ARD Database

Free, Verified, Community-Maintained

This repository contains the SQL Server database schema for the Amateur Repeater Directory project.

It is published as a Visual Studio SQL Server Database Project.
Each table, view, and stored procedure is its own .sql file for easy browsing and version control.
Building the project produces a portable .dacpac that can be deployed to SQL Server.

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🚀 Getting Started

1) Install prerequisites

• SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition (free)
  👉 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-downloads

• SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) v20 or later
  👉 https://aka.ms/ssmsfullsetup

• Visual Studio Community 2022 or later with SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)
  👉 https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/community/

  If Visual Studio is already installed, open Visual Studio Installer → Modify → Workloads → Data storage and processing (SQL Server Data Tools).

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2) Get the source code

You can clone the repository in two ways:

Option A — Using Visual Studio (no command line required)

1. Open Visual Studio.

2. On the start window, click Clone a repository.

3. In the “Repository location” box, paste:

   https://github.com/AmateurRepeaterDirectory/ARD-Database.git
   

4. Choose a local path on your computer where you want the project saved.

5. Click Clone. Visual Studio will fetch the repo and open the solution.

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Option B — Using Git from the command line

git clone https://github.com/AmateurRepeaterDirectory/ARD-Database.git
cd ARD-Database

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3) Open and build the project

1. Launch Visual Studio.

2. Open the solution file: ARD_Database.sln.

3. In Solution Explorer, right-click the ARD_Database project → Build.

4. After a successful build, look in:

   /bin/Debug/

   You’ll find:

   • ARD_Database.dacpac → compiled database package
   • ARD_Database.sql → (optional) full deployment script

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📦 Deploying the Database

You can deploy the schema into your own SQL Server instance in two ways.

Option A — SSMS “Deploy Data-tier Application” (simplest)

1. Open SSMS and connect to your SQL Server 2022 instance.

2. Right-click Databases → Deploy Data-tier Application…

3. Select ARD_Database.dacpac (from /bin/Debug/).

4. For the database name, enter:

   AmateurRepeaterDirectory
   

5. Click Finish. SSMS will create all objects in the correct order.

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Option B — Generate a deployment script from Visual Studio

1. In Visual Studio, right-click the project → Publish…
2. Edit the connection to point to your SQL Server instance.
3. Check Generate Script (instead of publishing directly).
4. Save the script, open it in SSMS, and run it against a database named AmateurRepeaterDirectory.

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🔄 Updating an Existing Database (diff script workflow)

When the schema changes:

1. Pull the latest changes from this repo.
2. Open the solution in Visual Studio and Build.
3. Right-click project → Publish… → Generate Script (don’t execute from VS).
4. Review the generated script.
5. Run it in SSMS on your existing AmateurRepeaterDirectory database.

Safety tips

• Keep Block on data loss enabled unless you intend to drop/alter columns.
• Do not use Always re-create database on production.
• Always review scripts before executing.

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📂 Repository Layout

/ARD_Database.sln           Visual Studio solution
/ARD_Database/              Database project
  dbo/
    Tables/                 One .sql per table
    Views/                  One .sql per view
    Stored Procedures/      One .sql per stored procedure
    User Defined Types/     Scalar/table types
  Properties/               Project settings
  References/               External references (if any)
/docs/                      Optional diagrams or docs

• Each object lives in its own .sql file for clean diffs and PRs.
• bin/ and obj/ are build outputs (should not be committed).

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🌱 Seed Data

By default, this project contains schema only.
If you need initial rows (e.g., lookup values like modes or offset types):

• Add them to a Post-Deployment Script inside the project, or
• Provide .sql/.csv files under /data/seed/ and run them manually.

No production data is included in this repository.

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🛠 Everyday Development Workflow

1. Edit schema in the project’s .sql files.
2. Build → produces a new .dacpac.
3. Publish → Generate Script → review and run in SSMS.
4. Commit .sql object changes to GitHub.
5. (Optional) Create a GitHub Release and attach the .dacpac for easy download.

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❓ Troubleshooting

• Can’t find the .dacpac?
  Make sure you built the project; check /bin/Debug/ or /bin/Release/.

• Foreign key / ordering errors when deploying?
  Deploy via the .dacpac or use a script generated by SSDT. These handle object dependency order automatically.

• Database shows compatibility level 150 (SQL 2019) on a 2022 instance?
  Set it to 160:

  ALTER DATABASE [AmateurRepeaterDirectory] SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 160;

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📜 License

• Database schema: Apache-2.0

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🤝 Contributing

Pull requests are welcome.

1. Fork the repo.
2. Make your schema changes in the project’s .sql files.
3. Build to ensure it compiles.
4. Open a PR with a clear description of the change.