Which Target Platform in VS2022 for MS Fabric DWH project?

[MaciejUrbaniak]

In Visual Studio, which project type and target database should I chose for MS Fabric DWH project? I use standard SQL database project template but no matter which Target Platform I chose, I get the same error message:

The source and target platform must be the same to use Schema Compare for Synapse Data Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric

My VS2022 version is 17.13.5.

Thanks,

Maciej

[v-veshwara-msft]

Hi @MaciejUrbaniak ,

Thanks for posting in Microsoft Fabric Community.

You can now set the target platform in Visual Studio to “Synapse Data Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric”, which uses the DSP SqlDwUnifiedDatabaseSchemaProvider.

During testing, sometimes might notice that Visual Studio defaults to creating an Azure Synapse Serverless SQL project instead. In such cases, you can open the .sqlproj file in a text editor and manually update the DSP value to the correct one for Fabric Data Warehouse:

<DatabaseSchemaProvider>Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Sql.SqlDwUnifiedDatabaseSchemaProvider</DatabaseSchemaProvider>

To avoid the platform mismatch error in Schema Compare, make sure:

1. Visual Studio is updated to the latest release: Visual Studio 2022 Release Notes | Microsoft Learn

2. SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) is installed or up to date:Install SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) - SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) | Microsoft Learn

3. Both the source project and the target are set to the same platform

Once these are in place, Schema Compare should work as expected.

Here is a similar thread: Solved: Re: HowTo SQL Schema Compare ? - Microsoft Fabric Community

Some Useful resources: SQL Projects Target Platform - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

Schema Compare Extension - Azure Data Studio | Microsoft Learn

Hope this helps. Please reach out for further assistance.

If this post helps, then please consider to give a kudos and Accept as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Thank you.

[v-veshwara-msft]

Hi @MaciejUrbaniak ,

Just checking in to see if you query is resolved and if any responses were helpful. If so, kindly consider marking the helpful reply as 'Accepted Solution' to help others with similar queries. 

Otherwise, feel free to reach out for further assistance.

Thank you.

[MaciejUrbaniak]

Hi @v-veshwara-msft,

It did help but did not resolve all problems. So when chosing SqlDwUnifiedDatabaseSchemaProvider (BTW, the standard SQL Projects do not have such options available in GUI so the change must be done directly in the .sqlproj file), the Schema Compare works but it SqlDwUnifiedDatabaseSchemaProvider is not fully compatible with the Fabric Warehouse, the build command results in some errors like scalar functions are not supprted by the target. But when I create such function diretly in Fabric, it works. So the SqlDwUnifiedDatabaseSchemaProvider target is not 100% correct one. 

I found another target in the docs SqlDbFabricDatabaseSchemaProvider but I haven't been able to test it yet as it requires installation of SQL Server Data Tools SDK style. 

I will update this thread once I get this extension installed

Best regards,

Maciej

[MaciejUrbaniak]

This thing is seriously broken, SSDT and SSDT SDK Style connot coexits (VS installer does not inform about it when SSDT SDK Style is chosen for installation). Obvious solution would be to uninstall SSDT. Then everything else breaks... I need to reinstall whole VS2022... What a waste of time. 

[v-veshwara-msft]

Hi @MaciejUrbaniak ,

Thanks for sharing your observations. Sorry to hear about the issues - the tooling for Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse projects in Visual Studio is still evolving.

The SDK-style SQL projects are still in preview and, as noted in the official documentation, they come with some limitations. These include lack of support for schema compare, table designer, data comparison, unit testing, and SQLCLR objects. Side-by-side installation with classic SSDT projects is also not supported. In Visual Studio 17.12 Preview 2, these projects use the .sqlprojx extension, which switches back to .sqlproj in Preview 3 and later.

If you're considering trying the SDK-style approach, existing SQL projects can be converted. Microsoft supports in-place conversion to SDK-style using the Microsoft.Build.Sql format. It’s recommended to create a backup before doing this. The official guidance outlines the steps to convert the project manually.

Convert an Original SQL Project - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

Regarding scalar functions, they are currently build with errors in Visual Studio but do work when created directly in Fabric. Microsoft has shared that scalar UDFs are now available in private preview, which may explain the difference in behavior. You can find more details in this blog post: Another dimension of Functions in Data Warehouse | Microsoft Fabric Blog | Microsoft Fabric

Apologies for the inconvenience this has caused, and thank you for continuing to test and share your findings - it’s helpful for others facing similar challenges. 

Hope this helps. Please reach out for further assistance.
If this post helps, then please consider to Accept as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Thank you.

[NandanHegde]

Below blog should help :

https://blog.fabric.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/sql-projects-support-for-warehouse-in-microsoft-fabric/

[MaciejUrbaniak]

Thanks but the blog is about Visual Studio Code, Not Visual Studio Professional 2022.