Introduction

As a full-stack developer, I found myself frequently inheriting large SQL databases with lots of complex business logic and no proper change management in place. As you can imagine, this was a recipe for disaster. Inevitably, changes would be made to the database schema without anyone knowing, resulting in all sorts of mayhem.

To mitigate this issue, I started developing my own change tracking system that eventually became VersionSQL. VersionSQL helps keep track of all the schema changes made to a database (including who made the change and when) and provides a history of past versions so that you can roll back if necessary.

VersionSQL first entered public beta in early 2016. Since then it has evolved into a powerful and reliable tool, trusted by database administrators, developers, team leads, and IT directors all over the world. Now, after many months of development and testing, VersionSQL is ready for its biggest update yet.

Key Features

History of Changes

Easy access to a database’s history of changes, allowing you to view all modifications made to the schema with a click. See who made each change, when it was made, and what the old and new scripts were, all without leaving SSMS.

Undo Script Generation

Allow you to roll back any change made to a database schema. Select a previous revision and VersionSQL will generate a script to revert the object back to its previous state.

Deployment Script Generation

The most requested new feature in VersionSQL 2.0. Deploy changes from version control to a live database or keep multiple environments in sync with little effort.

Other Features

Dark Mode

Optional dark mode, to make the interface easier on the eyes in low-light environments. Will engage automatically if SSMS’ hidden dark mode is enabled or if SQL Shades is installed and active.

Internal Diff Viewer

Compare changes visually, without needing any third-party tools.

Commit Entire Instance

Have a lot of databases on a server instance?  Kick off a commit for all of them all at once.

Bug Fixes

🐜 Resolved assembly conflict with another add-in

🐛 Fixed exception when committing a single table while other tables in the repo had extended properties

Wrapping Up

I hope you’ll join me on this journey as we continue to make VersionSQL the best tool for managing database changes. Thanks for reading!

– Michael (Founder & Developer)