I frequently generate scripts for  SQL 2000 and it’s not uncommon when I use SQL 2005 that I use a feature that doesn’t work in Sql 2000, so the steps to do this are:

• Run the Wizard
• 9 steps later: Generate
• Fail
• Completely start over with 9 previous Steps 

Uhm, something’s not very efficient in this workflow, n’est pas? 

In addition the errors that get generated can be pretty sparse too. In one case I had a constraint type that doesn’t work in Sql 2000 and the generate option told me that there’s an error and shows me the first table that has the error, but no hint as to which field in this table is the problem. Now SQL has to know which field failed so why not give me a little break and TELL ME for crying out loud.

The new Generate Scripts option in SQL Management Studio is a royal pain in the ass to work with. Not that script generation was ever really clean in Sql Enterprise Manager but the current scripting wizard is painful to step through with its many options. But the worst problem is that once you’re done you can’t make a change to the settings and re-run instead you have to go back and start over.

How hard could it have been to have:

• A back button to go back through the options
• Save Options to pick them up on another pass
• Save the last settings and use them for defaults on the next pass

But no <s>.

I realize there are a third party tools out there that do a much better job, but Database script generation is one of the core features that should at least be reasonably user friendly? Grrr… I just went through a script generation routine 4 times before I got it right.