Red-Gate SqlDoc Action

FinalBuilder Feature Requests
1

Red-Gate has come out with a tool that helps document databases called SqlDoc.

http://www.red-gate.com/products/SQL_Doc/index.htm

I tried but failed creating an action trying to get their command line tool to work with FinalBuilder. Are you guys planning on writing one for SqlDoc anytime soon? I have a need for it in my build files and would love to spread the message to the developer community. I also would love to see the source code as I know it is “easy” and I am missing something trivial.

Great tool!

Regards,

Dave

2

I use the ApexSQL Doc for the exact same reason…also a great tool. I would be interested to compare each product one day. I invoke it using a Final Builder run command action and get to it via the ApexSQL command line.

http://www.apexsql.com/sql_tools_doc.asp

The Red Gate vs ApexSQL challenge is really starting to heat up!

Best regards,

Rod

3

David,

I had a look at the SQL Doc help file and it didn’t mention anything about a command line interface to the tool. Do you know if it has one? Basically the issue here is that FinalBuilder/Automise needs some way of controlling the other tool. We generally prefer to use a command line interface if it has one, but if it has a COM API that that’s fine too.

Rod - the ApexSQL tool advertises a “Extensive Command Line Interface” in it’s features, so this would a FinalBuilder action possible. You could always write your own action using ActionStudio :slight_smile:

I’ll put these both on the enhancements list.

.t8

4

Thanks Tate,

Yes, the command line interface to all ApexSQL products is comprehensive, documented and included into each product. I believe that command line interfaces are an extra cost for all Red Gate products.

Rod

5

ah, interesting… thanks for that info Rod.

6

They have two versions of SQL Doc and the professional version comes with the command line. They don't talk about it in the documentation which is weird. You can download the professional version and run it via

SQLDoc.exe /? to get help

I think I screwed up and overcomplicated my action by implementing IFBCustomExecuteAction and I think the simpler version was all that was needed. I then started having problems getting quotes around the project file path argument and then everything went a bit blurry


Hopefully you can get it working as I really love SQL Doc and FinalBuilder. I would also love to learn how to create the actions so I am hoping to see how you make it work.

I never heard of ApexSQL until a few weeks ago and they look like they have a lot of similar tools to Red-Gate. Although I hadn't played with it, it looks like their documentation tool has been around for a lot longer, too, and perhaps more feature rich.

Thanks for everything Tate.

Regards,

Dave

7

Hi David,

You should have a look at the FBBeyondCompare.fbap file that is installed in FinalBuilder\ActionDefs\Source

That action is a pretty good example of calling an external exe. By far the easiest way to call an exe is to use script (pick your favourite between JScript and VBScript) and use the “Execute Program Action” type. Then all you need to do is return the path to the exe in the GetExecutablePath method and the command line parameters in the GetCommandLine method… we don’t have time to write these actions right now, but I’d be very glad to help you if you want to take another shot at it.

.t8

8

I use dbForge Documenter for SQL Server, it automatically generates documentation of an entire SQL Server database in a few clicks. Also, it includes a lot of options to customize the generated documentation to meet all your specific requirements.

https://www.devart.com/dbforge/sql/documenter/

Try it!