Services

A service is a specific task or a set of tasks used by Service Broker to send and receive messages via a queue within a database, and communicate using contracts that define which message types are allowed.

Database Explorer allows you to perform operations on services using the shortcut menu. Right-click a service in Database Explorer to access commands for specific tasks, such as editing, deleting services, or generating scripts for them.

Create a service

You can create a service in SQL Editor in one of these ways:

• Code completion to write a script.
• SQL snippets to insert predefined or custom code.

Edit a service

1. In Database Explorer, right-click the service you want to edit and select Modify via SQL.

2. In a SQL document, update the ALTER SERVICE statement.

3. On the SQL toolbar, click Execute or press F5.

Delete a service

1. In Database Explorer, right-click the service you want to delete and select Delete, or press Delete.

2. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Note

You cannot undo the drop operation, as this action permanently deletes all its data and structure. It is recommended that you back up the database before deleting it.

Duplicate a service

1. In Database Explorer, right-click a required service and select Duplicate Object.

2. In the Duplicate Object dialog, configure the object settings:

• In Destination connection, select the target server.
• In Destination database, select the target database.
• In Destination schema, select the target schema.
• In New object name, specify the object name.
• Select Drop destination object to drop the destination object if it already exists.
• Optional: Select Script Changes, then select To New SQL Window to open the generated script in a new SQL document, or To Clipboard to copy it to the clipboard.

3. Click OK.

Generate a script for a service

1. In Database Explorer, right-click a required service and select Generate Script As, then select the statement type.

2. Select the output option:

• To New SQL Window – Opens the script in a new SQL document.
• To File – Generates the script to a .sql file.
• To Clipboard – Copies the script to the clipboard.

View service properties

To view service properties, in Database Explorer, right-click the service or Services node and select Show Details.

Object Viewer opens, displaying detailed information about the service.

Refresh the service

To update the service to reflect the latest changes, in Database Explorer, right-click the service or Services node and select Refresh, or press F5.

Open the Properties window

To open the Properties window, in Database Explorer, right-click the service and select Properties, or press F4.

Filter services

1. In Database Explorer, right-click the Services node and select Filter.

2. In the Filter Settings (Services) dialog, configure the filter parameters.

3. Click OK to apply the filter.

Note

When you open the Services node, the number of objects it contains appears in parentheses next to the node name. This number changes based on your filter settings.

Shortcut menu options for a specific service

The following table describes the shortcut menu options, which appear when you right-click a specific service in Database Explorer.

Name	Description
Modify via SQL	Opens the existing service in a new SQL document containing an ALTER SERVICE statement to update it.
Source Control > Source Control Manager	Opens Source Control Manager, where you can track and manage changes to database schema and static data. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it.
Source Control > Commit	Opens Source Control Manager with all local changes (if any) selected and ready to commit. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all local database changes.
Source Control > Get Latest	Opens Source Control Manager with all remote changes (if any) selected, ready to pull using Get Latest. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all remote database changes.
Duplicate Object	Opens the Duplicate Object dialog to duplicate the object.
Generate Script As	Generates a script of the selected object using the CREATE, DROP, DROP and CREATE, and ALTER statements. The script can be saved to a new SQL document or to a file, or copied to the clipboard.
Show Details	Opens Object Viewer to view object details.
Delete	Drops the selected object from the database. Shortcut: Delete
Refresh	Updates the object to reflect the latest changes. Shortcut: F5
Properties	Opens the Properties pane to view the object information. Shortcut: F4

Shortcut menu options for the Services node

The following table describes the shortcut menu options, which appear when you right-click the Services node in Database Explorer.

Name	Description
Source Control > Source Control Manager	Opens Source Control Manager, where you can track and manage changes to database schema and static data. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it.
Source Control > Commit	Opens Source Control Manager with all local changes (if any) selected and ready to commit. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all local database changes.
Source Control > Get Latest	Opens Source Control Manager with all remote changes (if any) selected, ready to pull using Get Latest. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all remote database changes.
Filter	Opens the Filter Settings dialog to control which services should appear in Database Explorer.
Show Details	Opens Object Viewer to view object details.
Refresh	Updates the object to reflect the latest changes. Shortcut: F5

Note

The Source Control shortcut menu is available only after you link the corresponding database to a source-control system.

Bulk operations

In Database Explorer, hold down Ctrl and select multiple services. Then right-click the selection and select the required option.

The following table describes the shortcut menu options available for multiple services.

Name	Description
Source Control > Source Control Manager	Opens Source Control Manager, where you can track and manage changes to database schema and static data. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it.
Source Control > Commit	Opens Source Control Manager with all local changes (if any) selected and ready to commit. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all local database changes.
Source Control > Get Latest	Opens Source Control Manager with all remote changes (if any) selected, ready to pull using Get Latest. When Source Control Manager is already open, this option refreshes it and selects all remote database changes.
Source Control > Link/Unlink Static Data	Opes the Source Control Link Static Data dialog that displays the tables whose data you want to link.
Generate Script As	Generates scripts of the selected objects using the CREATE, DROP, DROP and CREATE, and ALTER statements. The scripts can be generated to a new SQL document or to a file, or copied to the clipboard.
Delete	Drops the selected services from the database. Shortcut: Delete