Designer - Refreshing the catalog schemas

Preface

If changes were made to the catalog schemas after you've created your project (e.g. you've added a table or a relation, renamed a field, or removed a table or view) you will need to refresh the catalog schemas in a project to start working with the new schema set. This is because LLBLGen Pro only makes a snapshot of your database schemas while creating the project, enabling you to work on your project without being connected to the database.

Use the refresh functionality with care: refreshing the catalog can have severe impact on your project. If elements you use in your project have targets (like a table or view) which have been deleted from the catalog / schema, and these elements are used in other elements as well, for example an entity is also part of a typed list, this typed list is also modified, because the target of an entity has been removed from the catalog.

By default, LLBLGen Pro will backup your current project before starting a catalog refresh action, so you can always return to the version prior to the refresh action. If you don't want to have a backup created, you can switch this off by setting CreateBackupBeforeRefresh to false in the user preferences. The filename used for this is the regular filename, appended with the suffix containing the exact date and time in the following format: ddmmyyyyhhMMss. 'm' is month, 'M' is minute. The folder into which the backup is placed is defined in the Preferences.

If you have multiple catalogs in your project (SqlServer only), you can decide to refresh a single catalog (right-click on the catalog to refresh and select 'Refresh this catalog') or refresh all catalogs. The same options are available to you for an unattended refresh.

Refreshing the catalog schemas

Single catalog refresh, attended
When the refresh succeeded, the project is refreshed in the Project Explorer and you can start using the new catalog(s). All changed objects in the project will now have their front/back color changed in the project explorer. If you've specified to automatically add new elements to the project, by setting AddNewElementsAfterRefresh and/or AddNewViewsAsEntitiesAfterRefresh to true in the user preferences, the new elements are added for you automatically. If you've specified to keep the names in the project in sync with the names in the catalog schemas, by setting SyncMappedElementNamesAfterRefresh to true, the names are synchronized for you automatically.

If you are not satisfied with the changed project, you can abandon the project by closing it, but not saving it, and load the backup LLBLGen Pro made, if you've decided to create a backup. An example of the catalog refresh dialog is shown below.

catalog refresh dialog
Catalog refresh dialog


Multi catalog refresh, attended
To perform a multi catalog refresh, you right-click on the Catalogs node in the project explorer and you select 'Refresh All Catalogs'. You can also select Project -> Refresh All Catalogs... from the menu. Otherwise the steps are the same as for Single catalog refresh, attended.
Single catalog refresh, unattended
You can also perform an unattended refresh on a single catalog. Do start an unattended refresh, right click on the catalog to refresh in the project explorer and select 'Unattended refresh' from the context menu. An unattended refresh will automatically refresh the catalog for you using the last used connect credentials. It might be the password you used isn't yet stored in the project and the refresh fails the first time. If that's the case, perform an attended refresh first. If you've specified to manually select stored procedures, the stored procedure selector will be shown, regardless if you're running an unattended refresh. If you don't want this, switch off manual stored procedure selection in the user preferences. For further information about actions taken during a refresh, please see Single catalog refresh, attended.
Multi catalog refresh, unattended
To start a multi catalog unattended refresh, you right-click on the Catalogs node in the project explorer and you select 'Unattended Refresh All Catalogs'. You can also select Project -> Unattended Refresh All Catalogs from the menu. For the rest, the steps are the same as for Single catalog refresh, unattended.
Changing catalog name/schema name for refresh
It can happen that during the project's lifecycle, the name of the catalog or schema changes, or the catalog is moved to another server and is called differently on that server. Using the mechanisms to refresh the existing catalog(s)/schema(s) will fail, as the catalog name(s) / schema name(s) won't be found. To be able to refresh your catalog or schema with the meta-data of a different catalog / schema, go to the catalog explorer, right click the catalog- or schema name and select Rename... or press F2. Specify the name of catalog / schema you want to use for the next refresh cycle and click OK. Now refresh your catalog.

Correcting mappings

When a catalog is refreshed, it can be that a table or view was renamed since the last time the catalog was refreshed or the project was created. During the migration of the entities, when LLBLGen Pro detects that a target table or view is not available under the old name, it will try to find back the table or view which is now known under a new name. However, it can be it makes a mistake, because for example two tables are renamed and they look alike, and it's then unclear which one to choose. A mistake in the mapping of an entity can lead to having an entity mapped onto the wrong table for example. (to get an overview of which entities are mapped on which tables/views, please see Designer - Adding and editing entities). Normally, these mistakes are rare, but it can be you run into them.

You can order LLBLGen Pro to show a list of 'orphaned' entities, which are entities which targets aren't found in the new catalog information under their old names. To do this, set the preference setting ManuallySelectRenamedTargetsAfterRefresh to true. If this preference setting is set to true, and LLBLGen Pro detects one or more orphaned entities, it will show a dialog like the following screenshot. This dialog then lets you correct the mappings per entity.



Project element target selector

Per selected element you can select a target from the drop down box and by clicking Set, you set the entity to a new target. If you don't need an entity anymore, because its target has been deleted from the database schema, simply leave its new target empty and the entity will be removed after the refresh has been completed. By clicking 'OK', the refresh will proceed.

Not shown during an unattended refresh, in which case the catalog refresher logic will use the default for ManuallySelectRenamedTargetsAfterRefresh: false.
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