Virgin date with SQL Server 2008

Couple days ago I've finally reinstalled my system together with latest of every software I'd normally use, Photoshop and Illustrator CS4, IE8, Filezilla, Canon DPP etc, including Visual Studio 2008 TS plus service pack 1 and SQL Server 2008 Enterprise. It felt awesome using latest softwares with a stable system (had been using the same messed up system for over a year, too lazy to reinstall until I'd reached my boilling point), that was until yesterday.

I had been working on one of my never-ending-projects which consists of couple C# libraries, web applications and a database project, which is part of the core foundation of the entire project. Everything used to work just fine before the reinstallation and upgrade to new softwares, except maybe proformance glitchs.

Disaster stroke when I tried to build or deploy that damn database project. The compiler output kept telling me there was an version difference of the database server which prevented it from connecting to it. I was confused, my mind was flushed blank like aliens had abducted me and ereased my memories. With confusion in my mind I turned to the ever loyal Google search engine and the famously trustworthy MSDN Library for wisdom, but all I could find was an empty cellar full of hungry rats swarming on an wheel of age-old rotten cheese, nothing was useful.

What to do, what to do, one may ask, as I had been asking myself the silly question over and over, struggling and scratching. Many articles had suggested Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 had fixed and added support for SQL Server 2008 while others were like age-old articles about at that time 'the up-coming SQL Server 2008', which were not even worth the time for the browser to load the damned page. In the end, the solution to the problem were no where to be found, still scratching, still struggling.

With no help, no solutions, I turned to myself for answers, hopping to solve the risen conflict between haven and hell. Reconciliation was needed.

I started this painful journey by first tweaking around the configurations, for the project, for the damned evil softwares, after all hope was all that I had. But nothing had changed, the balance were not shifted by my actions, a failure I was. It was getting late, I looked at the clock hanging on that dead green wall in the living room, the short hand was pointing at 12 o'clock, I don't have much time to spare fixing this silly problem, I decided to take a detour. So, if the system says the cause of the problem was version difference then maybe, just maybe I sould've focused on this. Clicking on the big round coloured Windows button on the screen, I started uninstalling SQL Server 2008, downgrading it to the good old friend I've worked with for the past few years - SQL Server 2005.

Everything went well, uninstallation and installation were successful, I enjoyed clicking on that big 'Finish' button in the installer. But all the joy were soon gone as I found out a crucial component was somehow left out of the installation - the SQL Server Management Studio. The confusion came back to me like barbarians riding on V-2s charging towards me while yelling 'We've got Dr. Wernher von Braun on our side, we'll devour you like it's year 3000 again!'.

Ok, with this situation at hand, I've decided that one side should take a step back, you know ease up the tension, we don't want to worsen the situation, I'll install back 2008 version and work without database project (instead I'll turn the project into actual database). The following were blurred, so I won't write much in detail. Anyways, time was getting very late, my mind was like rotten soup, sticky and smelly, and of course sleepy. I could not remember what exactly happened but something went wrong, I had to remove both VS and SQL Server installations and reinstall them. By the time I had finished reinstalling everything Jane had already gone to work at the hospital.

Everything works now except the build and deploy functionality of database projects, I had almost given up hope. Rest was what I really needed. After few phone calls from friends I collapsed on the sofa. Summer days in Beijing are just unbearable, especially for the likes of my kind, I didn't sleep much.

First thing I did after waking up from that awful sleep, I made few calls to my dear ex-colleagues back at CSDN hopping to find a solution, but none have experienced similar situations. I'm back at the Google search engine. After staring at it for some time, I typed in keywords 'SQL Server 2008 Database Projects', an interesting search result came up, finaly light at the other end of the tunnel, it was hope! The article was an blog entry written not long ago, the instructions were simple and clear, download and install 'Visual Studio Team System 2008 Databse Edition GDR' and all wrongs will be right, all problems shall be solved, the solution brought with it truth and justice, peace among all kinds. Both the author of the blog entry and I did not known what the acronym 'GDR' meant, but what the hell, it fixed the damned problem! Wahaha... The light shines upon us, again!

P.S. To developers, after installing this update, if you had the view 'Schema View' open, you need to close it and reopen from the 'View' menu, this update had renamed it to 'Database Schema View'. Also you'll have to reconfigure the database project configuration settings accordingly. You'll also may have to detach the target database from SQL Server 2008.

Damn, it took me a whole god damn night to find out that all it took was a stupid 6.2MB update to fix the problem, sounds silly, disappointing and embarrassing, but what the hell, I solved it didn't I? Screw you all you suckers! Mwahahahaha...

Also here's the link to GDR download: VS2008 DE GDR