How can I create a database programmatically and what is the minimum information I need to do this?
Please no \"SQL Server Management Object API \"
You need connection information: server, possibly instance, a user having create database rights on that server/instance and the corresponding password. Then you can use SMO for creating the database. Here is a small PowerShell example that you can very easily "translate" to C#, for example:
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('Microsoft.SqlServer.SMO') | Out-Null
$s = New-Object Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Server($ServerInstance)
# Instantiate the database object and add the filegroups
$db = New-Object Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Database($s, $DatabaseName)
$primaryFG = New-Object Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.FileGroup($db, 'PRIMARY')
$db.FileGroups.Add($primaryFG)
# Create Data file
$syslogname = $DatabaseName + '_SysData'
$dbdsysfile = New-Object Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.DataFile($primaryFG, $syslogname)
$primaryFG.Files.Add($dbdsysfile)
$dbdsysfile.FileName = $s.MasterDBPath + '\' + $syslogname + '.mdf'
$dbdsysfile.Size = [double](5.0 * 1024.0)
$dbdsysfile.GrowthType = 'KB'
$dbdsysfile.Growth = 10000.0
$dbdsysfile.IsPrimaryFile = 'True'
# Create Log file
$loglogname = $DatabaseName + '_Log'
$dblfile = New-Object Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.LogFile($db, $loglogname)
$db.LogFiles.Add($dblfile)
$dblfile.FileName = $s.MasterDBLogPath + '\' + $loglogname + '.ldf'
$dblfile.Size = [double](10.0 * 1024.0)
$dblfile.GrowthType = 'KB'
$dblfile.Growth = 10000.0
# Create database with READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT isolation level.
# Other options can be set on $db object before calling Create.
$db.IsReadCommittedSnapshotOn = $true
$db.RecoveryModel = [Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.RecoveryModel]::Simple
$db.Create()