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First impressions

Hello,

I just downloaded and installed SQL Prompt 3.0. I'd like to share my first impressions.

While I might be reporting mostly problems, annoyances or features that surprised me because of their unexpected nature, I'd like to point right now that this tool is a very nice one, and I can guess the hard work behind it!

That being said, let's go to the details....

Installation went smoothly on my XP SP2 fully patched box, with SQL Server 2005 SP1 patched (9.00.2153.00). No problem encountered.

Trying to run my favorite basic query from SQL prompt 2.0: 
ssf
-- oops, not present !

Ok trying 
select * from
, and a list of tables appears! Good, nice display for the list. Now I type (in Northwind db): 
Select * from Ca
As I do want to type it by myself, I press <Esc> and the list disappears. Fine. But If I continue to type the name of the table, the lists keeps appearing! Since I pressed <Esc>, I would expect the list to pop up only if I press <CTRL>+<SPACE> while typing that very word.


Now, if I include the schema, like 
select * from dbo.Ca
, I've got the list of tables with Categories as the first item. Fine. But if I validate the first item, it results in the following code being written to the code pane: 
select * from dbo.&#91;dbo&#93;.&#91;Categories&#93; AS c
-- Oops, I've got twice dbo there...

Nice addition: I can now have autocompletion for sp_helptext, one of my beloved system procedures. Alas, when I choose the argument, it is prefixed with the schema... Not a major annoyance, but still... I guess I would have to consider turning the option off globally for prefixing objects with schema...

Security statements (GRANT, DENY) do not seem to be supported.
Another feature that do not seem to have made its way from SQL Prompt 2 is the auto-completion of columns: I used to type 
SELECT * FROM Categories
, then position the caret after the star character and press <TAB>. Then SQL Prompt 2.0 would just replace the * with the columns of table Categories. In fact it would insert all the columns of the reference tables, and if a table was aliased (like in 
FROM Categories as C
) then typing 
SELECT C.* FROM Categories as C
, poistionning the caret after the star and typing <Tab> would expand C.* with the column list of C only (even though more tables could be referenced in the query)... I could not find another way of doing this easily from within SQL Prompt 3.0. I know I can do it from SQL Server Management Studio, by dragging the column list in the code pane, but he columns are not included in square brackets ([]), which is a must in some databases....


If I type 
alter TABLE &#91;dbo&#93;.&#91;Categories&#93; ADD Test
, there is no completion for int or integer.

If I type 
alter TABLE &#91;dbo&#93;.&#91;Categories&#93; add
and then [Category for [Category Test], SQL Prompt inserts [dbo].[Category Sales for 1997] (which is a view) when I press <Space>. Yes, I am aware that there is an option specifying that space is a completion character, but in this very case, it shouldn't behave like this...

Well I guess this is all for tonight....

Once again, very nice tool. I think I'll really enjoy it a lot! And Oh yes, speed has been considerably improved...

Regards,

Emmanuel
[/code]
nanchen
0

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  • nanchen
    Hello,

    going on with my discovery of the tool, here are a few gotchas I'd like to mention. I am using the database AdventureWorks (in my previous post, it was Northwind).

    There is something weird about the default options: the dot shouldn't be a completion character. Or maybe better the tool should recognize the alias, in the following example: if I type 
    select * from &#91;Person&#93;.&#91;Contact&#93; AS c
 where c
    where c is the alias provided by SQL Prompt, and I type then a dot, the result is: 
    select * from &#91;Person&#93;.&#91;Contact&#93; AS c
 where CREATE ACTION .


    When I type 
    select * from &#91;Person&#93;.&#91;Contact&#93; AS c left join
    I am presented with a list of columns, while I would expect a list of tables/views.

    Likewise, if I have a query like the following: 
    select * from &#91;Person&#93;.&#91;Contact&#93; AS c left join Contact AS c2
    when I type the keyword ON, I would expect it to appear at the begining of the list. Since this is not the case, I end up with the following result: 
    select * from &#91;Person&#93;.&#91;Contact&#93; AS c left join Contact AS c2 soh.&#91;OnlineOrderFlag&#93; , &#91;Sales&#93;.&#91;SalesOrderHeader&#93; AS soh
    (For those inetrested, the list presented by the tool begins with:
    OnlineOrderFlag, OnOrderQty, ON, ON DEFAULT, etc). My guess is that the list is presented in an alphabetical order wich is case sensitive!

    On a completely unrelated note, I want to be able to customize SQL Prompt by adding my own code snippets (like ata for ALTER TABLE ADD). This is not (yet ?) the case...

    Another thing that annoys me: if I am typing towards the right end of my screen the candidate lists shows up with a good part of it outside the screen... This is a big NO for me.


    Well, that's all for now...
    nanchen
    0
  • Lionel
    Hi Thanks for the feedback. We accidentally forgot to add the SSF snippet to our list of snippets ops but it will be there in the final version.

    I have added a bug to our bug tracking database about the candidate list continuing to show after you press escape.

    The double quoting of schemas is also a bug and will be fixed in the final version.

    We don't currently support the GRANT or DENY statements atm but we are looking at adding support for them. Also we don't currently support expanding * into a list of columns but we are looking to add that before the final release.

    DDL is not supported at all at the moment so you will not have any support for the alias keyword but again we are looking at adding support in the final release.

    The tool should defiantly be able to recognize aliases but there seem to be some bugs in that area atm which we will have fixed before we ship.

    I have put the bugs you mentioned about the join clauses into our bug tracking system and we should get them all fixed.

    We will definatly let you add your own snippets for the final version. We just didn't have time to write the UI for adding snippets before the beta.

    I would be interested in knowing what you would like the candidate list to do if it pops up off the side of the screen. The reason it does that atm it to make sure that the start of the candidates line up with caret and visual studio does the same thing. Good ideas are welcomed.

    Sorry for the slightly incoherent post but it is getting late hear and has been a long day. Thanks again for the feedback

    Lionel
    Lionel
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