Learn how to use SQL Server Management Studio for complex database editing operations.
To view and edit the Advance Steel databases, you can use the Table Editor functionality in the Management Tools application. For more complex editing operations, it is recommended you use
SQL Server Management Studio.
For each of the MDF Advance Steel databases, a corresponding LDF file with an identical name will be automatically created when Advance Steel connects to the database. The LDF file will be placed in the same disk location as its corresponding MDF database.
A LDF is a log file that contains a log of the recent actions executed against the database, and it is used to track events so that the database can recover from hardware failures or other unexpected shutdowns.
Important notes:
- When removing an Advance Steel MDF database, make sure you also remove the corresponding LDF file located next to it. If a different version of that MDF database is placed next to a remaining LDF file, Advance Steel will not be able to connect to that database, because the LDF file will not have been created for that particular MDF database.
- When a different version of the MDF database is brought in, it is not mandatory to also bring the LDF file, but only to make sure there is no leftover LDF file in the destination location.
- The Advance Steel installation will automatically configure the computer to use LocalDB 2014 (a software that can read and write MDF files). If a newer version of LocalDB is already installed (such as LocalDB 2016), the Advance Steel databases will be updated to the newer version.
- Advance Steel will maintain compatibility with MDB exports coming from older Advance Steel versions. You can import MDB exports of bolts, anchors and studs using the import functionality in the Management Tools application. Similarly, drawing style MDB exports and drawing process MDB exports can be imported in the current version of Advance Steel, using the import functionality in the Drawing Style Manager and Drawing Process Manager.
- To migrate settings from a previous version of Advance Steel to the current one, do not use the Convert Databases functionality in the Management Tools application, but use the
Migration Tool. The Management Tools Convert Databases functionality has been transformed to simply convert an MDB database to an identical MDF database, and it will not adapt it to the installation databases from the new version of Advance Steel.