Introducing Microsoft Visual Database Tools

See Also   Tasks

You can access Microsoft^® Visual Database Tools from your development environment to help create and manage data-driven applications that rely on live connections to Microsoft^® SQL Server^™ databases. The Query Designer enables you to use visual tools to build SQL statements that retrieve data or modify the contents of tables. The Database Designer graphically represents tables and their relationships and enables you to create and modify the database objects that your application relies on. All this can be done while you’re connected to the underlying database. Thus, you can design, query, and populate your databases from within the design environment that you use to build your application.

With Microsoft Visual Database Tools, you can:

• Connect to and explore any ODBC-compliant database.
  
  
• Create and modify SQL Server databases using database diagrams.
  
  
• Design, execute, and save complex queries.
  
  
• Add, update, and delete data stored in database tables.
  
  
• Design objects, such as tables, triggers, and stored procedures, in Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases.
  
  
• Drag database objects onto a design surface, such as an HTML template form, and then drop to bind controls to those objects.

Microsoft Visual Database Tools are available in Microsoft^® Visual InterDev™ 6.0, Microsoft^® Visual J++™ 6.0, Microsoft^® Visual C++^® 6.0, and Microsoft^® Visual Basic^® 6.0 Enterprise Editions. To use Visual Database Tools, you first create a Web project or database project, and then add a database connection to that project.

For details about creating a database project, see Creating a Database Project.

For information about creating a Web project in Microsoft Visual InterDev, see the section "Creating Web Projects" in the Microsoft Visual InterDev online help.

Visual Database Tools Components

Microsoft Visual Database Tools is made up of four components:

• Data View
  
  
• Database Designer
  
  
• Query Designer
  
  
• Source Code Editor for stored procedures and triggers

This combination of database design tools provides a complete, tightly integrated database-development and administration tool for developers.

The specific functionality available in each component depends on the database server you are using. For more information about the differences between database servers, see Database Server Considerations.

Data View

The Data View component provides a visual interface in which you can view:

• Live connections to the databases in each project
  
  
• Objects available in each database, organized into folders, including:
  • Database diagrams
    
    
  • Tables
    
    
  • Triggers
    
    
  • Views
    
    
  • Stored procedures

For more information, see Managing Databases in Data View.

Database Designer

The Database Designer provides a graphical environment in which you can:

• Create and modify the structure of Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases.
  
  
• Create, modify, or delete database objects such as tables, relationships, indexes, and constraints.
  
  
• Experiment with the design of your database without affecting the database until you choose to save your new design.
  
  
• Carry out complex DDL operations using a simple interface. For example, you can change a column’s data type by selecting a different data type from a drop-down list.
  
  
• View and save change scripts of the SQL code for the changes you made in a database diagram. You can submit change scripts to database administrators for review and execution in controlled database environments.

For more information, see Database Designer.

Query Designer

The Query Designer provides four different ways for you to construct and execute queries against any ODBC-compliant database. You can:

• Use a visual query diagram to drag tables into the query and use graphical controls to manipulate the query definition.
  
  
• Use a criteria grid to specify search criteria, sort order, output columns, and so on.
  
  
• Use an SQL pane to type ANSI-SQL statements — or let the Query Designer generate the SQL for you — for Select, Insert, Update, and Delete queries.
  
  
• Browse and edit live views of data in your database tables.

For more information, see Query Designer.

Source Code Editor

The Source Code Editor enables you to:

• Edit stored procedures and triggers.
  
  
• Execute stored procedures and view their results.
  
  
• Debug stored procedures (if Microsoft Visual C++^® Enterprise Edition is installed).

For more information about editing stored procedures and triggers, see Stored Procedures and Triggers.