Create Data base SnapShots with our own file formats

Hi All,

We want to create a c#/VC++ application by using which we should be able to create sql server database SNAPSHOTs in our own file format (in online manner).

And later we should be able to get data from those snapshots files in offline manner using our application ( i.e. we should be able to get number/names of tables/columns...etc details).

Does anybody know how to do that?

Thanks

I suggest you let Sql Server do what it does best. So all your application should do is execute the query to generate the snapshot in the format that Sql Server normally uses. You can then use your application to execute another query to restore the database based on that snapshot. You can also have a look at Sql Server Management Objects (SMO). I don't think they support creating snapshots but they may have other things that might be useful to you.

Thank you for your reply.
But our requirement is different we want to do it offline. i.e. in the offline manner we want to get table & columns from snap shot files. So as some other softwares like 'Red Gate' does we want to create snap shot with our application, which later can be read by using our software only.

There are some 'system' stored procedures within SQL Server. In the query analyser try:

EXECUTE sp_tables (also sp_columns etc). You should be able to go from there and work out what you want.

As far as the C# bit, in the designer, you can drag those stored procedures onto a Dataset's design surface and then use the functions within the System.Data namespace to obtain recordsets containing all of your tables and all of your columns. You can then write them to disk (or wherever) in your own format using the functions within the System.IO namespace or alternatively use the dataset's built in WriteXml(...) method.