SQL Documentation Tool Version History

10 April 2008: 8.0 Release

• Added a Check for Updates menu command to the GUI (not visible in the evaluation version).
• Decreased font size in RTF report to 10 point.
• Added a new project option: "Include MS_Description in RTF". If checked then the RTF report incorporates the table, view, stored procedure and function descriptions from the databases that have been documented.
• RTF report now indicates if the database does not contain any stored procedures or functions.
• Fixed a minor issue with the progress bar which was affecting the documentation of empty databases.
• Improved the extraction of Function descriptions from SQL Server 2005's MS_Description fields.

2 April 2008: 7.9.1 Release

• Primary keys are now being correctly identified.
• The database extraction routine's progress bar's accuracy has been improved for databases that contain Jobs or DTS Packages.
• If there isn't an active project, the GUI now logs errors to the Error.log file in the program's installation folder.
• Evaluation version now has links to the product special offers page.
• Website link added to GUI's "About" Window.

17 January 2008: 7.9 Release

• SQL Server 2005 Schemas are now being correctly extracted from the database by the documentor.
• SQL Server 2005 field descriptions are now being extracted more accurately by the documentor. Descriptions are now also logged to the log file.
• Added an "Enhanced Logging" checkbox to the GUI. If checked then additional information is output to the project's log file. This will help to identify problems that may arise while documenting certain databases.
• If the new "Enhanced Logging" checkbox is checked then the DataStore class will now log its activity to the project's log file.
• The SQL documentor's installer has been changed to the Nullsoft Install System. Note that this installed does not install the Visual Basic runtime files or ADO, so you will have to manually install these. The HTML Help Workshop is also required if you wish to build HTML Help format documentation.
• The GUI now refreshes more cleanly, making it easier to track current activity.
• Database item counting has been improved - this now makes the progress bar much more accurate.
• SQL errors are no longer flagged in the GUI's Activity text box, but they continue to be logged to the log file. This change was made because not all of the SQL errors are critical (e.g. full text catalog SQL errors will arise if a database doesn't have any full text catalogs).
• The GUI's various controls are now locked during the database documentor's data extraction and documentation generation processes.
• Tables, views, triggers, table indexes and stored procedures now listed in alphabetical order in the documentation.
• The help file has been revised.

30 September 2007: 7.8 Release

• Object owners are now documented. The SQL Documentation Tool now documents the owners of objects. Note that there are fundamental changes between the way SQL Server 2005 and earlier versions handle users. In SQL Server 2000, database objects were owned by users. The four part reference to a database object in SQL Server 2000 is [DatabaseServer].[DatabaseName].[ObjectOwner].[DatabaseObject]. Beginning in SQL Server 2005, the four-part reference to a database object is [DatabaseServer].[DatabaseName].[DatabaseSchema].[DatabaseObject]. For more details of these changes visit http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190387.aspx. Note that when documenting SQL Server 2005 databases, the SQL Documentation Tool will add any objects that aren't assigned a schema to the default 'dbo' schema. The SQL Documentation Tool retains the capability to document database servers prior to SQL Server 2005.
• Table column descriptions are now extracted from SQL Server 2005 databases.
• Databases objects with single quotes in them are now correctly documented (although it's not recommended you use them).
• Database, stored procedure, table, table trigger and view descriptions are now extracted from SQL Server 2005 databases and displayed in the HTML and HTML Help format reports.
• SQL Server 2005 relationships are now correctly documented.
• The project option Use table column descriptions has been renamed Use MS_Description Extended Properties.

10 September 2007: 7.7 Release

• Database Stored Procedures and Functions are now listed separately within the documentation; in previous versions of the SQL Documentation Tool they were all listed as Stored Procedures.
• The connection test functionality now warns if the connection test was not completely successful.
• The internal connection string builder functionality has been rewritten. Benefits to the end user include much better support for SQL Server 2005.
• The connection settings window has a database server type drop-down list. This ensures the full capabilities of SQL Server 2005 and above are utilised by the documentor.

22 July 2007: 7.6 Release

• There is now an option to document dependency information for database tables, views, stored procedures and triggers. Note: Dependency information will not be shown for triggers unless database tables are documented. Documenting dependencies may significantly slow down the data extraction routines, particularly on very large databases.

10 July 2007: 7.5 Release

• The documentation has been revised.
• Added link on application's Help menu to www.softwaredocumentation.info.
• The HTML format documentation includes a date and timestamp to show when the data was extracted and when the documentation was generated.
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1 July 2007: 7.4 Release

• Added a progress bar to the status panel which updates during both data extraction and documentation generation activities. Note that HTML Help compilation time can only be estimated.
• Corrected a typo on the Edit Database Connection window.
• All windows made modal within the graphical user interface, improving application usability.

4 May 2007: 7.3 Release

• The system table 'sysdiagrams' is now excluded from SQL Server 2005 reports.
• Views with the table owner of 'sys' are now correctly excluded from SQL Server 2005 reports.
• The following system stored procedures are no longer documented: 'sp_alterdiagram', 'sp_creatediagram', 'sp_dropdiagram', 'sp_helpdiagramdefinition', 'sp_helpdiagrams', 'sp_renamediagram', 'sp_upgraddiagrams' and 'fn_diagramobjects'.
• The date and time of errors is now added to the error log file.

1 May 2007: 7.2 Release

• Database stored procedures are now listed in the RTF format report, complete with optional colour coding and syntax highlighting of the Transact SQL. Note that some RTF documents may need to be imported into WordPad and saved again before they can be opened with Microsoft Word.
• Table indexes are now listed on the table details page.

15 April 2007: 7.1 Release

• In response to user demand, the SQL Documentation Tool now has options to specify what should be documented in a project. It is now possible to document all/some or none of the following: tables, views, stored procedures, triggers, full-text catalogs, indexes, jobs and DTS packages.

10 April 2007: 7.0 Release

• Changed the way stored procedure field lengths are reported. Lengths are now reported only for fields of type char, nchar, varchar, nvarchar and varbinary. nchar and nvarchar field lengths are reported in terms of the amount of characters that can be stored within them.
• Stored procedure column types (e.g. input, output etc.) are now included in the report.
• GUI buttons now disabled while data being extracted or project being documented.
• It is now possible to specify an HTML report colour scheme.
• Added tooltips to the Project options Window.
• The project options now include the ability to include a user-specified HTML snippet within the <HEAD> element of the pages produced by the SQL Documentation Tool. This makes it possible to add a custom Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) to format the HTML report's output.

10 March 2007: 6.9.1 Release

• Changed the way data field lengths are reported. Lengths are now reported only for fields of type char, nchar, varchar, nvarchar and varbinary.
• nchar and nvarchar field lengths are reported in terms of the amount of characters that can be stored within them.
• Decreased the connection timeout time, making it easier to know if the SQL Server connectivity has not been correctly established.
• Database specific content data extraction routine now reports correct msdb database name.
• MSVCRT.dll is no longer redistributed with the installer as it is now provided as part of Windows operating systems.

7 March 2007: 6.9 Release

• Improved error handling when buttons are pressed in GUI without items being selected first.
• Improved error handling in DataStore accessing class.
• More buy now buttons added to sample output in evaluation version.
• Increased size of buy now button in evaluation version.

14 January 2007: 6.8 Release

The following new features were added:

• There is now an error reporting text box on the GUI. Brief details of errors are now added to this text box. Note that not all errors are serious, for example the SQL Documentation Tool will show full text index errors if the SQL Server does not have full text indexing available or configured, and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition does not support either DTS packages or Job schedules.
• The SQL Documentation Tool will now document databases named using reserved words or other non-recommended naming (e.g. spaces or underscores).
• Full application errors are now added to the log file.
• The error trapping routines have been greatly improved detailed error messages are appended to the project's log file. Note that not all errors are serious, for example the SQL Documentation Tool will show full text index errors if the SQL Server does not have full text indexing available or configured, and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition does not support either DTS packages or Job schedules.
• Fixed a small issue with the logging of SQL Server Job names to the log file.
• Frequently Asked Questions have been updated.

14 September 2006: 6.7 Release

The following new features were added:

• Logs folder is now created if it does not already exist.
• Product evaluation version now fully integrated with RegNow's affiliate marketing system.
• Added more buy now links to the evaluation version and removed some of the pop-up Window registration reminders.

14 August 2006: 6.6 Release

The following issues have been resolved:

• Corrected a problem with the display of View columns in the documentation.
• Removed system views "sysconstraints" and "syssegments" from database documentation.
• Corrected an issue with the use of custom connection strings.

14 July 2006: 6.4 Beta Release

The following new features were added:

• SQL Server 2005 is now supported.

14 July 2006: 6.3 Release

The following new features were added:

• SQL Server Job Schedules are now documented.

14 July 2006: 6.2 Release

The following new features were added:

• SQL Server Job Steps are now documented.

14 July 2006: 6.1 Release

The following new features were added:

• SQL Server Jobs are now documented.
• There is now the option to document SQL Server Jobs and DTS Packages.

14 July 2006: 6.0 Release

The following new features were added:

• Added a minimise button to the main application window.
• SQL Server DTS Packages are now documented.

14 July 2006: 5.2 Release

The following new features were added:

• The SQL Documentation Tool now lists databases by server name - this makes it easier to document the same named database in more than one server and allows server specific database content (i.e. Jobs and DTS Packages) to be documented.

12 December 2005: 5.1 Release

The following issue has been resolved:

• Datastore purges now correctly remove index information.

5 December 2005: 5.0 Release

The following new features were added:

• Increased the height of the main application window.
• Table indexes are now documented.

The following issues have been resolved:

• Fixed a problem with the databases occasionally disappearing from the Edit Project window.

30 October 2005: 4.0 Release

The following new features were added:

• The SQL Documentation Tool now supports the use of trusted connections as well as using specific SQL Server logins.

The following issues have been resolved:

• The edit connections windows have improved error handling.

18 June 2005: 3.0 Release

The following new features were added:

• HTML Help .hhp file generation has been speeded up.
• There is now an option to extract table column descriptions associated with databases [descriptions may be added to columns through the Enterprise Manager]. Note that this option is not supported with SQL Server 7.0, so you might want to turn off the option for projects that use SQL Server 7.0 databases.
• Documentation now identifies identity columns.
• Tables using compound primary keys are now identified [i.e. as used in Northwind..Order Details].
• Added Table compound primary key section to tables using compound primary keys.
• Compound primary keys have been added to the index of the HTML Help documentation.
• The Index Name column has been added to the HTML documentation for full text catalogs.

The following issues have been resolved:

• The method of identifying table primary keys has been changed.
• Fixed a formatting error in the HTML tables report for triggers.

8 June 2005: 2.1 Release

The following new features were added:

• Changed the default settings for new projects.
• Documentation generation has been speeded up, especially for generation of HTML Help reports.

The following issues have been resolved:

• Fixed an issue which stopped report generation if database contained a large number of Triggers.

3 June 2005: 2.0 Release

The following new features were added:

• Views have been added to the RTF report.
• The raw Transact SQL code associated with Views, Stored Procedures and Triggers is now displayed in a textarea in the HTML reports so that it can be copied and pasted into other applications.
• Added a text reporting option for projects.
• Full-Text Catalogs are now documented and have been added to all reports.

20 May 2005: 1.1 Release

The following new features were added:

• The status panel has been improved; the SQL Documentation Tool now displays details of the database item it is currently working on.
• The HTML Help Report is now linked from the HTML Report.
• Documentation summary page shows number of items in each database within the project.
• If a table has any triggers they are now listed on the table's report page.
• Mousepointer turns to hourglass while the data extraction and documentation routines are in progress.
• There is a new RTF Reporting option that creates word processor (including Microsoft Word) compatible documentation. The RTF report currently contains details of the tables in the database.
• Transact SQL code in the HTML and HTML Help reports can now be optionally syntax highlighted and colour coded.

The following issues have been resolved:

• Triggers now correctly listed in database summary page.

8 May 2005: 1.0 Release

First commercial version release.

Download SQL Documentation Tool Evaluation Version (10Mb ZIP file).