sqldex-backup

Paste a SQL script, get back a backup script. Pixel-art UI, runs entirely in your browser — no server, no install, no network calls.

Run it

Online: https://pauljohnfabic.github.io/sqldex-backup/

Or locally: double-click index.html. That's it.

(The Press Start 2P / VT323 pixel fonts come from Google Fonts. Offline they fall back to a monospace font — everything else still works.)

What it does

In:

select * from tc.table1 where DOCNO = @apvv
select * from tx.table2 where DOCNO = @apvv
select * from tc.table3 where ID = @apvv
if 1<>1
begin
select * from tx.table4
end

Out:

SELECT * INTO bup.table1_10012026_1614 FROM tc.table1
SELECT * INTO bup.table2_10012026_1614 FROM tx.table2
SELECT * INTO bup.table3_10012026_1614 FROM tc.table3
SELECT * INTO bup.table4_10012026_1614 FROM tx.table4

WHERE clauses are dropped on purpose — a backup takes the whole table.

Controls

Control	What it does
BACKUP SCHEMA	Target schema for the backup tables. Default zbak. Blank = no prefix.
STAMP FORMAT	MMDDYYYY_HHMM (default), plus seconds / ISO-ish / short variants.
STAMP	AUTO (default) keeps it locked to the current clock — it ticks while the tab is open and is re-read at the moment output is generated, so you never type a date. Untick AUTO to type your own. NOW snaps back to auto.
KEYWORD	INTO (valid T-SQL, default) or from if you want the literal select * from X from Y shape.
DE-DUPE TABLES	Same table twice in the paste → one backup line.
INCLUDE JOIN TABLES	Off by default — only the main tables (FROM + tables being updated/deleted/inserted) are backed up. Tick it to also back up tables reached via JOIN. A table that is being updated is always backed up, even when it sits in a JOIN.
UPPERCASE KEYWORDS	SELECT * INTO … FROM …
NO TIMESTAMP SUFFIX	Drop the _stamp entirely.

CTRL+ENTER re-generates. COPY puts the output on the clipboard and logs the run to history.

What it accepts

• select … from schema.table where … — one per line or spread over several lines
• Tables being written to: update x set …, delete [from] x, insert [into] x, merge [into] x, truncate table x — so a fix script made only of UPDATEs works. update a set … from tx.X a backs up tx.X, not the alias a.
• [bracketed].[names with spaces] and "quoted" identifiers
• Three-part names (db.schema.table) — the source keeps the db prefix
• Unqualified tables (select * from table4)
• A plain list of table names with no SQL around it, one per line
• JOINed tables (when INCLUDE JOIN TABLES is ticked)

Ignored: -- and /* */ comments, string literals, GO, DECLARE, BEGIN TRAN / COMMIT TRAN, continuation lines like and x = @doc, table-valued function calls, #temp tables and @table variables. Anything it can't read is listed under a yellow NOT RECOGNISED warning instead of being silently dropped.

History

Every SAVE / COPY logs the run to localStorage (last 200). Each entry can be copied, loaded back into the editor, or deleted. LOAD pins that run's original stamp (turns AUTO off) so you get the exact script back, not a re-stamped one.

• EXPORT → downloads a .json file of the whole history
• IMPORT → merges a previously exported .json back in (dedupes by id)
• WIPE → clears everything (asks first)

Storage is per-browser and per-machine. Nothing leaves your computer.

Files

index.html       markup
styles.css       pixel theme
parser.js        pure logic — parsing + generation (no DOM)
app.js           UI wiring, history, clipboard, import/export
test-parser.js   node test-parser.js   (48 assertions, no deps)

Not yet

Stored procedures. Today an exec/proc line lands in the NOT RECOGNISED warning rather than producing a backup — table-only for now, by design.