IronBlog Begins!
8/30/2009 12:57:00 AM
This is my new blog, where I'll be writing about anything I damned well please. It's my blog, after all! The first thing I'm going to write about is publishing your database to a shared server on GoDaddy. Anyone that's done this has felt my pain.
To publish your local database from Visual Studio 2008 to GoDaddy:
Right-click on the database in the Server Explorer (not the Data Connections node). Click on "Publish to provider..."
Next, this window should appear:
If it doesn't, you probably need to install the Publishing Wizard. It's a free download from Microsoft.
After clicking next, you'll get a prompt to select a database from which to publish. This is your local database.
After clicking next, you'll be prompted to select your output location. This is the remote server on GoDaddy.
Now is where their documentation gets gloriously inept and free from such impediments as clarity.
Click on the "Publish to shared hosting provider" radio button.
If you have not already Configured a Connection (and if you have, why are you reading this?), you must do
that now, because you won't have anything in your Provider and Target Database drop-down lists. Click the
More... button next to the Provider drop-down list, and that will show you...
You need to enter your Web service address. Where is this information? They describe it as the "Database
Information Section". I dare you to find it. I really do.
When you finally get info your "manage account" area, you'll see the tab for Databases. Click on it. There's a
lot of information here. This must be the Database Information Section, right? I have no idea. There's no title
like that listed anywhere. Hmmm. But I'm dealing with a SQL Server database, so I click on that icon, or choose
it from the drop-down list you get when hovering over the Databases tab. Now I must be in the Database
Information Section! So where is my web service and server name information? Going to need the server name
for the next step! Not here, that's for certain. In GoDaddy's "Publishing a Database Using the Database Publish
Wizard" article at:
Publishing a Database Using the Database Publishing Wizard, they show that the format for the Target database
looks nothing like anything on this page. Here's the trick, without which you'll be doomed to calling and/or
emailing GoDaddy's technical support for the answer. I did this one fine weekend, and after 8 hours, 5 calls,
several emails and the loss of most of my hair, I still didn't have an answer. In fact, each technical support
rep gave me a different answer to the same question. None of them were correct. OK, OK, the trick. After clicking
on the SQL Server icon or drop-down list item, you'll see a screen much like this one:
This is the Holy Grail! I had to slay many cute and fuzzy bunnies with razor-sharp, deadly teeth to gain this knowledge!
Click on the little pencil icon, and you'll get...
OK, it takes awhile for this next screen to load, but if you're patient, you'll get...
Still loading...
STILL LOADING!!! ARGH!!!
OK, none of these are the Web service address, but you'll need all of this, so don't complain!
Click on the Configuration tab right above the title "SQL Server Database Information". You'll get this screen:
And no, it doesn't say anywhere that this is the Web service address. What's the fun in that? I decided
that GoDaddy just wanted to make VERY certain that we actually wanted a database before providing it to
us. So, for the screen shown below you now have 3-4 bits of information. You have the User name information,
in case you forgot it, from the screen shot 2 images back. The Name field at the top of the window is just an
arbitrary name to refer to the connection. Use anything you like. Hopefully you know your own password.
It's described in their HowTo as your ftp password. Now, you have to set up a new database. In the image
below, you see the area under "Available databases"? Click the "New..." button.
You'll get this window next:
Remember this window show below from before? Here's where it comes in handy (I told you it would). The "Host Name"
goes into the "Server name" text field in the window shown just above. The "Database Name" field actually has the
same name in both windows. A first! The "User Name" field is the same, too! GoDaddy is catching on!!! Type in your
password, click OK, click OK again, and test it. You have a few passwords to use when you're logging into the web
interface, your account management and your database, and you might have typed the wrong one.
If you get confirmation that everything is well, click Next. If not, try changing to another one of your many passwords,
or go back and read from the start, and see where you missed a step.
All that's left now is to click on the Finish button and hope for the best. Good luck!