Handling SMO Events

There are server event types that can be subscribed to by using an event handler and the ServerConnection object.

Many of the instance classes in SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) can trigger events when certain actions on the server occur.

These events can be handled programmatically by setting up an event handler and subscribing to the associated events. This type of event handling is transient because all the subscriptions are removed when the SMO client program exits.

ConnectionContext Event Handling

The ServerConnection object supports several event types. The event property must be set to an instance of an appropriate event handler, and the event handler object must be defined as a protected function that handles the event.

Event Subscription

You handle events by writing an event handler class, creating an instance of it, assigning the event handler to the parent object, and then subscribing to the event.

An event handler class must be written to handle events. The event handler class can contain more than one event handler function, and must be installed for the events to be handled. The event handler functions receive information about the event from the ServerEventNotificatificationArgs parameter that can be used to report information about the event.

The types of database and server events that can be handled are listed in the DatabaseEventSet class and the ServerEventSet class.

Example

To use any code example that is provided, you will have to choose the programming environment, the programming template, and the programming language in which to create your application. For more information, see "How to: Create a Visual Basic SMO Project in Visual Studio .NET" or "How to: Create a Visual C# SMO Project in Visual Studio .NET" in SQL Server Books Online.

Registering Event Handlers and Subscribing to Event Handling in Visual Basic

This code example shows how to set up the event handler, and how to subscribe to the database events.

'Create an event handler subroutine that runs when a table is created.
Private Sub MyCreateEventHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ServerEventArgs)
    Console.WriteLine("A table has just been added to the AdventureWorks2008R2 database.")
End Sub
'Create an event handler subroutine that runs when a table is deleted.
Private Sub MyDropEventHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ServerEventArgs)
    Console.WriteLine("A table has just been dropped from the AdventureWorks2008R2 database.")
End Sub
Sub Main()
    'Connect to the local, default instance of SQL Server.
    Dim srv As Server
    srv = New Server
    'Reference the AdventureWorks2008R2 database.
    Dim db As Database
    db = srv.Databases("AdventureWorks2008R2")
    'Create a database event set that contains the CreateTable event only.
    Dim databaseCreateEventSet As New DatabaseEventSet
    databaseCreateEventSet.CreateTable = True
    'Create a server event handler and set it to the first event handler subroutine.
    Dim serverCreateEventHandler As ServerEventHandler
    serverCreateEventHandler = New ServerEventHandler(AddressOf MyCreateEventHandler)
    'Subscribe to the first server event handler when a CreateTable event occurs.
    db.Events.SubscribeToEvents(databaseCreateEventSet, serverCreateEventHandler)
    'Create a database event set that contains the DropTable event only.
    Dim databaseDropEventSet As New DatabaseEventSet
    databaseDropEventSet.DropTable = True
    'Create a server event handler and set it to the second event handler subroutine.
    Dim serverDropEventHandler As ServerEventHandler
    serverDropEventHandler = New ServerEventHandler(AddressOf MyDropEventHandler)
    'Subscribe to the second server event handler when a DropTable event occurs.
    db.Events.SubscribeToEvents(databaseDropEventSet, serverDropEventHandler)
    'Start event handling.
    db.Events.StartEvents()
    'Create a table on the database.
    Dim tb As Table
    tb = New Table(db, "Test_Table")
    Dim mycol1 As Column
    mycol1 = New Column(tb, "Name", DataType.NChar(50))
    mycol1.Collation = "Latin1_General_CI_AS"
    mycol1.Nullable = True
    tb.Columns.Add(mycol1)
    tb.Create()
    'Remove the table.
    tb.Drop()
    'Wait until the events have occured.
    Dim x As Integer
    Dim y As Integer
    For x = 1 To 1000000000
        y = x * 2
    Next
    'Stop event handling.
    db.Events.StopEvents()





End Sub

Registering Event Handlers and Subscribing to Event Handling in Visual C#

This code example shows how to set up the event handler, and how to subscribe to the database events.

//Create an event handler subroutine that runs when a table is created. 
private void MyCreateEventHandler(object sender, ServerEventArgs e) 
{ 
Console.WriteLine("A table has just been added to the AdventureWorks2008R2 database."); 
} 
//Create an event handler subroutine that runs when a table is deleted. 
private void MyDropEventHandler(object sender, ServerEventArgs e) 
{ 
Console.WriteLine("A table has just been dropped from the AdventureWorks2008R2 database."); 
} 
public void Main() 
{ 
//Connect to the local, default instance of SQL Server. 
Server srv; 
srv = new Server(); 
//Reference the AdventureWorks2008R2 database. 
Database db; 
db = srv.Databases("AdventureWorks2008R2"); 
//Create a database event set that contains the CreateTable event only. 
DatabaseEventSet databaseCreateEventSet = new DatabaseEventSet(); 
databaseCreateEventSet.CreateTable = true; 
//Create a server event handler and set it to the first event handler subroutine. 
ServerEventHandler serverCreateEventHandler; 
serverCreateEventHandler = new ServerEventHandler(MyCreateEventHandler); 
//Subscribe to the first server event handler when a CreateTable event occurs. 
db.Events.SubscribeToEvents(databaseCreateEventSet, serverCreateEventHandler); 
    //Create a database event set that contains the DropTable event only. 
DatabaseEventSet databaseDropEventSet = new DatabaseEventSet(); 
databaseDropEventSet.DropTable = true; 
//Create a server event handler and set it to the second event handler subroutine. 
ServerEventHandler serverDropEventHandler; 
serverDropEventHandler = new ServerEventHandler(MyDropEventHandler); 
//Subscribe to the second server event handler when a DropTable event occurs. 
db.Events.SubscribeToEvents(databaseDropEventSet, serverDropEventHandler); 
//Start event handling. 
db.Events.StartEvents(); 
//Create a table on the database. 
Table tb; 
tb = new Table(db, "Test_Table"); 
Column mycol1; 
mycol1 = new Column(tb, "Name", DataType.NChar(50)); 
mycol1.Collation = "Latin1_General_CI_AS"; 
mycol1.Nullable = true; 
tb.Columns.Add(mycol1); 
tb.Create(); 
//Remove the table. 
tb.Drop(); 
//Wait until the events have occured. 
int x; 
int y; 
for (x = 1; x <= 1000000000; x++) { 
    y = x * 2; 
} 
//Stop event handling. 
db.Events.StopEvents(); 
}