dbForge Team Blog

Devart Team is glad to announce the new release of SQL Complete v3.5. It includes support of all versions and editions of SQL Server, column picker, extended T-SQL syntax support and many other features.

In the new version, we’ve made a huge effort to improve usability of our Intellisense and paid a lot of attention to the application quality in general. Together with the new features, meet new look of the suggestion list and new level of the usability of our application!

New features

• Support of SQL Server 2012 and SQL Server Compact Edition As support for the new version of SQL Server was introduced together with full support for Compact Edition, developers got an opportunity to use the advanced SQL Intellisense functionality with any server version and edition, starting with SQL Server 2000 and up to SQL Azure.
• Column picker feature New functionality will make it possible to create SELECT and INSERT queries, as it allows defining column lists for selecting, grouping, sorting and inserting without typing any code at all. The suggestion list appearance was changed – now it supports hierarchical view for table columns and shows information about data type.
• Intellisense in SQLCMD mode Scripts that are executed with the help of the command line utility, are usually parameterized. But often it is the reason of the fact that ability to show correct suggestions for objects is lost, because database or schema name can be a variable. Now SQL Complete solves this problem. Values of variables are taken from the text of the document and object suggestions work as with an ordinary SQL script.
• Automatic formatting of keywords on typing Keywords are formatted according to the option settings. This will help to avoid appearance of keywords written in different registry, when part of them was inserted from the suggestion list and part was typed manually.
• Extended and revised SQL Snippets We’ve revised existing code templates, added new ones, and changed the behavior of the suggestion list on selecting a template. This will allow choosing the needed template as quickly as possible and reducing time needed for typing recurring code constructions. Also keep in mind that users can create their own SQL snippets with the help of the special editor.
• Extended T-SQL syntax support Context-sensitive prompt of objects in the MERGE statement and a number of SQL Server 2012 T-SQL construction is supported.
• SQL formatting improved Formatting of procedure and function code, CASE statements, comments, and column list inserted on wildcard expansion is improved.
• Express edition feature set extended The free Express edition of our product is also improved. Now it supports SQL Server 2012 and SQL Server Compact Edition. Besides, information on columns is expanded, and hierarchical list structure that simplifies working with SELECT and INSERT statements is also available in the free edition.

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When working on the new version of SQL Complete, we were focused on the idea of providing the most needed functionality to our users. Such course has already become the strategy of our product development. Our intention is not just to pack the product with features, but to give our users a tool that can make their work more effective. The result of this course was implementing more than a dozen of features and adding integration of SQL Complete with Visual Studio. We hope the integration will be useful for a wide range of prospective users.

Main New Features Highlights

New SQL Server versions support

SQL Server 2011 (codename Denali)
SQL Azure
SQL Server Compact edition

Added integration into Visual Studio

Visual Studio 2010: Professional, Premium, and Ultimate editions
Visual Studio 2008: Professional and Team System editions

“Go to definition” for database objects

This function allows navigating from code editor to the object in the Object Explorer (Server Explorer in VS) tree.

When the cursor is on the object identifier, the program will find the needed object and show it in the treeview on pressing F12 or clicking the corresponding item in the context menu.

If the object is declared in the script, the cursor will be moved to the beginning of its declaration.

Code Snippets

This feature makes it easy and convenient to use fragments of code over and over. The new functionality includes:

Showing code templates in the dropdown list
Opening templates on pressing Tab
Adding and editing templates with the help of templates manager
Possibility to add parameters to templates. Parameter values are entered by a user on inserting

New code completion features

IntelliSense for temporary tables and table variables
Expand EXEC statement feature. All parameters with value stoppers are inserted automatically on pressing Tab
sys.sp_* procedures are now suggested without schema prefix in EXEC statement
Expand ALTER statement for procedure, function, view, and trigger. Object body is inserted into the document automatically on pressing Tab
Suggestions for DROP statements added
Context-sensitive code completion for CREATE TRIGGER statement
Extended support for T-SQL DECLARE statement
Option for including default schema (dbo) into object name when pasting it into the text
Hierarchyid data type support in code completion

Document Outline window

This feature makes navigating through large SQL documents a real pleasure. The Document Outline window shows the structure of the current document. Besides, a user can synchronize structure with text right from the code.

Highlight occurrences of an identifier

This unique feature allows users to see all entries of an identifier in the document text. When the cursor is on the identifier, after a time lag all occurrences of this identifier into the text are highlighted.

SQL formatting component improved

Stream formatting for large documents. Application no longer hangs when formatting large SQL document. User can cancel the formatting process
Common table expression formatting supported
New formatting options for indenting JOIN clauses
Message for invalid statements

Quick database object information extended

Tool tip with parameters and descriptions of procedures and functions is shown
Tool tip with columns list when the mouse cursor hovers over the asterisk in the SELECT list is shown
For the alias in the FROM list, a table or expression with the list of columns is shown (if possible)
Now name, type, keys, and some other properties are shown for columns
Quick info is shown for the dropdown list items

“Execute current statement” feature

Now user can execute the current SQL statement (i.e. the one where the input cursor is located) in the document using the hot key.

Performance improvements

Formatting speed increased
Parsing speed of complex statements increased

What about SQL Complete Express?

Of course, most functionality is available only in the Standard edition of SQL Complete.

But all the same some improvements were made in the Express edition. There are the new features that were added:

Support for the new SQL Server versions
Visual Studio integration
SQL formatting component improvements
“Execute current statement” feature
Performance improvements

Availability

Consumers can give the updated dbForge SQL Complete a test drive by downloading the free Express edition or the 30-day trial Standard edition at the product download page. SQL Complete’s Standard edition is available for an estimated retail price of $49.95.

To leave feedback, users can go to the dbForge SQL Complete feedback page. The Devart team is looking forward to receiving any comments and suggestions.

In the previous article we told that we’ve performed a lot of work concerning optimization of parsing queries in SQL documents. Also we informed that we’ve fixed all problems that were found by users of our intellisense… But recently one user sent us quite a small script that caused freezing of SSMS by Devart SQL Complete. Here it is:
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Recently we have released a free SQL Complete tool that provides IntelliSense and script layout for SQL Server. If you like IntelliSense in Visual Studio and write T-SQL, you’ll probably appreciate the productivity improvements with SQL Complete.
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In some cases, for example, when migrating or updating objects, it’s necessary to update metadata for views created without evident listing of columns in the select-list, i. e. for views of the SELECT * FROM some_table type. The built-in sp_refreshview procedure is developed for these goals, it updates the metadata for the specified non-schema-bound view. Persistent metadata for a view can become outdated because of changes to the underlying objects upon which the view depends.

Metadata of other objects containing the code can be changed using the built-in sp_refreshsqlmodule procedure, that is designed to update metadata for the specified non-schema-bound stored procedure, user-defined function, view, DML trigger or database-level DDL trigger in the current database. Persistent metadata for these objects, such as data types of parameters, can become outdated because of changes to their underlying objects.

So using the script specified below, the updates of all objects containing the code for the current database can be performed (i.e. update metadata information for all VIEWS, DML TRIGGERS, PROCEDURES, FUNCTIONS, DDL TRIGGERS):

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To get information from a database it is necessary to execute a query to get this data.

Usually an ordinary SQL editor is used to create queries. To use such editor, one should remember the syntax of the SELECT operator and the names of tables and columns.

Let’s use a visual instrument developed specially to design queries, and see that it’s much easier to create queries visually instead of typing them in an editor.

Task:

It’s necessary to show the salaries of the employees of departments situated in different cities for the 2008 year in descending order.

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Devart, a vendor of native connectivity solutions and development tools for Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, InterBase, Firebird, and SQLite databases, has announced the release of dbForge Schema Compare for SQL Server 1.50, a sophisticated tool specially designed to meet a diversity of comparison tasks, help analyze schema differences at a glance, and synchronize them correctly, saving time and efforts.

With the new release, Devart continues its dedication to providing a line of safe as well as powerful tools for SQL Server database synchronization.

The highlights of Schema Compare for SQL Server 1.50 include:

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Devart has released today the improved version 1.10 of dbForge Schema Compare for SQL Server, a sophisticated tool specially designed to meet your specific comparison tasks, help analyze schema differences at a glance, and synchronize them correctly, saving time and efforts.

dbForge Schema Compare for SQL Server 1.10 features the following enhancements:

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Introduction

Devart Company has launched a new product line for working with SQL Server databases. Recently we have released a beta version of the first product in this dbForge for SQL Server product line – dbForge Data Compare for SQL Server. It is a tool for data comparison and synchronization.

Product’s key features

Nowadays there is a wide variety of data comparison and synchronization tools. It takes time and efforts to make a reasonable choice. We have analyzed a number of such products and found that Data Compare for SQL Server stands out against competitors thanks to a number of key features.

In this article, I am going to tell what exactly distinguishes Data Compare for SQL Server from dozens of similar tools. The key features list of Data Compare for SQL Server includes the following:

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