SQL Prompt 3 Feedback

• 
  There is definately something funky going on with scrolling in Query Analyzer now that Prompt 3 is on my machine.
  
  I was reviewing some code in query analyzer with an ctrl+up arrow and the application crashed. If I can reproduce it, I will try to get the exception for you.
  
  Specifically:
  - I am working on constructing SQL for a report, since much of this SQL will run in context of a report call (with several already-populated tables) I have done a bunch of setup work in this file (3 drop + create table statements + data insertion all to simulate report run time)
  - There is table value variable created and populated
  - There is a pretty large query returning results
  - In total, file is currently 300+ lines of code
  
  Error:
  - I was at the bottom of the file.
  - I am in the habit of using ctrl+up arrow to scroll as it does some scrolling without changing the cursor's position. However, once the cursor is about to go off the bottom of the view it starts to scroll up as well.
  - It was at after the cursor was moving with the scroll that the application crashed and I lost about 20 lines of brilliant <cough> SQL.
  - I am not sure where exactly in the file/scroll I was when the crash occurred.
  
  Jake

  jawg62 September 02, 2006 23:47

  - 0 +
• 
  Hi Jake,
  
  
  Thanks for the positive comments and the feedback. I've responded to each of your points below.
  

  jawg62 wrote:

  1) I tend to use table valued variables frequently. It would be nice if the tool picked up these variables and gave prompt help on these objects as well.

  
  No problem. We'll fix this for the final release.
  

  2) I would like to be able to type an alias and period and have the tool immediately prompt with the fields in the aliased table. Currently, it does not do so. Rather, if I select the proper field, it tends to re-write the alias again when inserting the field (so if I have already typed an alias of vp the tool inserts vp.vp.SomeField).

  
  As above, will be in the final release.
  

  3) When i open a second window in query analyzer, the prompt functionality does not work in that window. It only works in the first window.

  
  That's a bug. We spotted it just before the beta went out and decided not to delay it. We will be fixing it though.
  

  4) How do i refresh the prompt to pick up schema changes? I searched help and options to no avail.

  
  At the moment you need to go into the options dialog and clear the meta-data cache. We'll improve this for the final release.
  

  5) Query Analyzer seems much slower scrolling up/down a large script file after i installed prompt 3...

  
  Uh... yeah, sorry about that. That's an issue with the way we have to extract the script from QA at the moment (I may have mentioned elsewhere that QA has caused us an immense amount of grief generally). We'll be improving this for the final release so you should see a significant improvement.
  

  6) Not sure it's picking up field information from aliases for subqueries. This would be extremely useful.

  
  Aliases are pretty dumb at the moment, but again, things should improve for the final release.
  
  Again, thanks for all the feedback. I think you'll find the final release a much more satisfying and useful product. With this beta we really just wanted to know if we were headed in the right direction what with the candidate list being a bit funkier than your average. The earlier we get feedback the more we can do with it basically.
  
  
  Thanks,
  Bart

  Bart Read September 04, 2006 13:08

  - 0 +
• 

  jawg62 wrote:

  There is definately something funky going on with scrolling in Query Analyzer now that Prompt 3 is on my machine.
  
  I was reviewing some code in query analyzer with an ctrl+up arrow and the application crashed. If I can reproduce it, I will try to get the exception for you.
  
  Specifically:
  - I am working on constructing SQL for a report, since much of this SQL will run in context of a report call (with several already-populated tables) I have done a bunch of setup work in this file (3 drop + create table statements + data insertion all to simulate report run time)
  - There is table value variable created and populated
  - There is a pretty large query returning results
  - In total, file is currently 300+ lines of code
  
  Error:
  - I was at the bottom of the file.
  - I am in the habit of using ctrl+up arrow to scroll as it does some scrolling without changing the cursor's position. However, once the cursor is about to go off the bottom of the view it starts to scroll up as well.
  - It was at after the cursor was moving with the scroll that the application crashed and I lost about 20 lines of brilliant <cough> SQL.
  - I am not sure where exactly in the file/scroll I was when the crash occurred.
  
  Jake

  
  Sorry about this Jake. Can you tell us *exactly* what you did to make this happen please? Ideally we need the script and the database schema as well if possible. If you can come up with a really simple case where it occurs that would be absolutely brilliant, but to start off with what error message are you getting or does it just exit the application without giving an error?
  
  If the latter then I'd strongly suspect a StackOverflowException, which could be down to a whole number of different things and which can be quite tricky to track down (hence the script would be really useful if you have it please). I've complained bitterly about how unnecessarily difficult it is to debug StackOverflowException on my blog. If it's something else it should be much more straightforward.
  
  
  Thanks,
  Bart

  Bart Read September 04, 2006 13:13

  - 0 +
• 
  Sorry for not replying sooner, I could not reproduce this problem.
  
  And I was mostly kidding about losing code (except for the brilliant part of course ;-)), it's a BETA after all.
  
  I wanted to repost with some comments on your feedback:
  - In general the tool is definately heading in the right direction, especially if you will be including much of the functionality that I requested.
  - However, I found the scrolling problem so detrimental to my work that I have disabled the tool. I'm not sure if you have any plans for a second bite at the apple before your general release. If so I'd love to reinstall it and give it a whirl again.
  
  Again, thanks and I look forward to the release (already pre-purchased licenses for all of the developers in my org).
  
  Jake

  jawg62 September 13, 2006 00:01

  - 0 +

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