Using SMO to automate SQL tasks

[This was originally posted at http://timstall.dotnetdevelopersjournal.com/using_smo_to_automate_sql_tasks.htm]

I used to use shelling out to the console with osql, or splitting out all the "GO" keywords and using ADO.Net to execute non-queries.

And years ago, I guess that was fine.

But Server Management Objects (SMO) are phenomenal. They just work. With a few lines in C#, you can create or kill a database, install schema scripts, enumerate the database, and much more. You also get exceptions thrown if there is an error (much easier than parsing the osql output from the command line).

Good stuff.