Git GUI on windows not recognizing SQL (.sql) file as text

Question

Apologies if this has been answered already but I have yet been unable to find an answer :(

I'm using SQL Server Management Studio 2008 on Windows 7 box.

I right-click any sproc, function or object and choose "Modify".
I click "Save" and save the file to a folder that is a git repository on my local hard drive.
I save the file as suggested type = "Microsoft SQL Server Query File (.sql)
So now I have a file e.g. "MySproc.sql" which opens fine in SQL Management studio, however when I use Git GUI and do a "scan" to find modified files it presents my new "MySProc.sql" as "* Binary file (not showing content)." instead of simple text.

I've tried opening the file in NOtepad and re-saving it but that did not fix it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Possible duplicate (unanswered though): stackoverflow.com/questions/3915072/… — Chris Shaffer
– Chris Shaffer, Commented May 5, 2011 at 16:56

Chris Shaffer · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-05 16:55:25Z

14

Just a guess, but I would say your .sql file is UTF-16; If you were to save it as UTF-8 or ASCII, I imagine git gui would work properly with it.

answered May 5, 2011 at 16:55

Chris Shaffer

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5 Comments

Andre Over a year ago

When I open any file in Notepad and "save-as" it shows the file encoding as "ANSI"... pardon my lack of knowledge but how can I see the encoding of a file?

Tao Over a year ago

best option is to use a decent text editor. Notepad++ and PSPAD are two free options that would tell you what you need to know.

Jon Seigel Over a year ago

@Tao, @Andre: SQL Management Studio supports saving using different encodings. When you do Save As, click the down-arrow on the Save button, and select 'Save with Encoding...'.

Chris Shaffer Over a year ago

@Andre: Keep in mind if the original file in the repository is UTF-16, then the new version being UTF-8 or ASCII won't make the comparison work. If this is the issue, your best bet is probably to use a different tool for comparing, one that supports Unicode.

Danny Frencham Over a year ago

In SQL Management Studio 2012, the option is File -> Advanced save settings.

paulstamant · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-19 12:18:12Z

1

It is annoying, but what I do is change the extension to .txt before uploading changes. I think the .sql extension is what is tripping up git.

P.S. Here's a valuable tip if you are using SQL Server Management Studio. Right click on your database. Choose Tasks from the popup menu and then Generate Scripts. That brings you into a wizard where you can generate scripts for everything in your database. You can output all scripts into a single folder. Then use a program like oscar's renamer to change the extension to .txt before you commit your changes. It is a great way to add source control (albeit manual) to your database.

answered May 19, 2012 at 12:18

paulstamant

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Paul Roub · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-07 22:52:30Z

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You can also use powershell to convert the file to ASCII.

Get-Content Filename.sql | Out-File NewFileName.sql -Encoding ascii

edited Nov 7, 2017 at 22:52

Paul Roub

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answered Nov 7, 2017 at 22:50

Mike Smith

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