existing Objects	Connect to a database and browse its entities.
How to: Create Database Objects Using Table Designer	Use the new Table Designer to design tables and manage table relationships.
How to: Update a Connected Database with Power Buffer	Update a connected database without writing ALTER scripts.
Filter and Sort Dialog Box	Specify which data should display in the Data View.
How to: Create New Database Objects Using Queries	Use Transact-SQL Editor to edit and execute Transact-SQL scripts.
How to: Edit an Existing Table using Queries	Write Transact-SQL scripts to edit the definition of a table, or populate data.
How to: View and Edit Data in a Table	Use the Data Editor to view or enter data in a table.
How to: Delete Objects and Resolve Dependencies	Rename or delete database entities, and let SQL Server Data Tools automatically resolve object dependencies.
How to: Clone an Existing Database	Create a development database from a production database.
Extract, Publish, and Register .dacpac Files	Shows how to extract and publish .dacpac files.

Related Sections

Manage Tables, Relationships, and Fix Errors