User profile for Dan J Archer

Hi, 1. You can click an object of a certain type, then right click it and choose Select->Same Type from the menu. This selects across all databases on the diagram. Then right click and hit Properties on the menu. If you change the Fill Color and Text Color, those changes will be applied to the entire selection; ie. to all objects of that type. There is a bug in the 2.0 release whereby getting Properties on a large selection fails. This will be fixed in our forthcoming 2.1 release, which will be a 100% free upgrade from 2.0. 2. Thanks for that one - I'll pass it straight on. Cheers, Dan / comments

Hi, 1. You can click an object of a certain type, then right click it and choose Select->Same Type from the menu. This selects across all databases on the diagram. Then right click and hit Properti...

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Hi there, I can tell you that the price is likely to remain the same for the forseeable future. As far as the future goes, we don't have firm plans at the moment: we're still waiting to get more feedback on the current version. We think we've produced an application that people can really get some good use out of. I can tell you there'll likely be a patch release in the next few weeks or months, but this is mainly a placeholder for any critical bug fixes that prove necessary, and a few tweaks. In terms of appearance and functionality there won't be much of a difference, if any. We'll also have some help online soon. In the longer term, we're assessing the feedback we've got since the release of the free 1.0 beta version last year. Initially, analysing the feedback suggested one primary goal, which was the basis of the direction taken by our 2.0: to provide a way of analysing the impact of changes before they occur. And to provide easy ways of getting a diagram of those impacted objects into other applications. Exploring the database schema was a slightly secondary goal, but is still a valid and valuable one. However, as the beta for 2.0 became increasingly public, we got some even more useful feedback from users dealing with very large databases. Such schemas are so complex that a full diagram isn't really much help in terms of analysing dependencies. There's too much information. Now we did design Dependency Tracker to cope with this: you add a small subset of objects to the diagram, and the application will find the dependencies for you. So you can work bottom up. Of course some of our users want to browse and explore the dependencies in very large databases, working top down. So we're considering that avenue. Perhaps a more explorer like, potentially more text based interface for tracking dependencies. There could also be support for scripting/automation via an external API; and support for a command line so dependency tracking can be run as part of people's batch processes. We'd likely provide printing and more export options, perhaps to save the dependencies into a database so that DBAs and developers can inspect them with good old SQL. This approach could be rather different, with a rather different user interface. The diagram might not be as central to the application as it is now. This variant on Dependency Tracker, if it were to come to pass, could be a Professional version for our more hard core users. So I can't promise anything, but these are some of our thoughts on future directions. Hope that's of help, All the best, Dan Dan J Archer SQL Dependency Tracker Project Lead Red Gate Software / comments

Hi there, I can tell you that the price is likely to remain the same for the forseeable future. As far as the future goes, we don't have firm plans at the moment: we're still waiting to get more fe...

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Just a note to say that we've now released v2.1. See the announcement thread with that name for more details. We also have some great online help in the pipeline, which will be online within the next few weeks. Dan / comments

Just a note to say that we've now released v2.1. See the announcement thread with that name for more details. We also have some great online help in the pipeline, which will be online within the ne...

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I've been granting free time extensions to those who've private messaged me. If you'd like one, please feel free to do so. All the best, Dan / comments

I've been granting free time extensions to those who've private messaged me. If you'd like one, please feel free to do so. All the best, Dan

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Hello all, Some good points well made there. If any of our beta users would like to extend their trial, please private message me on this board and I will reply to arrange this for you. Regards, Dan Dan J Archer SQL Dependency Tracker Project Lead Red Gate Software / comments

Hello all, Some good points well made there. If any of our beta users would like to extend their trial, please private message me on this board and I will reply to arrange this for you. Regards, Da...

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Dear dwainew, Thanks for your feedback. May I ask if you think the beta should have no time limit? If so, given that Red Gate betas generally support quite a significant amount of functionality, what would be the driving incentive to buy the full version when it comes out? If you have any suggestions in this arena I'll see that they're considered for future betas with which I'm involved. Regards, Dan Dan J Archer SQL Dependency Tracker Project Lead / comments

Dear dwainew, Thanks for your feedback. May I ask if you think the beta should have no time limit? If so, given that Red Gate betas generally support quite a significant amount of functionality, wh...

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Dear carlao, Thanks for those, very useful reports. To your point 1, SQL Dependency Tracker does attempt to find all your SQL servers by the same diverse means as used in eg. SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare v5. If you use those products, could you let me know if you can see servers in those but not in SQL Dependency Tracker? Regarding the odd label text, this has now been fixed thanks to your bringing it up. We now display a caption of "Searching..." whilst the preparation stage is in place. Normally this stage executes so quickly that the label's internal name wouldn't have been displayed, but obviously under some conditions it could end up that way. Thanks for the report. Regarding the background, I've taken a note and if we have time we'll add an option to hide the grid background. The layout issue is rather interesting. When you create a new project, do the objects initially get laid out in a sensible fashion, or do they just end up eg. in the top left corner? Could you also check that the Visual J# runtime is still installed (under Add/Remove Programs); if this is removed post install the layout will not function. All the best, Dan Dan J Archer SQL Dependency Viewer Project Lead / comments

Dear carlao, Thanks for those, very useful reports. To your point 1, SQL Dependency Tracker does attempt to find all your SQL servers by the same diverse means as used in eg. SQL Compare and SQL Da...

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Dear lfagetti, Thanks for those. They're all good suggestions. I'm afraid SQL Dependency Tracker 2.0 won't include support for automation, a command line or an API. But, as they saying goes, never say never... The user can register additional databases in the Add Objects to Project dialog (by selecting "Add instance" at the end of the list). You may have found this already of course. Regarding your last point, this dialog has been the matter of much internal design and debate, and it may well get another revision before we release. I can't promise anything though. Thanks again, and all the best, Dan / comments

Dear lfagetti, Thanks for those. They're all good suggestions. I'm afraid SQL Dependency Tracker 2.0 won't include support for automation, a command line or an API. But, as they saying goes, never ...

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In the final version you can right click any object and, if we have it, view the source SQL. For SQL2005 SPs using strong encryption, and for SPs in .NET assemblies, this won't show you much. However, in other cases you should be able to see the declaration and indeed source code. Hope this helps, Cheers, Dan / comments

In the final version you can right click any object and, if we have it, view the source SQL. For SQL2005 SPs using strong encryption, and for SPs in .NET assemblies, this won't show you much. Howev...

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Hi PDinCA, The line-and-blob (no, we don't have a better term internally either) is used to indicate that the object in question has dependcies which are not on the diagram. Objects which have such can be right clicked and then you can generally select eg. "Add->Objects the selection Uses". It is rather like the UML interface symbol isn't it? Our internal usability trials have already suggested that this could use a revision, which we'll do if we have time before release. Hope that's of help. Cheers, Dan / comments

Hi PDinCA, The line-and-blob (no, we don't have a better term internally either) is used to indicate that the object in question has dependcies which are not on the diagram. Objects which have such...

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Dan J Archer

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