Version control is an essential tool for developers and database administrators to manage changes to their code and database objects. In this article, we will explore how to use Git, a popular version control system, in SQL Server using Azure Data Studio (ADS).

Getting Started with Git in ADS

In order to use Git in ADS, you need to have the Git binaries installed on your machine. Once installed, you can begin working with ADS. Let’s start by examining a situation where we want to version control a SQL script.

First, we need to create a repository, which is a location where your files are stored and versioned. This can be a folder on your machine that is tracked as a part of your version control system. In ADS, you can open the folder where you want to create the repository and initialize it as a Git repo. This will mark the folder as a repo and create a hidden .git folder.

Once the repository is created, you can add your SQL script to the repo by saving it in the repository folder. ADS will automatically detect the changes and show the file in the Source Control pane. You can then stage the changes and commit them to the repo with a meaningful commit message.

Working with Versions of Code

Once you have committed a file to your repository, you can easily track changes and work with different versions of your code. ADS provides several features to help you with this.

You can view the Git history and log to see what has changed in your repository. The Git history shows the output from the Git commands that ADS runs, while the Git log shows a list of commits in reverse chronological order. This can be useful for tracking changes and understanding the development history of your code.

If you want to compare different versions of a file, ADS provides a diff view that shows the changes between two versions. You can easily see the additions and deletions in the code and toggle between side-by-side and inline views.

Conclusion

Using Git in Azure Data Studio provides a powerful way to manage version control for your SQL Server code. By creating repositories, committing changes, and working with different versions of your code, you can easily track and manage changes to your database objects.

This article has introduced the basics of using Git in ADS, but there are many more features available. In future articles, we will explore these features in more detail to ensure you are comfortable working with version control and ADS.

If you have any specific features or questions you would like to learn more about, please leave a comment below. I will be happy to answer them and consider creating another article to address your needs.