For the past several months, I was working on a Windows desktop application that didn’t require any connection to a database, and now that this project is coming to an end and my next assignment is Web application with database connection. I wanted to see what my options are for database migration tools. In the past I’ve used dbsetup.vbs script, created by Alek Davis, and although it worked it did require some modification to the underline script. So I’m currently looking at several alternatives that could serve as a suitable replacement.
RikMigrations
Migrator.NET
Subsonic Migrations
dbDeploy.NET
Here are some useful links I’ve found to help determine which toy, I mean, tool, I plan to use next.
http://www.infoq.com/news/2009/01/migrations_dotnet
http://flux88.com/blog/net-database-migration-tool-roundup/
http://alekdavis.blogspot.com/2008/07/database-installer-revised.html
See http://code.google.com/p/octalforty-wizardby/ : Wizardby does basically the same thing, but it uses special DSL and is generally much frictionless since it does not require you to write messy C# code. Plus, it can be integrated into your app.