Hey Clive, >I was making the destinction between VB6 outside of .NET but I think you >answered this point by saying that NANT support any language using devenv. >We don't develop Java but there is a mixture of .NET and good-old vb6.
We did a lot of that at my old company (but never had a slick tool like CCNET or Nant in place). DevEnv is really slow from what I understand.. just one thing to watch out for. >As for SQL Server, I wasn't referring to data issues. What I meant was that we >want to create a build that includes all the scripted changes for a SQL Server >release in addition to the usual code release stuff. One way of doing this is to >create the database scripts and then call these via an ISQL call - which I am sure >NANT will be able to do. So, in a continious build process, the entire >application .release ranging from code through to db changes can be handled >using the same tools. This is especially important in cases where the databases >actually store the business logic (stored procedures and functions) and are not >just data stores. What I mean is that I would like a build tool set/strategy that >dealt with sql server related release stuff in the same way as .net - ie. check for >changes in SCM and automatically build, log and so on. I see what your saying. I wish i had an answer for that one. =) I haven't attacked that issue yet, I'm still handling it manually. Maybe Red-Gate already has this, but a command line SQL Diff tool would be pretty awesome. I've used Adept, but its windows based (which I love). Someone else said it had a SQL task in it. I don't know if that does Diffs though... that would be one amazing free tool. If you do find something that does this, I would be very intersted in seeing it. Best Regards, Chris On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 03:29:11 +0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Clive, > > being a newbie myself, I might have the insights you were looking for <g>. > See my remarks inline. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 21/02/2005 22:55:38: > > > I'm just about to start an eval of NANT. A few kick-off questions... > > > > Right now, I'm unsure of the scope of NANT in terms of how > > appropriate it is to a mixed environment with some .NET apps and > > older legacy VB6 apps - most apps with SQL Server as a back-end. > > Some of my developer colleagues as asking me how '.NET' centric NANT > > is? In other words, is it a build tool for .NET apps or is it a > > build tool suitable for non-.NET apps which just happens to be > > written using .NET? > Nant envolved from it's conceptual anchestor ANT which is rooted in Java. It > was build to better fit the needs of the dotNET community. While it serves > special features for dotNET like targeting different framework version, it > is in deed a general purpose build tool. I succesfully integrated tasks for > NSIS (installer) and THINSTALL (packageing and obfuscation) with NANT. I > love the ZIP tasks. Every release build ends up in a time-stamped ZIP file > for additional backup. > > > > > In our environment, a mixture of VB6 and .NET on top of SQL Server, > > is NANT the best bet? > Asks the vendors of commercial tools... just kidding. I think you should > give NANT a shot to get used to continous integration and the usage of built > scripts. You will see that it covers most of your needs. Even if you might > decide, that it is not the final answer to your needs, NANT will sharpen > your understanding of the built process, so you have preciser criteria for > selecting your tool (while I think you will stick to nant anyway). You will > very fast start to appreciate what NANT contribute has to offer. > > > > > If NANT is the way to go on this, how can we best integrate the > > associated SQL Server builds into this process? > Use NANT contribute, there you have the SQL task. Pull your schema from the > actual db into the version control and run it against a test database. You > will very fast come to a point where you have a close look at NUnit and > something for VB (see: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TestingFramework ) and TSQL. > > > > > Is CruiseControl seen as the best partner for NANT in terms of > > automated/continuous build process? > CruiseControl works very well with NANT. What happens often: You run NANT > locally BEFORE you commit your part of work into the VersionControl (and if > the tests pass, you submit automatically) and then CruiseControl runs the > same script as part of a larger integration build on the server. Again > getting started is more important than the initial tool selection!!! Memento > Bene: Refactoring concepts are also valid for your tool selection, not only > your sourcecode. > > > > > Which SCM tool fits best into the NANT/CruiseControl picture? n.b. > > using VSS right now but developers see its shortcomings. > Subversion is very popular and NAnt contribute supports it very well. When > you come from a VSS background you might want to try VAULT (commercial). > Perforce and PVCS are suppoted too. My best bet: try Subversion. > I would use cruisecontrol (but that is mainly because we have .net and java > projects, so we run cruisecontrol and cruisecontrol.net... less to learn). > We also like maven, but that's not ready for dotNET yet (C# is already > supported). > > > > > I have a pilot implementation of one of our services that includes > > vb6 and SQL Server with the vb client interface being currently > > rolled out using a script that constructs the MSI package. My aim > > is to see all components of the build including SQL Server together > > in the same build process. As a starting point for me, are there > > any examples I could refer to for this scenario using the tools I > > have already mentioned plus any more that might be necessary? > For the MSI package you might have a look at Microsofts Open Source Package > MSI2SQL on sourceforge. There you can create an MSI package from an XML > definition. The XML Definition would be generated by build tasks > (Unfortunatly VB6 projects are not in XML format, you might add some > scripts. > A personal favorite: we use THINSTALL(.com) to bundle all needed files into > one exe (including the VB6 runtime. It somes with a virtual registry. So we > end with one exe that can be xcopy deployed. I also would recommend to have > one build process creating seperate client and server scripts. > > You find bits and pieces over time. We like visustin > (http://www.aivosto.com/visustin.html ) to document our SQL. It doen't run > form a command line (yet) but the author has promised to include that > feature somewhen this year. > When you look at NDoc you for sure wish for a lot of CPU power and will > confine the doc generation to nightly builds. I'm not sure if there is > support for VB6. > There is SQLdoc for your SQL on the server: > http://www.codeproject.com/cs/database/sqldoc.asp > > Hth > :-) stw > > > > > > Thanks in advance, > > > > Clive R. > ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click _______________________________________________ Nant-users mailing list Nant-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-users
