I'm delighted and amazed that this product is coming however I already have one RFE....object Intellisense, the like of which is done by Prompt SQL (which has just been bought by Redgate).
e.g. I type a table name followed by a period (.) and intellisense pops up a list of all the columns names.
Any chance of getting that in
Thanks
-Jamie
At this point, Intellisense is not in the product. Trust me, you're not the only one asking for it. 
Cheers,
Brian Randell
MCW Technologies
Brian,
That doesn't surprise me in the slightest :)
Thankyou for the reply!
-Jamie
Just out of curiosity; what level of IntelliSense are you looking for Since the SQL language is rather backwards some constructs do not lend themselves very well for IntelliSense, most easy one SELECT. What do you expect when a user types SELECT
-GertD
Gert,
2 things I'm thinking of at the moment:
1) Object comboboxes. e.g. Type a servername followed by a period and get a list of databases in a combobox. Select a database name followed by a period and get a list of tables/views in a combobox. Select a table/view name and get a list of columns in a combobox.
2) Type a function/sproc name and see the signature of it in a tooltip.
-Jamie
Hi. I think his question actually showed how to get Intellisense to work for the SELECT statement (which is indeed backwards).. he said type the Table name and then a period and then see the Column names come down.
That makes perfect sense to me because if an identifier is being typed after the word SELECT and before either INTO or FROM and the identifier has a period at the end of it, then you know it's a server, schema, table or a view that was just typed.
I'm dying to get Intellisense support for making SQL queries, and I know you guys got the brains there to figure it out, so please do and validate my love for you. :)
Yeah please make intelisense in this product, it will increment my love for microsoft.
A lot more
Vince,
It is not as simple as you think.
You wrote: "That makes perfect sense to me because if an identifier is being typed after the word SELECT and before either INTO or FROM and the identifier has a period at the end of it, then you know it's a server, schema, table or a view that was just typed."
Well, I can type very much anything I want after Select, it could also be a function, a server variable, etc...
Here is an example of a completely valid SQL statement:
select
1, dbo.MyTestFunction(), @@FETCH_STATUS from RegionRephrasing Billy Crystal, "Intellisense this".... The identifier I typed after the period is a function, and dbo is not the server,but a schema... and there is no server.... and 1 is just a number... and FETCH_STATUS is a server variable... And none of them even belongs to the table Region (one of the suggestions for Intellisense is to start with FROM). So, you've got the idea of how many different permutations we are talking about:)
Nevertheless, it is not impossible to get Intellisense done, it is a matter of getting it RIGHT.
Vince,
You are very welcome. We appreciate any feedback you provide, no matter how painful it is. We, obviously, realize that lack of Intellisense is a problem, and working to close that gap as soon as we are ready.
Thanks again for your great feedback, and don't forget to download our CTP - it is online now!
Greetings,
Dmitriy_Nikonov_MSFT wrote:
SNIP...
(one of the suggestions for Intellisense is to start with FROM).
SNIP...
Nevertheless, it is not impossible to get Intellisense done, it is a matter of getting it RIGHT.
I doubt that many SQL developers would appreciate the LINQ style of:-
FROM Table SELECT Column WHERE...
That would be similar to asking a VB developer to:-
As Integer Dim foo
In my case I don't mind a little bit of extra typing to get enough information into the code window for Intellisense to have a fighting chance. For example - Typing "SELECT * FROM dbo." and getting Intellisense on the objects in the from clause then going back to the "*" and hitting CTL-Space now that Intellisense has a point of reference is not too onerous.
Generally, in Query Analyzer, I will drag a column list from the object window (if I'm feeling too lazy to type it out) and this could give enough reference to Intellisense.
I agree it IS a matter of getting it right.
--
Regards,
Neale NOON
I feel like some people miss the obvious case such as ..
First you type select
SELECT
then you type the (server).(database).(schema).Table name
Select tbl_People
I see nothing too complex with this use case, as soon as I press period after tbl_People I should get a list of columns no matter what tables end up in my FROM clause. As long as I'm using some dicernably scoped identifier finding the members of that object shouldn't be too hard.
I don't want ot get into the Intellisense discussion, but, again, it is just not that simple. Just 2 examples, as this topic is very painful to me too:)
Obviuos cases are not that obvious either, and even if they are, there are tons of non-obvious cases that need to be handled as well.
First of all, there could be ambiguity in naming databases, tables and columns. A case in point: Create a database, name it Test, inside create a table - name it Test, in that Table create a column, name it Test. Then execute SELECT Test..Test.Test FROM Test it is a completely valid query. I know, it is an edge case, but still proves the point.
Another example - using aliases in SQL. Following your suggestion and displaying
Select TableName.ListofColumnsHere
and then doing FROM TableName Alias. Is it easy to manage by doing refactoring on the fly in SELECT
Please, understand me correctly - I am not complaining and not defending not having SQL Intellisense in the product today. I am just bringing up the question of thecomplexity of the problem, making sure we understand the task correctly, and make the right decisions at the right time.
Best Regards,
Given the complexity of implementing this; so long as it is configurable VIA options and extendable using add-ins, it would be a great addition.
Another needed feature would be SQL formatting, ie highlight the code and reformat for readability as can be performed with c# and vb.
Is this planned for the product
Thanks!
Given the complexity of implementing this; so long as it is configurable VIA options and extendable using add-ins, it would be a great addition.
Another needed feature would be SQL formatting, ie highlight the code and reformat for readability as can be performed with c# and vb.
Is this planned for the product
Thanks!
It is worth saying that the MDX query window in SSMS has already made good strides in this direction. I hope to see the SQL query window following suit.
-Jamie