Get column differences between 2 databases (SQL Server)

Question

I've got 2 databases almost identical to one another. However, it seems that for some tables in the new database, they are missing columns that are in the old database.

What would be the best way to see the differences between columns in tables between 2 databases? Specifically, I need to see what columns AREN'T in the new database that ARE in the old one.

I've tried looking this up but most things I found were either not what I needed or looking at "records".

Answer 1

You can query the columns from your db using the sys tables and compare the result sets. This script assumes your old db has all the columns you want.

;WITH old_db_columns AS (
SELECT c.object_id, c.column_id, c.name AS column_name, t.name AS table_name
FROM old_db.sys.tables t 
INNER JOIN old_db.sys.columns c 
    ON t.object_id = c.object_id
)
, new_db_columns AS (
    SELECT c.object_id, c.column_id, c.name AS column_name, t.name AS table_name
    FROM new_db.sys.tables t 
    INNER JOIN new_db.sys.columns c 
        ON t.object_id = c.object_id
        )

SELECT * 
FROM old_db_columns o
WHERE NOT EXISTS (
SELECT 1
FROM new_db_columns n
WHERE n.table_name = o.table_name
AND n.column_name= o.column_name)

Answer 2

您可以使用Red Gate提供的SQL Compare和SQL Data Compare工具来比较和同步数据库架构和数据。

Answer 3

您可以生成表的create语句，并且可以使用任何diff工具对其进行比较。

Answer 4

Check out that video: VS Comparision

Visual Studio has built in functionality that you are able to do data compares, schema compares and it will generate the differences for you in a script if you need to recitfy the variances.