Pre- and post-deployment scripts overview

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Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance

Pre- and post-deployment scripts are SQL scripts that are included in the project to be executed during deployment. Pre/post-deployment scripts are included in the .dacpac but they aren't compiled into or validated with database object model. A pre-deployment script is executed before the deployment plan is executed but the deployment plan is calculated before the script executes. A post-deployment script is executed after the deployment plan completes.

SQL project file sample and syntax

A SQL project file can have a single pre-deployment script and a single post-deployment script specified.

The following example from a SQL project file adds the file populate-app-settings.sql as post-deployment script.

...
  <ItemGroup>
    <PostDeploy Include="populate-app-settings.sql" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

Multiple files can be executed as part of a pre- or post-deployment script by using a SQLCMD script that calls each file in order.

:r .\scripts\script1.sql
:r .\scripts\script2.sql

Those files should be excluded from the database model build by setting the Build Action property to None in the file properties in Visual Studio or by adding an entry for the file in the .sqlproj file with the Build attribute set to None.

...
  <ItemGroup>
    <None Include="scripts\script1.sql" />
    <None Include="scripts\script2.sql" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

Add pre- and post-deployment scripts

In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and select Add > Script. Select Pre-Deployment Script or Post-Deployment Script.

The script file is added to the project and opened in the query editor, where you can complete the script. This script will be executed before or after the deployment plan is executed every time the project is deployed.

In the Database Projects view of VS Code or Azure Data Studio, right-click the project and select Add Pre-Deployment Script or Add Post-Deployment Script. Provide a script name without the file extension.

The script file is added to the project and opened in the query editor, where you can complete the script. This script will be executed before or after the deployment plan is executed every time the project is deployed.

Edit the .sqlproj file directly to add pre- or post-deployment scripts. Add a <PreDeploy> or <PostDeploy> item to the <ItemGroup> section of the .sqlproj file.

For example, to add the script scripts\before-script.sql to our project as a pre-deployment script:

...
  <ItemGroup>
    <PreDeploy Include="scripts\before-script.sql" />
  </ItemGroup>

This script scripts\before-script.sql is executed before the deployment plan is executed every time the project is deployed.

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