SMO (SQL Server Management Objects) is a .NET based object library for programming all aspects of managing Microsoft SQL Server. Replication Management Objects (RMO) is another library that encapsulates SQL Server replication management.

SMO assemblies are shipped with SQL Server 2005 and can be used to connect with SQL Server 7, 2000 or 2005. The assemblies are located in the following folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\SDK\Assemblies.

• Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo.dll
• Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo.dll
• Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoEnum.dll
• Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlEnum.dll

With SMO you can do all kind of management on a SQL Server, namely: tables, columns, indexes, stored procedures, service broker, backup and restore, managing users/roles and logins, scheduling, etc. Here you can find some specific tasks that can be done with SMO.

Below you find an example how you can create a table with SMO:

using System.Data.SqlClient;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common;

public class Sample
{
    public void Create(string connectionstring)
    { 
        SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(connectionstring);
        Server server = new Server(new ServerConnection(connection));
        
        Database database = server.Databases["MyDatabase"];
        
        // Create table, called Customer
        Table table = new Table(database, "Customer");
        
        // Add 'ID' column which is the primary key
        Column idColumn = new Column(table, "ID");
        idColumn.DataType = DataType.Int;
        idColumn.Identity = true;
        idColumn.IdentitySeed = 1;
        idColumn.IdentityIncrement = 1;
        
        // Create a primary key index
        Index index = new Index(table, string.Format("PK_{0}", table.Name));
        index.IndexKeyType = IndexKeyType.DriPrimaryKey;
        index.IndexedColumns.Add(new IndexedColumn(index, "ID"));
        table.Indexes.Add(index);                        
        
        // Add 'Name' column
        Column nameColumn = new Column(table, "Name");
        nameColumn.DataType = DataType.VarChar(50);
        
        // Add colums to table
        table.Columns.Add(idColumn);
        table.Columns.Add(nameColumn);
        
        table.Create();
    }
}

MyMeta is an open-source API that allows you to get meta-data from your database. MyMeta is part of MyGeneration, a free code generator hosted on Sourceforge. The MyMeta API can be downloaded separately here (filename is called 'mymeta_installer.exe').

MyMeta supports the following databases. Note that the API is extensible and that you can provide your own plug-ins

Below you find a code snippet that will iterate, for a SQLite database, all tables, columns and indexes.

string connectionstring = @"data source=SQLiteDatabase.DB";

MyMeta.dbRoot myMeta = new MyMeta.dbRoot();
myMeta.Connect(MyMeta.dbDriver.SQLite, connectionstring);

IDatabase db = myMeta.DefaultDatabase;

foreach (MyMeta.ITable table in db.Tables)
{
    Console.WriteLine("{0} ({1})", table.Name, table.Columns.Count);
    Console.WriteLine("\tCOLUMNS");

    foreach (MyMeta.IColumn column in table.Columns)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("\t\t{0} ({1}), Nullable:{2}", 
                 column.Name, column.DataTypeName, column.IsNullable);
    }

    Console.WriteLine("\tINDEXES");

    foreach (MyMeta.IIndex index in table.Indexes)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("\t\t{0}, Unique:{1}", index.Name, index.Unique);
    }
}

MyMeta can map database types to specific ADO.NET data types and language types (C#, VB.NET, etc.). MyMeta has a set of XML files (included in the setup) that contains these mappings. Namely the 'Languages.xml' and 'DbTargets.xml'. Below you find a snippet of the two XML files:

<Languages>
    ...
    <Language From="SQL" To="C#">
        <Type From="bigint" To="long" />
        <Type From="binary" To="object" />
        <Type From="bit" To="bool" />
        <Type From="char" To="string" />
        <Type From="datetime" To="DateTime" />
        <Type From="decimal" To="decimal" />
        <Type From="float" To="double" />
        <Type From="image" To="byte[]" />
        <Type From="int" To="int" />
        <Type From="money" To="decimal" />
        <Type From="nchar" To="string" />
        <Type From="ntext" To="string" />
        <Type From="numeric" To="decimal" />
        <Type From="nvarchar" To="string" />
        <Type From="real" To="float" />
        <Type From="smalldatetime" To="DateTime" />
        <Type From="smallint" To="short" />
        <Type From="smallmoney" To="decimal" />
        <Type From="text" To="string" />
        <Type From="timestamp" To="byte[]" />
        <Type From="tinyint" To="byte" />
        <Type From="uniqueidentifier" To="Guid" />
        <Type From="varbinary" To="byte[]" />
        <Type From="varchar" To="string" />
        <Type From="xml" To="string" />
        <Type From="sql_variant" To="object" />
    </Language>
    ...
    <Language From="SQLITE" To="C# (SQLite v3.x)">
        <Type From="CHAR" To="string" />
        <Type From="DATETIME" To="DateTime" />
        <Type From="DATE" To="DateTime" />
        <Type From="TIMESTAMP" To="DateTime" />
        <Type From="TIME" To="TimeSpan" />
        <Type From="DECIMAL" To="decimal" />
        <Type From="VARCHAR" To="string" />
        <Type From="NVARCHAR" To="string" />
        <Type From="TEXT" To="string" />
        <Type From="INTEGER" To="long" />
        <Type From="INT" To="long" />
        <Type From="FLOAT" To="float" />
        <Type From="BOOLEAN" To="bool" />
        <Type From="CLOB" To="string" />
        <Type From="BLOB" To="byte[]" />
        <Type From="NUMERIC" To="decimal" />
        <Type From="VARYINGCHARACTER" To="string" />
        <Type From="NATIONALVARYINGCHARACTER" To="string" />
    </Language>
    ...
</Languages>

<DbTargets>
    ...
    <DbTarget From="SQL" To="SqlClient">
        <Type From="bigint" To="SqlDbType.BigInt" />
        <Type From="binary" To="SqlDbType.Binary" />
        <Type From="bit" To="SqlDbType.Bit" />
        <Type From="char" To="SqlDbType.Char" />
        <Type From="datetime" To="SqlDbType.DateTime" />
        <Type From="decimal" To="SqlDbType.Decimal" />
        <Type From="float" To="SqlDbType.Float" />
        <Type From="image" To="SqlDbType.Image" />
        <Type From="int" To="SqlDbType.Int" />
        <Type From="money" To="SqlDbType.Money" />
        <Type From="nchar" To="SqlDbType.NChar" />
        <Type From="ntext" To="SqlDbType.NText" />
        <Type From="numeric" To="SqlDbType.Decimal" />
        <Type From="nvarchar" To="SqlDbType.NVarChar" />
        <Type From="real" To="SqlDbType.Real" />
        <Type From="smalldatetime" To="SqlDbType.SmallDateTime" />
        <Type From="smallint" To="SqlDbType.SmallInt" />
        <Type From="smallmoney" To="SqlDbType.SmallMoney" />
        <Type From="text" To="SqlDbType.Text" />
        <Type From="timestamp" To="SqlDbType.Timestamp" />
        <Type From="tinyint" To="SqlDbType.TinyInt" />
        <Type From="uniqueidentifier" To="SqlDbType.UniqueIdentifier" />
        <Type From="varbinary" To="SqlDbType.VarBinary" />
        <Type From="varchar" To="SqlDbType.VarChar" />
        <Type From="xml" To="SqlDbType.Xml" />
        <Type From="sql_variant" To="SqlDbType.Variant" />
    </DbTarget>
    ...
    <DbTarget From="SQLITE" To="SQLite.NET v3.x">
        <Type From="CHAR" To="DbType.String" />
        <Type From="DATETIME" To="DbType.DateTime" />
        <Type From="DATE" To="DbType.DateTime" />
        <Type From="TIMESTAMP" To="DbType.DateTime" />
        <Type From="TIME" To="DbType.Time" />
        <Type From="DECIMAL" To="DbType.Decimal" />
        <Type From="VARCHAR" To="DbType.String" />
        <Type From="NVARCHAR" To="DbType.String" />
        <Type From="TEXT" To="DbType.String" />
        <Type From="INTEGER" To="DbType.Int64" />
        <Type From="INT" To="DbType.Int32" />
        <Type From="FLOAT" To="DbType.Single" />
        <Type From="BOOLEAN" To="DbType.Boolean" />
        <Type From="CLOB" To="DbType.String" />
        <Type From="BLOB" To="DbType.Binary" />
        <Type From="NUMERIC" To="DbType.Decimal" />
        <Type From="VARYINGCHARACTER" To="DbType.String" />
        <Type From="NATIONALVARYINGCHARACTER" To="DbType.String" />
    </DbTarget>
    ...
</DbTargets>

The xml files can be loaded by setting the LanguageMappingFilename and DbTargetMappingFilename. Setting the right target can be done by the properties Language and DbTarget.

string connectionstring = @"data source=SQLiteDatabase.DB";

MyMeta.dbRoot myMeta = new MyMeta.dbRoot();
myMeta.Connect(MyMeta.dbDriver.SQLite, connectionstring);

myMeta.LanguageMappingFileName = @"C:\Program Files\MyGenerations\Settings\Languages.xml";
myMeta.DbTargetMappingFileName = @"C:\Program Files\MyGenerations\Settings\DbTargets.xml";            

myMeta.Language = "C# (SQLite v3.x)";            
myMeta.DbTarget = "SQLite.NET v3.x";

IDatabase db = myMeta.DefaultDatabase;

foreach (MyMeta.ITable table in db.Tables)
{
    Console.WriteLine("{0} ({1})", table.Name, table.Columns.Count);
    Console.WriteLine("\tCOLUMNS");

    foreach (MyMeta.IColumn column in table.Columns)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("\t\t{0} ({1}), DBTargetType:{2}, LanguageType:{3}", 
            column.Name, column.DataTypeName, column.DbTargetType, column.LanguageType);
    }                
}

The mapped types can be found in the properties DbTargetType and LanguageType on the IColumn interface.