SQL Server Data Tools Preview update for Feb 2016

The SQL Server Data Tools team is pleased to announce an update for SSDT Preview is now available. The SSDT Preview update for Feb 2016 enables SSIS one-designer support for SQL Server 2012 and SQL Server 2014 in Visual Studio 2015. This will allow you to develop with a SQL database, AS, RS and IS project for multiple SQL Server versions with one installation of SSDT in Visual Studio 2015.

What's new in SSDT

SQL Server Integration Services enhancement

  • One-designer support for multi-targetting SQL Server 2016 RC0, SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2012!
  • SSIS Hadoop connector supports for ORC format
  • For more information see the Integration Services blog.

SQL Server Analysis Services enhancement

  • Support for display folders for Tabular models
  • Any models created with new SQL Server 2016 compatibility level can be used with SSIS
  • For more information see the Analysis Services blog.

SQL Server 2016 RC0 database programmability support

Get it here: Download SSDT February 2016 Preview for Visual Studio 2015 and Visual Studio 2013

  • The version number for the latest preview in Visual Studio 2015 is 14.0.60316.0
  • The version number for the latest preview in Visual Studio 2013 is 12.0.60315.0

Update 3/18/2016:  We have released an updated version of the SSDT February 2016 Preview to correct an issue reported by users that affected the ability to connect to Azure SQL Data Warehouse.  The previous versions, 14.0.60305.0 and 12.0.60304.0, have been replaced by the fixed version at the Download page.

Download Data-Tier Application Framework February 2016 Preview

  • The version number for the latest preview is 13.0.3252.1

Known issues:

SQL Server Integration Services

  • SQL 2016 Project connection manager UI is used when switching to 2014.
  • Project connection manager UI uses 2016 UI instead of 2014 UI if you create the project level connection manager in 2014, switch the target server version to SQL server 2016, then switch it back to SQL server 2014.
  • Script component doesn’t work after switching target server version if script fails to build.
  • Debug in 64 bits mode in SSDT for Visual Studio 2015 doesn’t work if target server version is set to SQL server 2012/2014.
  • Script editor in Visual Studio 2013 may crash when SSDT-BI for Visual Studio 2013 and SSDT for Visual Studio 2015 are installed on the same machine.

Connection dialog

  • Properties change through Advanced Properties dialog may not be retained when the connection is opened next time through History tab.
  • If installing SSDT standalone – without any previous Visual Studio 2015 installation (Community, Pro+, or Express) – Azure login and browse functionality will not be available. To fix, install a version of Visual Studio and update the Azure Tools to version 2.7 or higher.

Temporal Tables

  • Incremental deployment of a in-memory optimized table may fail if table migration occurs. The mitigation is to manually drop System versioning, i.e. the temporal link between two tables prior to table migration to avoid deployment failure.
  • When you create a new temporal table using Project Item template and add columns to it, deployment may fail. The mitigation is not to add any column until the table is deployed first. Once the table is created, you can add columns to the table and deploy it incrementally.
  • When you delete a column from a temporal table using Table designer, adding a subsequent column may not work properly. To avoid it, keep the comma(,) after the last column in the table definition after deleting a column.

Setup

  • If a version of SQL Server 2016 CTP is already installed on the machine, setup may be blocked. This is to avoid breaking components shared by the engine.
  • If installing SSMS Preview, SSDT Preview for Visual Studio 2015, or SSDT Preview for Visual Studio 2013 side by side on the same machine, there may be issues unless all are updated to the latest release.
  • (VS2015) .Net 4.6.1 may not install if there is no version of Visual Studio or the VS Integrated Shell previously installed on the machine. .Net 4.6 will be installed instead.
    • This will result in no Network connections being shown in the new connection dialog.
    • Recommendation is to install .Net 4.6.1 as it contains a number of stability improvements and SQL related fixes.
  • (VS2015) The April 2014 update to Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Known as KB2919355 is required to install the Visual Studio 2015 Isolated Shell. Please install KB 2919355 before you install SSDT on these operating systems.
  • (VS2015) The SSDT Japanese language installer may fail on the first attempt due to an issue installing the Visual Studio 2015 Japanese language pack. Retrying installation should succeed in installing correctly.

Contact us:
If you have any question or feedback, please visit our forum or Microsoft Connect page. We are fully committed to improve the SSDT experience and look forward to hearing from you!