CLR assemblies

Chapter 15 DBMS-Specific Features

CLR assemblies

An assembly is a DLL file used to deploy functions, stored procedures, triggers, user-defined aggregates, and user-defined types that are written in one of the managed code languages hosted by the Microsoft .NET Framework common language runtime (CLR), instead of in Transact-SQL. PowerDesigner models assemblies as extended objects with a stereotype of <<Assembly>>.

Creating an assembly

You can create an assembly in any of the following ways:

Select Model→Assembly Objects to access the List of Assemblies, and click the Add a Row tool
Right-click the model or package in the Browser, and select New→Assembly

Assembly properties

You can modify an object's properties from its property sheet. To open an assembly property sheet, double-click its diagram symbol or its Browser entry in the Assembly Objects folder.

The following extended attributes are available on the Microsoft tab:

Name	Scripting Name	Description
Authorization	Authorization	Specifies the name of a user or role as the owner of the assembly.
File name	FileName	Specifies the local path or network location where the assembly that is being uploaded is located, and also the manifest file name that corresponds to the assembly. Can be entered as a fixed string or an expression evaluating to a fixed string.
Permission set	PermissionSet	Specifies a set of code access permissions that are granted to the assembly when it is accessed by SQL Server. You can choose between: SAFE UNSAFE EXTERNAL_ACCESS
Visibility	Visibility	Specifies that the assembly is visible for creating common language runtime (CLR) functions, stored procedures, triggers, user-defined types, and user-defined aggregate functions against it. You can choose between: On Off
Unchecked data	UncheckedData	By default, ALTER ASSEMBLY fails if it must verify the consistency of individual table rows. This option allows postponing the checks until a later time by using DBCC CHECKTABLE.