Is it possible to create a copy of entire database, not the data, but just database structure?

Question

Greetings community,
This question is related to EXPRESS edition.
Let’s say that I have MyDatabase2014 and I’ve been populating it with some data during the year 2014. Before the end of the year, I want to prepare another database named MyDatabase2015, which should be empty, but of course it should have
all tables, relations, indexes and stored procedures just like MyDatabase2014. The idea is just to change a connection string and to continue using the same app for the same job.
So in SSMS, I right-clicked the database, choose script database as / create to / new query, but I didn’t get what I wanted. In query window I’ve got just create database statement, and below that few dozen of alter database set ansi this
or that statements, and set many other things. However, no table creation was scripted. Also, no stored procedures have been created, and about users, and other security objects better not to start to talk about.
I could have achieved that simply by right-clicking databases node and select new database. So what’s the point of “script database as”?
Does this work in SQL server editions other than EXPRESS?
When it comes to express edition, what’s the best practice to get the empty copy of a database?
Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

For scripting out the users and their permissions you can use this script
-- Capture permissions for all users in a DB
SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE @Database varchar(max)
SET @Database = '<Db_Name>'-- set the database name here
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM SYS.SYSDATABASES WHERE name = @Database)
EXEC('USE ' + @Database + ';
DECLARE @temp table(Extract Varchar(MAX))
INSERT INTO @temp (Extract)
SELECT ''EXEC( ''''USE ' + @Database + '; IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.schemas WHERE name = N'''''''''' + name + '''''''''')IF EXISTS (SELECT *
FROM sys.database_principals WHERE name = N'''''''''' + name + '''''''''') DROP USER ['' + name + '']''''); ''
FROM sys.sysusers WHERE islogin = 1 AND hasdbaccess = 1 AND name NOT IN (''dbo'')
INSERT INTO @temp (Extract)
SELECT ''EXEC( ''''USE ' + @Database + '; IF NOT EXISTS
(SELECT * FROM sys.database_principals WHERE name = N'''''''''' + dp.name + '''''''''')
CREATE USER ['' + dp.name + ''] FOR LOGIN ['' + sp.name + '']''''); ''
FROM sys.server_principals sp
JOIN sys.database_principals dp ON (sp.sid = dp.sid)
AND dp.name NOT IN (''dbo'')
INSERT INTO @temp (Extract)
SELECT ''EXEC( ''''USE ' + @Database + '; IF NOT EXISTS
(SELECT * FROM sys.database_principals WHERE name = N'''''''''' + dp.name + '''''''''')
CREATE USER ['' + dp.name + ''] WITHOUT LOGIN ''''); ''
FROM sys.database_principals dp left
JOIN sys.server_principals sp ON (sp.sid = dp.sid)
where dp.principal_id between 5 and 16383
INSERT INTO @temp (Extract)
SELECT ''EXEC( ''''USE ' + @Database + '; EXEC sp_addrolemember '''''''''' + User_Name([groupuid]) + '''''''''', '''''''''' + User_Name([memberuid]) +
FROM sys.sysmembers WHERE User_Name([memberuid]) NOT IN (''dbo'')
INSERT INTO @temp (Extract)
SELECT ''EXEC( ''''USE ' + @Database + '; ''
+ CASE [a].[state_desc] WHEN ''GRANT_WITH_GRANT_OPTION'' THEN ''GRANT '' ELSE [a].[state_desc] END
+ '' ''
+ [a].[permission_name] + CASE class WHEN 1 THEN '' ON [''
+ [c].[name]
+ ''].[''
+ Object_Name([a].[major_id]) + ''] '' ELSE '''' END + '' TO [''
+ User_Name([a].[grantee_principal_id])
+ ''] '' + CASE [a].[state_desc] WHEN ''GRANT_WITH_GRANT_OPTION'' THEN '' WITH GRANT OPTION'' ELSE '''' END
+ ''''''); '' COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS AS [SQL]
FROM sys.database_permissions a
inner join [sys].[all_objects] b
ON [a].[major_id] = [b].[object_id]
inner join [sys].[schemas] c
ON [b].[schema_id] = [c].[schema_id]
INSERT INTO @temp (Extract)
SELECT ''EXEC( ''''USE ' + @Database + '; ''
+ [a].[state_desc]
+ '' ''
+ [a].[permission_name]
+ '' TO [''
+ USER_NAME([a].[grantee_principal_id])
+ ''] '''');''
from sys.database_permissions a
where a.class=0
INSERT INTO @temp (Extract)
SELECT ''EXEC( ''''USE ' + @Database + '; ''
+ [a].[state_desc]
+ '' ''
+ [a].[permission_name]
+ '' ON SCHEMA ::''
+ '' [''
+ SCHEMA_NAME([a].[major_id]) +
+ ''] TO [''
+ USER_NAME([a].[grantee_principal_id])
+ ''] '''');''
from sys.database_permissions a
where a.class=3
SELECT Extract AS [Extract] FROM @temp
GO
ELSE
SELECT '--NO'
GO