what's the purpose of the .database file in the ssis bids solutions?

Question

I Cannot find a link with more details. I think it's not necessary to check in that (same as .suo). It does not seem to change changing the structure of the solution files Ex adding new ssis packages or similar so I want to know it I can avoid to check in, as it might be recreated automatically each time Mario

Answer 1

If you look at the file association for .database, you can see some of SSIS and SSAS (analysis services) shared project history. On my machine, the file type for .database is "Analysis Services Database" even though we're in an SSIS project.

The only difference I see between a 2005, 2008 and a 2012 file are the attributes in the header row (the 200s, 300s and 400s)

2005 declaration

<Database xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:ddl2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine/2"
xmlns:ddl2_2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine/2/2"
xmlns:ddl100_100="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2008/engine/100/100"
xmlns:dwd="http://schemas.microsoft.com/DataWarehouse/Designer/1.0" 
dwd:design-time-name="bfed880d-636a-441b-9f13-55d813b61715"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine">
  <ID>SSISHackAndSlash</ID>
  <Name>SSISHackAndSlash</Name>
  <CreatedTimestamp>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</CreatedTimestamp>
  <LastSchemaUpdate>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</LastSchemaUpdate>
  <LastProcessed>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</LastProcessed>
  <State>Unprocessed</State>
  <LastUpdate>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</LastUpdate>
  <DataSourceImpersonationInfo>
    <ImpersonationMode>Default</ImpersonationMode>
    <ImpersonationInfoSecurity>Unchanged</ImpersonationInfoSecurity>
  </DataSourceImpersonationInfo>
</Database>

2008 declaration

<Database xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:ddl2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine/2"
xmlns:ddl2_2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine/2/2"
xmlns:ddl100_100="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2008/engine/100/100"
xmlns:ddl200="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2010/engine/200"
xmlns:ddl200_200="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2010/engine/200/200"
xmlns:dwd="http://schemas.microsoft.com/DataWarehouse/Designer/1.0" 
dwd:design-time-name="0d4fe615-edae-41b8-a46b-e62b3ba25a4a"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine">
  <ID>SSISHackAndSlash2008</ID>
  <Name>SSISHackAndSlash2008</Name>
  <CreatedTimestamp>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</CreatedTimestamp>
  <LastSchemaUpdate>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</LastSchemaUpdate>
  <LastProcessed>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</LastProcessed>
  <State>Unprocessed</State>
  <LastUpdate>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</LastUpdate>
  <DataSourceImpersonationInfo>
    <ImpersonationMode>Default</ImpersonationMode>
    <ImpersonationInfoSecurity>Unchanged</ImpersonationInfoSecurity>
  </DataSourceImpersonationInfo>
</Database>

2012 declaration

<Database xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:ddl2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine/2"
xmlns:ddl2_2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine/2/2"
xmlns:ddl100_100="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2008/engine/100/100"
xmlns:ddl200="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2010/engine/200"
xmlns:ddl200_200="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2010/engine/200/200"
xmlns:ddl300="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2011/engine/300"
xmlns:ddl300_300="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2011/engine/300/300"
xmlns:ddl400="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2012/engine/400"
xmlns:ddl400_400="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2012/engine/400/400"
xmlns:dwd="http://schemas.microsoft.com/DataWarehouse/Designer/1.0" 
dwd:design-time-name="14d580fb-02bf-43e0-a9c8-ebe99ba02d52"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine">
  <ID>EzAPIDemo</ID>
  <Name>EzAPIDemo</Name>
  <CreatedTimestamp>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</CreatedTimestamp>
  <LastSchemaUpdate>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</LastSchemaUpdate>
  <LastProcessed>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</LastProcessed>
  <State>Unprocessed</State>
  <LastUpdate>0001-01-01T00:00:00Z</LastUpdate>
  <DataSourceImpersonationInfo>
    <ImpersonationMode>Default</ImpersonationMode>
    <ImpersonationInfoSecurity>Unchanged</ImpersonationInfoSecurity>
  </DataSourceImpersonationInfo>
</Database>

I always add that to source control, even though as you have observed, it does nothing.