Database migration for .NET

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Migration for .NET first official release is out and supporting MS SQL Server 2000, MySql 4 and Postgre 8 and fully integrated with Castle Generator.

A migration looks like the following:

[Migration(1)]
public class AddPostTable : Migration
{
	public override void Up()
	{
		Database.AddTable("Post",
			new Column("Id", typeof(int), ColumnProperties.PrimaryKeyWithIdentity),
			new Column("Title", typeof(string), 50),
			new Column("Content", typeof(string), 500),
			new Column("PostedAt", typeof(DateTime))
		);
	}

	public override void Down()
	{
		Database.RemoveTable("Post");
	}
}

The Up method is called to create, update, insert, etc. and the Down method is called to revert to an older version.

You can run migration, from a project generated with the monorail command line, with the command:

nant migrate

Or, to migrate to a specific version:

nant migrate -D:version=3

One of the coolest feature, that is not in Rails, is automatic transaction support. All migrations are executed inside a transaction and if an exception is thrown, all changes are rolled back. Note that because MySql only support table-level transaction, modifications to the schema won’t be rolled back.

To use, simply update or install the amazing Castle Generator.

By using this tool you understand that this is a beta release and might include some major issues. If you find some, please report them to in Trac.

Thanks to Kevin and Peter for their hard work, patience and support.

Happy migrating!

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Filed under Castle, Generator, Monorail