1. SSDT introduced with Visual Studio 2012 - not all Data Dude functionality was made available in SSDT for ex, data generation plans and database unit testing. A complete listing is available here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ssdt/archive/2011/11/21/sql-server-data-tools-ctp4-vs-vs2010-database-projects.aspx
2. Features related to SSDT - offline database development, object creation interfaces for schema objects, schema compare and snapshots, refactoring with preview, database versioning targeting different SQL Server versions.
3. It's not right to compare DataDude and SSDT. The former was primarily a Visual Studio connection to your database, SSDT is that plus a development enviroment to build on top of any SQL Server including SQL Azure.
II. Setting up SSDT with a project running the Entity Framework and show Data First work with SSDT
III. SSDT features:
1. Import Functionality
a. Dacpac
b. SQL script
c. Database
Note: You can import by ‘Type’. To match SC ScriptsFolder structure select ‘ObjectType’. By default the option is ‘Schema/ObjectType’
2. VS IDE Support
a. SQL Server Object Explorer
b. SQL Object Designer View
c. SQL Code Pane
You can see the code stub generated dynamically for the object change you make in the Designer View.
d. SQL Schema Compare
3. Build Project to get a DACPAC
(Extract DACPAC) to see model.sql –equivalent of our SQL Creation Script.
Notable features:
a. Setting up the Target SQL Server Platform.
b. Setting the Target connection string for debugging – By default SSDT connects to localDb to check local development issues during deployment.
4. Offline Database Project
USP:
1. Allows you to develop SQL Azure databases without being connected to the Azure instance.
2. DBAs can create a project from a live production environment to work on it offline.
3. In-build snapshot functionality – not as good as version controlling your database project though :- )
Although, the