Create a Synonym for a database / Change DB views point to

Question

I know databases aren't supported by CREATE SYNONYM, but I'm looking to achieve the functionality this would provide.

We've got Database A which contains views to tables on Database B. The trouble is "Database B" isn't always called "Database B". We use database projects for deployments, which at the moment fall over with an "Invalid Object Name" error if there isn't a "Database B".

The workaround at the moment is to open up the .dbschema file and do a find and replace. I guess another option would be to create a load of table synonyms.

What's the best way of changing the database a number of views reference without changing each view individually?

Thanks

Answer 1

Synonyms are a good way to do this. You have to create the synonyms at the object level though (as you've discovered). An easy way to do this would be to write a script that runs through the list of tables in DatabaseB (from your example) and creates a synonym for each one in DatabaseA. Keep the name of the synonym the same so the code in your views doesn't have to change. For instance, you you have tbl_a, tbl_b, and tbl_c in DatabaseB, you'd want your script to eventually do the following:

create synonym [otherDb].[tbl_a] for [DatabaseB].[schemaB].[tbl_a]
create synonym [otherDb].[tbl_b] for [DatabaseB].[schemaB].[tbl_b]
create synonym [otherDb].[tbl_c] for [DatabaseB].[schemaB].[tbl_c]

Now, in your view code, you'll always use [otherDb].[tbl_a], [otherDb].[tbl_b], and [otherDb].[tbl_c]. Hope this makes sense.