How can I save the schema of a SQL Database to a file?

Question

I'm writing a software application in C#.Net that connects to a SQL Server database. My C# project is under SVN version control, but I'd like to include my database schema in the SVN repository as well. An answer to a previous question of mine suggested storing the scripts to generate the database in version control. Is there a way to automatically generate these scripts from an existing database?

I'm very new to SQL Server, but I noticed in management studio that the SQL commands to create a table can be generated automatically by right clicking on the table and clicking "Script Table As". Is there an equivalent command that would work with the entire database?

Answer 1

You didn't mention which version of SQL Server, but in 2008 (and possibly earlier), you can right-click the database and choose Tasks -> Generate Scripts. The wizard will walk you through the steps.

Answer 2

You can use SQL-DMO or SQL SMO to script out, or a product like APEXSQLScript (if you have a lot of dependencies, you're going to want to use a mature 3rd party tool like this).