RED-GATE SQL Prompt

Every once in a while I experience a Homer Simpson moment. Doh! Software comes along that seems so needed, obvious, and intuitive I wonder why I didn't write it. NUnit was such a product. When I referred to unit testing as Scaffolding in my 1994 book "Using Borland C++ 5" the editors didn't get the word Scaffolding (bad marketing on my part). We developers got it because we jumped on the unit testing bandwagon in hordes. Red-Gate's SQL Prompt is one of those tools that you will just get.

SQL Prompt is literally Intellisense for SQL Server.

Languages like C# (and the .NET framework) and SQL have gotten so big that it is challenging to remember all the options, all the keyword, and exactly what the syntax is for something like a CASE statement. With SQL Prompt you don't have to poke around in unwieldy books, MSDN, or sometimes goofy integrated help. Just like Intellisense in Visual Studio SQL Prompt knows what options are available and gives you a list to choose from (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: SQL Prompt's intelligent prompt shows the options available as the SQL is typed.

In the figure SQL Prompt has been downloaded and installed. Running SQL Query Analyzer, SQL Prompt figures out which database is focused and loads the schema. From there all one need do is begin typing and the options are presented. (In the figure SQL Prompt is listing the tables available, which is the right thing to do for a FROM clause.)

[Tip: To display the intellisense window at any time press Ctrl+Space.]

Along the bottom of the prompt window are buttons that vary the options. The buttons are described from left to right. The snippets button displays shortcuts (think Developer Express' CodeRush) that will fill in SQL stubs. For example, af will start an ALTER FUNCTION statement. The column picker lets you check the columns to include in statements like SELECT. The suggested candidates option (the asterisk button) provides a list of candidate options for the current context. The tables option lists tables available in the focused database. The columns button lists all of the available columns. The sixth button lists available views. The seventh button lists stored procedure. The button f(x) lists functions, and the last button lists other candidates which includes things like DBCC. DBCC is Database Check Consistency. For example, DBCC CACHESTATS displays information in the buffer cache.

SQL Prompt integrates with SQL Query Analyzer, SQL Server 2005 Management Studio and is fully configurable (see Figure 2), including support for custom snippets.

Figure 2: SQL Prompt is fully configurable, including support for custom snippets.

SQL Prompt at $195 is the perfect product for DBAs, developers that write SQL all day long, and help desk personnel that may need to write the occasional ad hoc query in unfamiliar territory.

SQL Refactor won the 2007 Jolt award. (I will write about SQL Refactor next week.) SQL Prompt is another product that is worthy of the Jolt award.

Summary

SQL Prompt at any price is worth the freight, but at $195 it's a steal. SQL Prompt is quite simply Intellisense for SQL Server. If I were working at Red-gate my biggest fear would be that Microsoft will roll their own rather than pay the folks at Red-Gate for a product that was way overdue and brilliantly executed.