Fill your tables with junk data?

Question

I am lazy, sometimes excruciatingly lazy but hey (ironically) this is how we get stuff done right?

Had a simple idea that may or not be out there. If it is I would like to know and if not perhaps I will make it.

When working with my MSSQL database sometimes I want to test the performance of various transactions over tables and view and procedures etc... Does anyone know if there is a way to fill a table up with x rows of junk data mearly to experiment with.

One could simple enough..

INSERT INTO `[TABLE]`
SELECT `COLUMNS` FROM [`SOURCE_TABLE`]

Or do some kind of...

DECLARE count int 
SET count = 0

WHILE count <= `x`
BEGIN
INSERT INTO `[TABLE]`
(...column list...)
VALUES
(...VALUES (could include the count here as a primary key))

SET count = count + 1
END

But it seems like there is or should already be something out there. Any ideas??

possible duplicate of [Tools for Generating Mock Data?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/591892/tools-for-generating-mock-data) — Bill Karwin, Aug 16 '11 at 20:03

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 16 '11 at 20:03

3

I use redgate SQL Data generator

answered Aug 16 '11 at 20:03

Code Magician

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I've used this as well. It's very nice, and can cover most situations if you're actually looking for halfway decent data, too. The problem of course is that $300 price tag. – Mike M. Aug 16 '11 at 20:24
$300 is cheap. You would spend much more than that in hours of development time to do the same thing. – HLGEM Aug 16 '11 at 21:29
1

@HLGEM, it is sad but true that many people work on a fixed salary for cheap companies that don't care how long you have to work to get the job done. you'd be more likely to get blood from a stone than get that software at some of the companies I've worked for in the past. – KM. Aug 17 '11 at 12:09
I upvoted this but declared the Data Generation Plan as the winner because it is built it. What do you all think about this decision? – JBone Aug 17 '11 at 15:13

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 16 '11 at 20:29

2

Use a Data Generation Plan (a feature of Visual Studio database projects).

edited Aug 16 '11 at 20:29

Josh Darnell

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answered Aug 16 '11 at 20:13

nvogel

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 16 '11 at 20:10

1

WinSQL seems to have a data generator (which I did not test) and has a free version. But the Test data generation wizard seems to be reserved to the Pro version.

answered Aug 16 '11 at 20:10

iDevlop

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stnr · Answer 4 · 2011-08-16T20:21:12.860

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My personal favorite would be to generate a CSV file (using a 4.5 lines script) and load it into your SQL DB using BULK INSERT. This will also allow better customization of the data as sometimes is needed (e.g. when writing tests).

edited Aug 16 '11 at 20:21

answered Aug 16 '11 at 20:15

stnr

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Fill your tables with junk data?

4 Answers4