Sql Server 2005 Database Tables - Row Comparison Column By Column.

Posted by Goober on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Goober
Published on 2010-03-22T10:17:02Z Indexed on 2010/03/22 10:21 UTC
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Scenario

I have an TWO datbase tables of exactly the SAME STRUCTURE. The difference between these tables is that one contains data populated by one application and the other is populated by a different application. Each application is trying to produce the same result, but using two different methods of implementation.

Proposed Idea

What I want to do, is run both applications, which will roughly produce 35000 rows containing 10 columns each - So all in all, 70000 rows of data, I then want to compare each row of data, COLUMN BY COLUMN to check whether the values are the same or not.

Current Thoughts

Since there is so much data to compare, I feel that the best way in which to do this would be to write an application, preferably in C# (but if necessary, T-sql), to compare each row of data column by column, and write out any failed comparisons to a text log file.

Question

Could anybody suggest an efficient way in which to perform column by column row comparison for 70000 rows worth of data? I'm struggling for ideas on how to tackle this problem.

Extra Detail

The two applications are both written in C# .Net 3.5. The Database is running on Sql Server 2005.

Help greatly appreciated.

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