I’ve been waiting for this a long time. Over the years, as Redgate has improved and changed the SQL Change Automation product in Visual Studio, I’ve been wanting to see it in SSMS. After watching this take shape across the last year, I now see it live.
SSMS integration is finally here with SQL Change Automation v4. Kendra wrote a bit about how this allows collaboration on database projects that use migrations between both Visual Studio and SSMS (Management Studio). This gives you the flexibility to work in the environment that is most natural for you. You can share the same project in both IDEs. Watch Kendra introduce this in a video to see just how things work, and the value of migrations.
I am definitely a migrations oriented developer. I like to track changes, and I like to customize scripts. To me, migrations is the best way to perform database development, though I certainly understand the attractiveness of the SQL Compare/state/model method of development.
If you have never tried migrations, I urge you to give it a try on a PoC (Proof of Concept) project and see how you can control exactly what code is run when making changes to your databases. That’s important to me, especially when trying to minimize the risk and downtime of making changes. Even without working in a DevOps process, I like migrations.