With the November 2009 release of the Windows Azure SDK, Microsoft have changed the development storage to support dynamic schemas - just like the real Azure environment.
Because of this change, there is no longer a need to run the Create Test Storage Tables function (hoorah!) - which also means my existing Development Storage Sync tool is now defunct too.
However not all is sunshine and fairies. In order for development storage to update its schema, you must first insert an entity with the most recent properties (see this forum). If you don't, you'll get a crash if you attempt to query on a property that's not in the schema.
Essentially this means that you still need to update your development db each time you change an entity!
To make life easier, I've updated my existing Development Storage Sync tool to do this. Using reflection, it will update the schema for your entire context in one action:
Download Development Storage Sync
Installation
The application requires a reference to your assemblies that contain your TableServiceContext - which means you can't just double-click the app to run it. However a really easy way to run the app is to create an External Tool in Visual Studio. To do this:
- Click Tools > External Tools...
Add a new External Tool:
The Command field should point to DevStorageSync.exe in your installation directory.
The Arguments field should point to your assembly that contains your TableServiceContext (surround with talking marks, separate multiple assemblies with a semicolon).
Now, whenever you want to synchronise your development db, just click Tools > Sync Development Storage.
Please let me know of any bugs or feedback.
Cheers,
Anthony.
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