New to ASP how do I see the database?

Databases
1

Hey all

I’m new to ASP.NET coming from a LAMP background. I have inherited a site running on Windows server 2003 on IIS6 using SQL server 2005. I’m using terminal services to connect to the web server.

The server has Visual Studio 2005 on it, but the project file is not available to me.

I have FTP access and have downloaded a copy of the entire site.

How do I view the database so I can run queries on it? Check data?

I would also like to configure a test environment on the server (test site and test DB). Can I create a new project in VS2005 and drop in all of the site files to work on them? Or is there more to it than this?

2

ah ha! I see I can right click on a table > script table as > Select to > New query.

This shows the full contents of the selected table.

3

thanks very much for your help so far.

The TS login I was using did not have the SQL Server management studio tools available but these have now been added. I can see the databases and tables etc.

I dont have the project files but I do have the .aspx and aspx.cs pages.

I’m assuming that I need to write a query to view all records in a table? I’m used to phpmyadmin where you can ‘browse’ a table.

4

If you don’t have the project file, and presumably the source code, you could have significant problems making material updates to the site.

Anyhow, you need to figure out where the database is hosted – the connectionstrings bits in web.config should help – then figure out how to get over there network-wise. Then get a sql query tool (sql server management studio express is good & free) to see the data.

5

sure, lots of them, just google “SQL Server query tool”

i use Query Express by albahari.com

6

I would have previously used phpmyadmin or mysql admin tools to view and amend a mysql DB.

Is there a similar system to view an mssql DB on the windows server?