Installing CLR library to MS SQL Server

The following MS SQL Server versions are supported and tested:

• MS SQL Server 2022 running on a Windows machine (Linux-based versions that can be run in a docker container are not supported CLR functions)

NOTE: This doesn’t mean that the other versions are not supported at all. WDS just haven’t been tested with them yet, so follow the releases.

To install CLR functions into an SQL Server instance, on the WDS MS SQL CLR Releases page choose the latest release of this version (v1.0.x or latest) and download its Artifacts.zip archive. This archive has the following files:

1. WDS.MsSql.Clr.dll - .NET Framework 4.8 assembly with the CLR functions
2. WDS.MsSql.Clr.hash - a hash of the WDS.MsSql.Clr.dll that is required for adding the assembly into an SQL Server instance
3. WdsClrFunctions.sql - SQL script that adds the functions into an SQL Server instance
4. Install.bat - Windows script that configures and runs the WdsClrFunctions.sql against a particular instance of SQL Server. This script is idempotent so it can be run multiple times and all components will be reinstalled from scratch.

WdsClrFunctions.sql and Install.bat scripts are available in the wds.mssql.clr repository for evaluation (see the WDS.MsSql.Scripts directory).

WDS.MsSql.Clr.dll, and WDS.MsSql.Clr.hash files are built by GitHub actions automatically. Nonetheless, these two files can be compiled from the source code (the WDS.MsSql.Clr.hash is created by an after-build script in the WDS.MsSql.Clr project file).

In order to add CLR functions in an SQL Server instance, the CLR feature should be enabled. To enable it, the WdsClrFunctions.sql script contains the following section:

EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
RECONFIGURE;
EXEC sp_configure 'clr enable', 1;
RECONFIGURE;

There is always the latest release and the other releases. For evaluation purposes, the latest release is recommended, but it’s better to use specific versions in production and perform updates from version to version according to a release process.\

Installation Steps

1. Download an Artifacts.zip archive from one of the releases or the latest one
2. Unarchive the Artifacts.zip and get into the unpacked folder
3. Run the Install.bat script and follow instructions
4. After the script completed successfully, the following message will be shown: All done. The MS SQL instance on "server_address" is ready to run WDS CLR functions.

All CRL functions and UDTs by default are installed to the wds namespace and all examples use this. This can be changed manually in the WdsClrFunctions.sql if necessary.

Install.bat configuration

The following environment variables are used to configure the Install.bat script:

Install.bat run examples with overrides

1. With a custom SQL Server address

   cmd /c "SET SERVER=10.11.12.13 && Install.bat"