Publish data with SSDT?

Question

I have a SSDT-project. When publishing a new version I want to publish/initialize some data in the database as well. Can that be done using SSDT?

Answer 1

It can be done, but could be tricky. If you set up a variable in the project that can be used for "New" releases, you could put that in your post-deploy script as a section that would run a series of inserts, but only for that "New" type.

As David mentioned, the better way would likely be to use something like Red-Gate's data compare or run the scripts after creating the database. It's possible to do it in post-deploy scripts, but could prove tricky.

Something like this could work:

IF '$(DeployType)' = 'New'
BEGIN --"New" release scripts
PRINT 'Post-Deploy Scripts for release.'
:r .\InsertScript1.sql
:r .\InsertScript2.sql
--etc
END --"New" release scripts

Answer 2

This isn't possible in SSDT. The current guidance is to use a post-deployment script.

Redgate ReadyRoll provides many experiences familiar to SSDT users, but has improved static data management as well as many other improvements.

Answer 3

We include Merge-scripts automatically, when they are placed in a specific subfolder of the Project.