Tag Archive for SQL Prompt

Exploring SQL Prompt 6.5

010The SQL Prompt Team has been working hard at the Redgate campus in England, and they have out done themselves yet again with their latest release, SQL Prompt 6.5. I’m extra excited about this release, due to the fact that several of the features I’ve been wanting for a while are available this time around. In this post, I’m going to go over my top three favorite new features.

Tab Coloring

I was so happy to see this feature move from the Experimental Lab List to the Feature List. It was like watching Pinocchio become a real boy. Not only does this feature behave the way it did when it was on the Experimental Lab List, but they added some additional cool features to it.

So what does it do for you? It colors the tabs of each query window based on environment settings that you set up. You’re probably thinking, “Yeah, Mickey, but SSMS already does that in the status bar for me.” Well, the Tab Coloring in SQL Prompt is way better. Here is why.

I rarely look at the status bar, but I’m always looking at the top 20% of the screen, so for me, a very visual person, having the color in that top 20% of the screen is much more effective. SQL Prompt provides that for me, by coloring the tab of the query window and adding a line of the same color below the status bar. If you undock the query window, then the whole window is outlined in the tab color.

SQLPrompt6_5a

 

You can create as many environments as you want and you can pick any color…or shade of color that you want. This was one of the improvements to Tab Coloring from when it existed in the Experimental Lab list.

To modify the environments, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the SQL Prompt menu and select Options.
  2. Select Colors from the Tabs list on the left hand side.
  3. Click on the Edit Environments button in the bottom right hand corner, under the table.
  4. Add or modify an environment.
  5. Click on a color to modify the color to meet your needs.
  6. Apply these environments to the servers they represent on the previous window.

SQLPrompt6_5c

 

I’m notorious for saving stored procedures in the Master database in development. To help prevent this, I can set up a Tab Color for a specific database on a specific server. For me, that would be the Master database in dev. I love this!

To do this, follow these steps.

  1. Go to the SQL Prompt menu and select Options.
  2. Select Colors from Tab list on the left hand side.
  3. Click on the Add Server/Database link in the table.
  4. Add a Server Name in the first column.
  5. Add a Database Name in the second column.
  6. Select an Environment for the color in the third column.

SQLPrompt6_5d

Note: In the above example, all three colors are for the same server. This means that when the data is not Utility or Master, then the tab coloring will be green…even for new databases on that server.

In Tab History, you can see which environment each query ran on last. In the example below, I can see that I ran SQLQuery6 in the Master database on SQLDemoMonkey. I know this due to the fact I set up a database specific Tab Color for the Master Database on SQLDemoMonkey. (I guess I should go make sure I didn’t create a stored procedure in that database.)

SQLPrompt6_5b

Intelligent Intellisense for GROUP BY

One of the boring tasks for writing a GROUP BY statement, is re-writing all the columns that you already wrote in the SELECT section of your query. Many times, I’ll copy what I wrote in the SELECT section and paste it under GROUP BY …but then the list still requires editing. Not any more. SQL Prompt now provides an intelligent intellisense for GROUP BY. Take a look:

 

SQLPrompt6_5f

 

In this query I used Ctrl + to get the intellisense to pop up for my GROUP BY. At the top of the list, there is a shortcut for having all the non-aggregated columns inserted for you. Also notice that RequestType from line 42, is not listed at the top of the intellisense box, because it is an aggregated field.

Format Actions and <ctrl> + k, <ctrl> + y

I wrote a post, back in July of 2014, about SQL Prompt formatting shortcuts.  I wrote:

As a power user, my key strokes will look like this when I use them all at once: + bw, bq, bc, ky and finally + e to execute my code. Here is an example of how an ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan by applying all of these hot keys at one time.

That long list of key strokes is now obsolete. (And there was much rejoicing). I now can select from a list of formatting options that will be applied with only the Ctrl + K, Ctrl + Y shortcut. This is so much easier!

To modify the list of formatting options, follow these steps.

  1. Go to the SQL Prompt menu and select Options.
  2. Select Actions under the Format list on the left.

 

SQLPrompt6_5e

 

It’s  A Wrap

I only listed three of the new features that SQL Prompt 6.5 has. I encourage you to take a look at the Release Notes for the full list. If you don’t have SQL Prompt, then download a free 14 day trial here. If you already have SQL Prompt, then you can go to the SQL Prompt/Help/Check For Updates menu item to get the latest version.

Going Beyond The INSERT Statement

The Seventh Mission

In this installment of SQLCoOp, we are writing about CRUD. No, this is not about the stuff you scrape off the bottom of your shoes after hiking. This is Create, Read, Update, and Delete. I’ll be focusing on create, which is done with the INSERT Statement, but I’m going to go beyond the basic INSERT statement.

MCJJ_ALL

Multiple Rows

Let’s start with a new feature of the basic INSERTVALUES statement that we all know and love. In SQL Server 2012, Microsoft improved the INSERTVALUES statement, by allowing you to include multiple lists of values in the same query. This allows you to insert multiple rows of data with one INSERT statement. I find this syntax to to be a wonderful feature when I’m creating small sets of data using Excel.

Here is an example of what the syntax looks like. The values for each row are enclosed in parenthesis and separated by commas. In this example, I’m entering student scores for tests the students took at the end of September. After this one query runs, there will be 12 rows in the table.


CREATE TABLE StudentScore
(
     StudentScoresID int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY
     ,StudentID int
     ,TestingRoomID int
     ,Score tinyint
     ,TestDateTime datetime
);

 

INSERT INTO StudentScore
     (StudentID,TestingRoomID, Score, TestDateTime)
VALUES
     (35, 1, 110, '2014-09-30 17:00:00.00')
     ,(36, 1, 87, '2014-09-30 17:00:00.00')
     ,(42, 1, 94, '2014-09-30 17:00:00.00')
     ,(10, 1, 99, '2014-09-29 12:00:00.00')
     ,(35, 10, 90, '2014-09-29 17:00:00.00')
     ,(36, 10, 100, '2014-09-29 17:00:00.00')
     ,(42, 10, 105, '2014-09-29 17:00:00.00')
     ,(10, 10, 99, '2014-09-29 17:00:00.00')
     ,(35, 5, 115, '2014-09-28 17:00:00.00')
     ,(36, 5, 70, '2014-09-28 17:00:00.00')
     ,(42, 5, 90, '2014-09-28 17:00:00.00')
     ,(10, 5, 67, '2014-09-28 17:00:00.00');
Common Table Expressions (CTEs)

I love CTEs, sometimes a little too much. The reason I think they are so great is two fold. First, they can make complicated queries easier to read and maintain. Second, they can perform complicated functionality such as recursion without breaking a query up into multiple statements. An added benefit, is they can be used with all CRUD statements, including the INSERT statement.

Let’s take a look at an example.

I have a group of students that were given the same test multiple times in different classrooms on different dates. I want to only insert the row representing  the highest score a student had. I also want to make sure that I keep the first time they received this score and any other data that came with that record.

Below I’ve highlighted the rows that I want to insert into the new table.

SQLCoOp7_Image1

The first step is building the SELECT statement for the CTE that numbers the scores for each student. This is done by using the ROW_NUMBER function in conjunction with the OVER clause. The OVER clause will have two parts. The first part will use the PARTION BY statement. This is used to restart the numbering for each partition. In this case we will partition the data by StudentID. The second part will use the ORDER BY statement. This tells us how to order the data so that it will consistently come out in the same row number. Since we want the highest score first, we will order the data by Score in a descending order. Then we will order the duplicates by TestDateTime so that the first date the score was achieved will appear first in the order.

SELECT
     ss.StudentScoresID
     ,ss.StudentID
     ,ss.TestingRoomID
     ,ss.Score
     ,ss.TestDateTime
     ,ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY ss.StudentID
               ORDER BY ss.Score DESC, ss.TestDateTime) AS RowID
FROM
     dbo.StudentScore AS ss

This SQL statement above will be used in our CTE. We’ll then use all the rows that have a RowID of 1 for the INSERT. The final INSERT statement will look like this.

CREATE TABLE dbo.StudentScoreHigh
(
     StudentScoresID int PRIMARY KEY
     ,StudentID int
     ,TestingRoomID int
     ,Score tinyint
     ,TestDateTime datetime
);

 

WITH cte_Scores
AS
(
     SELECT
          ss.StudentScoresID
          ,ss.StudentID
          ,ss.TestingRoomID
          ,ss.Score
          ,ss.TestDateTime
          ,ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY ss.StudentID
               ORDER BY ss.Score DESC, ss.TestDateTime) AS RowID
     FROM
          dbo.StudentScore AS ss
)
INSERT INTO dbo.StudentScoreHigh
(
     StudentScoresID
     ,StudentID
     ,TestingRoomID
     ,Score
     ,TestDateTime
)
SELECT
     StudentScoresID
     ,StudentID
     ,TestingRoomID
     ,Score
     ,TestDateTime
FROM
     cte_Scores
WHERE
     RowID = 1;
MERGE

A different way to approach this same problem, would be to use the MERGE statement. The MERGE statement, is like CRUD on steroids. It will look at all the data you specify that is coming in and compare to all the existing data. Then you can determine what will happen. Do you want to insert, update, delete, or ignore the data based on what does and does not match.

For this example, we’ll assume we are constantly updating the StudentScoreHigh table with the students highest score. We’ll compare what is already in the StudentScoreHigh table (the target) with what is in the StudentScore table (the Source) each night. If there is a record already in the table and the student achieved a higher score today, than the existing record will be updated. If the student does not exist in the table, then the student will be inserted into the table. Note: for this example, we’ll assume that the student could only take the test once in a day.

The MERGE statement will look like this.


MERGE dbo.StudentScoreHigh AS target
USING
(
     SELECT
          StudentScoresID
          ,StudentID
          ,TestingRoomID
          ,Score
          ,TestDateTime
     FROM
          dbo.StudentScore AS ss
     WHERE
          TestDateTime >= DATEADD(d, -1, GETDATE())
) AS Source ON Target.StudentID = Source.StudentID
WHEN MATCHED AND Source.Score > Target.Score THEN
UPDATE SET
     StudentScoresID = Source.StudentScoresID
     ,StudentID = Source.StudentID
     ,TestingRoomID = Source.TestingRoomID
     ,Score = Source.Score
     ,TestDateTime = Source.TestDateTime
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN
INSERT
(
     StudentScoresID
     ,StudentID
     ,TestingRoomID
     ,Score
     ,TestDateTime
)
VALUES
(
     Source.StudentScoresID
     ,Source.StudentID
     ,Source.TestingRoomID
     ,Source.Score
     ,Source.TestDateTime
);
BONUS

If you have the latest Red Gate’s SQL Prompt installed (ver 6.4), then you will have an even easier time writing your favorite INSERT statement. They added a new feature that will highlight the field of the value you are modifying and vice versa.  Below you can see that my cursor is on line 61 and line 54 is highlighted. If I were to put my cursor on line 54, then line 61 would be highlighted.

 

SQLCoOp7_Image2

Don’t Stop Yet

Don’t forget to check out these blog posts by the rest of the SQL CoOp team on the subject of CRUD:

To follow our quest for SQL knowledge through this collaborative project, follow the #SQLCoOp tag on Twitter.

See you next time!!

On a SQL Collaboration Quest

Four SQL professionals gathered from the four corners of the world to share their SQL knowledge with each other and with their readers: Mickey Stuewe from California, USA, Chris Yates from Kentucky, USA, Julie Koesmarno from Canberra, Australia, and Jeffrey Verheul from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. They invite you to join them on their quest as they ask each other questions and seek out the answers in this collaborative blog series. Along the way, they will also include other SQL professionals to join in the collaboration.

Original Post: On a SQL Collaboration Quest

Becoming a SQL Prompt Power User

MCJJ_ALLFour SQL professionals gathered from the four corners of the world to share their SQL knowledge with each other and with their readers: Mickey Stuewe from California, USA, Chris Yates from Kentucky, USA, Julie Koesmarno from Canberra, Australia, and Jeffrey Verheul from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. They invite you to join them on their quest as they ask each other questions and seek out the answers in this collaborative blog series. This month we are cooperatively blogging about SQL Prompt by Red Gate.

The Next Mission

What makes up a SQL Prompt power user? Well, they use the SQL prompt commands like they were extensions of SSMS. They know the shortcuts, and they’ve memorized the key words to call up their favorite scripts. Let’s take a look what these short cuts are and how to integrate them seamlessly into your every day SQL Life.

Playing The Ebony Keys

A power user of any software is one who uses the hot keys in lieu of the menus. SQL prompt has a plethora of hot key combination.

Before I use <ctrl> + e to execute my code, I always use <ctrl> + k, <ctrl> + y. This hot key combo will structure your code based on the styles you have set in SQL prompt. This is my most heavily used hot key combo right after <ctrl> + e and <ctrl> + r (hiding the results window).

There is a new hot key combination that is coming out soon in version 6.4, and I’m very excited about it. It adds a semicolon at the end of each statement! I’ve been trying to add the habit of using semicolons for 2 years now, and it never sticks. Now I can use <ctrl> + b, <ctrl> + c and away I go.

Here is a table of the hot key combinations I use the most, plus the shortcut way I remember them.

Hot Key Combination Shortcut Hot Key Combo What It Does
<ctrl> + b,
<ctrl> + w
<ctrl> + bw Expands ALL of the wild cards.
<ctrl> + b,
<ctrl> + q
+ bq Qualifies all the SQL Objects and fixes the capitalization as well.
in beta <ctrl> + b,
<ctrl> + c
<ctrl> + bc Adds semicolons to the end of each statement. (Available soon in 6.4)
<ctrl> + k,
<ctrl> + y
<ctrl> + ky Standardizes the code based on the formatting styles that were set in SQL Prompt.

As a power user, my key strokes will look like this when I use them all at once:

<ctrl> + bw, bq, bc, ky and finally <ctrl> + e to execute my code. Here is an example of how an ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan by applying all of these hot keys at one time.

Before


alter procedure [dbo].[salesteamassignment_rptugly](@group as varchar(1000), @startdate as date, @enddate as date)as
set nocount on
declare @uselessvar as varchar(max)
select
p.businessentityid ,firstname,lastname,s.name as store,[group] as TerritoryGroup,cr.name as CountryRegion,st.name as Territory,customercount,s.*
from
adventureworks2008r2.sales.salesperson as sp join adventureworks2008r2.person.person as p on sp.businessentityid = p.businessentityid
join adventureworks2008r2.sales.salesterritory as st on sp.territoryid = st.territoryid join [adventureworks2008r2].[person].[countryregion] as cr on st.countryregioncode = cr.countryregioncode
join adventureworks2008r2.sales.store as s on s.salespersonid = sp.businessentityid join dbo.fn_split(',', @group) as grps on st.[group] = convert(nvarchar(50), grps.separatedvalue)
outer apply (select count(*) as customercount from adventureworks2008r2.sales.customer as c where s.businessentityid = c.storeid ) as cc

After

ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.SalesTeamAssignment_rptUGLY
(
@group AS varchar(1000)
,@startdate AS date
,@enddate AS date
)
AS
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DECLARE @uselessvar AS varchar(MAX);
SELECT
p.BusinessEntityID
,p.FirstName
,p.LastName
,s.Name AS store
,st.[Group] AS TerritoryGroup
,cr.Name AS CountryRegion
,st.Name AS Territory
,cc.customercount
,s.BusinessEntityID
,s.Name
,s.SalesPersonID
,s.Demographics
,s.rowguid
,s.ModifiedDate
FROM
AdventureWorks2008R2.Sales.SalesPerson AS sp
JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Person.Person AS p ON sp.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Sales.SalesTerritory AS st ON sp.TerritoryID = st.TerritoryID
JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Person.CountryRegion AS cr ON st.CountryRegionCode = cr.CountryRegionCode
JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Sales.Store AS s ON s.SalesPersonID = sp.BusinessEntityID
JOIN dbo.fn_Split(',', @group) AS grps ON st.[Group] = CONVERT(nvarchar(50), grps.SeparatedValue)
OUTER APPLY (
SELECT
COUNT(*) AS customercount
FROM
AdventureWorks2008R2.Sales.Customer AS c
WHERE
s.BusinessEntityID = c.StoreID
) AS cc;

But Wait, There’s More

Formatting your code is only half of the features in SQL Prompt. There are three other features that every power user should use. (Ok, the truth be told, there are more than 3, but my article shouldn’t be the length of a book.)

Feature 1:

SQL Prompt offers the ability to save snippets of code. This is really useful for repetitive tasks. Here is a list of articles that I’ve written talking about specific snippets that I find handy.

Placeholders are one of the most helpful features that SQL Prompt provides for you to work with snippets. The placeholders are reserved words that are variables for specific pieces of information or represent actions that can be applied to your snippet. They are always completely capitalized and are surrounded by dollar signs ($). You can find the current list for SQL Prompt 6 here.

One of the new placeholders is prefect for the power user. It allows you to insert a snippet and have part of it highlighted. Here is an example of how I like to use it. This particular snippen, which I named “st1”, will add SELECT TOP 100 * FROM in front of the table name that I”ve highlighted and copied to the copy buffer.

$SELECTIONSTART$SELECT TOP 100 *
FROM $PASTE$$SELECTIONEND$

The $PASTE$ placeholder will be replaced with whatever is in my copy buffer. The $SELECTIONSTART$ and $SELECTIONEND$ placeholders will cause the code within the placeholders to be highlighted.

To use it, I follow these steps.

1. I highlight a table I want to use and hit <ctrl> + c to get the table  into my copy buffer.

SQLCoop5_image1

 

2. I type st1 + to get the snippet. I now have a highlighted SELECT statement ready to execute, so I hit + e to execute it.

SQLCoop5_Image2

 

3. Finally, I type <ctrl> + z twice to undo the changes I’ve made.

SQLCoop5_image1

 

This allows me to quickly see some sample data from the table without ever leaving my current query window.

Feature 2:

This is a hidden gem. This feature finds all the invalid objects in your database. This is a great feature for those of you who need to perform code reviews and want to make sure that any DDL changes have not broken any existing SQL Objects.

In this example I have a table with a trigger that uses the field ModifiedDTS. I deleted the field and ran the command. It listed all the SQL Objects that are now broken due to the deleted field.

SQLCoop5_Image3

This feature does not have a Hot Key, but it is definitely worthy of a power user.

Feature 3:

This is a great “clean up” feature, especially when you are working with stored procedures with 200 + lines that you have inherited. You know the ones, they are filled with old code and have never been cleaned up. Well, this feature is perfect for it, because it finds all the unused variables and parameters. Simply use the hot key combination + b, + f. SQL Prompt, will then underline in green all the unused variables and parameters for you to evaluate for usefulness.

SQLCoop5_Image4

 

I encourage you to spend 10 minutes going through the SQL Prompt menu to find out what other goodies exist for you to leverage. There are also new features coming soon in version 6.4. Here is a great reference to all the release notes for each version, plus the release notes for the current beta version.

Don’t Stop Yet

If you want to read more about how to work with SQL Prompt, then check out these blog posts:

To follow our quest for SQL knowledge through this collaborative project, follow the #SQLCoOp tag on Twitter.

See you next month!!

Original Post: On a SQL Collaboration Quest

SQL Advent Calendar – Day 16 – Snippet For In-Line Table Functions

AdventCalendar16First Post in this series: SQL Advent Calendar 2013-Day 1- Placeholders in SQL Prompt Snippets

As I was hanging our family Advent Calendar up, I thought I would make one for you, my readers. I’ll be sharing my scripts from two of my favorite products as well as tips on how to create your own.

Three French Hens, I mean User Defined Functions

There are three kinds of User Defined Functions that you can create in SQL Server.

  1. Scalar Functions
  2. Multi-line Table Functions
  3. In-Line Table Functions

They all have a purpose but unfortunately the first two listed above are misunderstood and misused the most. Below are a couple of articles on the differences and the performance problems that can be caused by Scalar and Multi-line Table Functions.

I created this snippet called NewFun for SQL Prompt when I was first learning the differences between these function types, and I still use to today. Why? It saves key strokes.

USE <DatabaseName, string,$DBNAME$>
GO
--Use Shift + Ctrl + M to set Template Parameters
IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'<schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,>') AND type in (N'FN', N'IF', N'TF', N'FS', N'FT'))
DROP FUNCTION <schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,>
GO
/* ***********************************************************************************
Purpose:    [Brief Description]
Notes:      
Sample:    
            EXEC <schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,> [Parameters]
Author:     $USER$
Date:       $DATE$

Revision History
(Change Date)	(Author)		(Description of Change)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
************************************************************************************ */
CREATE FUNCTION <schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,>
(
	--Insert Parameters
)
RETURNS Table
AS 

	RETURN 
	(
		$CURSOR$
	)

GO

 

Note: You can download this snippet from my Script Library under Resources. It’s called NewFun.

Previous Post In Series: SQL Advent Calendar Day -15 – Naming Default Constraints

Next Post In Series: SQL Advent Calendar – Day 17 – Now, Which Tables Still Need a Trigger?

 

SQL Advent Calendar – Day 13 – Snippet for New Transactional Procedure

AdventCalendar13First Post in this series: SQL Advent Calendar 2013-Day 1- Placeholders in SQL Prompt Snippets

As I was hanging our family Advent Calendar up, I thought I would make one for you, my readers. I’ll be sharing my scripts from two of my favorite products as well as tips on how to create your own.

Begin Transaction

Two days ago, I shared my snippet to create a shell for new procedures. A week ago, I found I was writing quite a few update and insert procedures, so I created this new template called new_iu.

The procedures I’m creating are called by an application, so the template I created provides the following:

  • Begin and End Tran
  • Rollback in the error handler
  • Return statement. (0 is successful, anything else is a failure)
  • An output parameter that returns the number of rows changed. We needed this, because more that one kind of row was updated or inserted, but we only want to count the “main” units.

 

USE <DatabaseName, string,$DBNAME$>
GO

--Use Shift + Ctrl + M to set Template Parameters

IF EXISTS ( SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE	object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'<schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,>') AND type IN (N'P', N'PC') ) 
	DROP PROCEDURE <schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,>
GO
/* ***********************************************************************************
Purpose:    <purpose,string,[brief description]="">
Notes:      
Sample:    
            DECLARE @RV as int, @RecordsAffected as int
			EXEC @RV = <schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,> [Parameters],@RecordsAffected OUTPUT
			SELECT @RV as ReturnValue, @RecordsAffected as RecordsAffected
Author:     $USER$
Date:       $DATE$

Revision History
(Change Date)	(Author)		(Description of Change)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
************************************************************************************ */
CREATE PROCEDURE <schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,> 
(
	--Insert Parameters
	,@RecordsAffected AS int OUTPUT
)
AS 
BEGIN TRY
	SET NOCOUNT ON
----------------------------------------------------
-------           Test Parameters           --------
----------------------------------------------------
--DECLARE
--    @StartDate AS date = '12/1/2010'
--   ,@EndDate AS date = '12/5/2010'
--   ,@RecordsAffected AS int --OUTPUT
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
	BEGIN TRAN

		$CURSOR$--[TSQL Statements]

	COMMIT TRAN

END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
	DECLARE
		@ErrorMessage AS nvarchar(3000)
	   ,@ErrorSeverity AS int

	IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0
	BEGIN
        ROLLBACK TRAN
		SET @RecordsAffected = 0
	END 

	SET @ErrorMessage = ISNULL(DB_NAME(DB_ID()) + N'.' + SCHEMA_NAME(SCHEMA_ID()) + N'.' + OBJECT_NAME(@@PROCID, DB_ID()),
						N'SQL Object Name Not Available') + N': Error: ' + CONVERT(nvarchar(10), ERROR_NUMBER()) + N' Line: ' + CONVERT(nvarchar(5), ERROR_LINE()) + N' - '
						+ ERROR_MESSAGE()    
	SET @ErrorSeverity = ERROR_SEVERITY()
	RAISERROR(@ErrorMessage, @ErrorSeverity, 1)

	RETURN 1

END CATCH

SET NOCOUNT OFF
RETURN 0
GO
Commit Transaction

If you have other successful ways to write insert, update, or delete stored procedures, please share in the comments.

Note: You can download this snippet from my Script Library under Resources. It’s called New_IU.

Previous Post In Series: SQL Advent Calendar – Day 12 – And Neo Yelled
Next Post In Series: SQL Advent Calendar – Day 14 – Working With Forms in a Macro in ER Studio Data Architect

SQL Advent Calendar – Day 6 – What’s In All These Indexes?

AdventCalendar06First Post in this series: SQL Advent Calendar 2013-Day 1- Placeholders in SQL Prompt Snippets

As I was hanging our family Advent Calendar up, I thought I would make one for you, my readers. I’ll be sharing my scripts from two of my favorite products as well as tips on how to create your own.

Through the Looking Glass I see Many Indexes

Last year, I was doing quite a bit of query tuning. I was constantly looking at what indexes existed before I made new ones.  I created this snippet to Red Gates’ SQL Prompt to be able to quickly look at all the indexes for a given table. Sometimes I even found duplicate indexes when uses this snippet. It’s one of my favorites. I call it Indexes4Table.

--Use Shift + Ctrl + M to set Template Placeholders
USE <database,sysname,$dbname$>
GO
/* ***************************************************
Purpose:    Lists all indexes for a table
Author:     mickey stuewe www.mickeystuewe.com
Date:       12/6/2013
*************************************************** */
SELECT
	i.name AS IndexName
	,i.type_desc
	,STUFF(Indexed.ColumnList, 1, 1, '') AS IndexColumnList
	,STUFF(Included.ColumnList, 1, 1, '') AS IncludeColumnList
	,i.filter_definition
	,i.fill_factor
FROM
	sys.indexes AS i
	OUTER APPLY
			(
				SELECT
					',' +  CASE 
							WHEN ic.is_descending_key = 1 THEN col.name + ' DESC'
							ELSE col.name  
							END 
				FROM
					sys.index_columns AS ic 
					INNER JOIN sys.columns col ON ic.object_id = col.object_id
													AND ic.column_id = col.column_id
				WHERE
					ic.index_id = i.index_id
					AND ic.object_id =  i.object_id
					AND ic.is_included_column = 0
				ORDER BY
					ic.index_column_id
				FOR XML	PATH('')
			) AS Indexed(ColumnList)
	OUTER APPLY
			(
				SELECT
					',' +  CASE 
							WHEN ic.is_descending_key = 1 THEN col.name + ' DESC'
							ELSE col.name  
							END 
				FROM
					sys.index_columns AS ic 
					INNER JOIN sys.columns col ON ic.object_id = col.object_id
													AND ic.column_id = col.column_id
				WHERE
					ic.index_id = i.index_id
					AND ic.object_id =  i.object_id
					AND ic.is_included_column = 1
				ORDER BY
					ic.index_column_id
				FOR XML	PATH('')
			) AS Included(ColumnList)
WHERE
	i.object_id =  OBJECT_ID(N'<schema_name,sysname,dbo>.<table_name,sysname,>')
ORDER BY
	i.type_desc
	,Indexed.ColumnList

There are a couple of things I want you to notice. I’m using a string concatenation pattern based on Peter Larson’s (b) SQL, which is written about on Adam Machanic’s (b|t) blog here. I also wanted you to notice that you can use placeholders within a string. See line 57.

I ran my script against the Persons.Person table in AdventureWorks2008R2 (I also added an index so that you can see all the columns filled out. Here is the outcome.

AdventCalendar2013Day6_Img1

Now I can quickly look at all the values that I find important for my indexes on a particular table.

Previous Post In Series: SQL Advent Calendar – Day 5 – Snippet For New Indexes

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SQL Advent Calendar 2013 – Day 4 – Comments Are Like Love Notes to Your Future Self

AdventCalendar04First Post in this series: SQL Advent Calendar 2013-Day 1- Placeholders in SQL Prompt Snippets

As I was hanging our family Advent Calendar up, I thought I would make one for you, my readers. I’ll be sharing my scripts from two of my favorite products as well as tips on how to create your own.

It’s a Dark and Snowy Day

It’s a dark and snowy day and you get an urgent email. There’s a stored procedure that has been running for 90 minutes. It needs to be fixed STAT. You open up the monstrosity (which hasn’t been cracked open in four years) and it looks like Data’s cat threw up in it. The first thing you want to know, is who wrote the thing? The second thing is how can you possibly make the 400 lines legible quickly? It takes 3 emails and 4 phone calls to track down the authors (plural) of the stored procedure and you are finally able to understand the purpose of the code.

Wouldn’t it have been nice if there had been comments? The author’s (plural) names would have helped as well. Below are three SQL Prompt snippets to help with minimal effort, just a couple of keystrokes and the aid of SQL Prompt.

As for making the code legible, that can be done with 3 little keys. CTRL+K+Y. This short cut will format your code based on the settings you dictate. Everything from indentation of certain parts of the code to the placement of commas.
Before

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[SalesTeamAssignment_rptUGLY](@Group AS varchar(1000), @StartDate AS date, @EndDate AS date)AS
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DECLARE @UselessVar AS varchar(max)
SELECT
p.BusinessEntityID ,FirstName,LastName,s.Name AS Store,[Group] AS TerritoryGroup,cr.Name AS CountryRegion,st.Name AS Territory,CustomerCount,s.*
FROM
AdventureWorks2008R2.sales.salesperson AS sp JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Person.Person AS p ON sp.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.sales.SalesTerritory AS st ON sp.TerritoryID = st.TerritoryID JOIN [AdventureWorks2008R2].[Person].[CountryRegion] AS cr ON st.CountryRegionCode = cr.CountryRegionCode
JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Sales.Store AS s ON s.SalesPersonID = sp.BusinessEntityID JOIN dbo.fn_Split(',', @Group) AS grps ON st.[Group] = CONVERT(nvarchar(50), grps.SeparatedValue)
OUTER APPLY (SELECT COUNT(*) AS CustomerCount FROM AdventureWorks2008R2.sales.Customer AS c WHERE s.BusinessEntityID = c.StoreID ) AS cc;
But wait, there’s more…

If you also use another 3 key shortcut, CTRL+B+Q, you can alias all the fields, which will also make it easier to read.

Note: If you don’t have the table names aliased, then the entire table name and schema name will be used as the alias.
After
ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[SalesTeamAssignment_rptUGLY]
	(
	 @Group AS varchar(1000)
	,@StartDate AS date
	,@EndDate AS date
	)
AS
	SET NOCOUNT ON;
	DECLARE	@UselessVar AS varchar(max)
	SELECT
		p.BusinessEntityID
	   ,p.FirstName
	   ,p.LastName
	   ,s.Name AS Store
	   ,st.[Group] AS TerritoryGroup
	   ,cr.Name AS CountryRegion
	   ,st.Name AS Territory
	   ,cc.CustomerCount
	FROM
		AdventureWorks2008R2.sales.salesperson AS sp
		JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Person.Person AS p ON sp.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
		JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.sales.SalesTerritory AS st ON sp.TerritoryID = st.TerritoryID
		JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Person.CountryRegion AS cr ON st.CountryRegionCode = cr.CountryRegionCode
		JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Sales.Store AS s ON s.SalesPersonID = sp.BusinessEntityID
		JOIN dbo.fn_Split(',', @Group) AS grps ON st.[Group] = CONVERT(nvarchar(50), grps.SeparatedValue)
		OUTER APPLY (
					 SELECT
						COUNT(*) AS CustomerCount
					 FROM
						AdventureWorks2008R2.sales.Customer AS c
					 WHERE
						s.BusinessEntityID = c.StoreID
					) AS cc;
Future Love Notes

The first snippet I like to use, I call com. It adds a comment block to the query. I even have this added to my templates for new stored procedures, but I’ll share that one later in the month. I love this header because it utilizing the relatively new placeholders, $NAME$ and $DATE$, which I wrote about on Day 1.

Note: $DATE$ also has the ability to have a custom format. An example would be $DATE(MM/dd/yyyy)$. This would create the date 12/04/2013 for today.
/* ***********************************************************************************
Purpose:    $CURSOR$[Brief Description]
Notes:      
Sample:    
            [Sample Call of procedure with sample parameter values]
Author:     $USER$
Date:       $DATE$

Revision History
(Change Date)	(Author)		(Description of Change)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
************************************************************************************ */

The second snippet is used when you need to modify an existing script. I call it comhist. I personally don’t mind long names, because the intellisence will show me my available options as I type. I usually only need com+<down arrow>+<down arrow>+ tab. This snippet uses  $CURSOR$, $NAME$ and $DATE$. The one downside, is the snippets won’t work inside a comment. (I think I may have to mention that to Red Gate.)

--$DATE$		$USER$			$CURSOR$

The third snippet is used to add a TODO to your code. I use it when I can’t focus on a particular part of the code, but I need a reminder for later. You can then use SQLSearch ( a free tool that can be downloaded from Red Gate) to find all the locations of TODO.

/*TODO: $CURSOR$ - $USER$ - $DATE$ */

Here is what the look like after using them.

/* ***********************************************************************************
Purpose:    [Brief Description]
Notes:      
Sample:    
            [Sample Call of procedure with sample parameter values]
Author:     mstuewe
Date:       12/4/2013

Revision History
(Change Date)	(Author)		(Description of Change)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
12/4/2013		mstuewe			This is a change in the code
************************************************************************************ */

/*TODO: Buy Christmas Presents. - mstuewe - 12/4/2013 */
Note: You can download these snippets from my Script Library under Resources.

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SQL Advent Calendar 2013-Day 1- Placeholders in SQL Prompt Snippets

AdventCalendar01Today my daughter Natalie and I started our first LEGO Advent Calendar – Star Wars edition. While this particular calendar is not Christian centric, it’s a lot of fun for us. For those that aren’t familiar with an Advent Calendar, it’s a calendar that counts down the days until Christmas. Each day a small gift or message is given.

My husband grew up with a handmade Advent Calendar. He told me when we were engaged that he wanted one for his family to use. Since we got married 6 weeks after I graduated from college and I had no money, I made one for my wedding present to him. As I was hanging it up today, I thought I would make one for you, my readers. Over the next 25 days, I’ll share my scripts with you from two of my favorite products as well as tips on how to create your own.

SQL Prompt By Red Gate

One of my favorite tool companies is Red Gate out of the UK. I not only love their tools, but I love their service. They care not only about their products, but what we think of their products and how we use their products. Over the last year I have had the honor to be part of their FoRG group (Friends of Red Gate). As a FoRG member, I get to give my suggestions directly to the project managers and others seeking insight from the FoRG group. Don’t think you can’t give your two cents too. Red Gate loves to hear from everyone. In fact, at PASS Summit this year they dedicated their whole back wall to receiving sticky notes for ideas on how to improve all their products. By the end of the conference, it was quite full.

SQL Prompt was the first of their products that I used. I use it just about every time I’m in SSMS, and have been very fortunate to be able to use it at my new job. (It’s very frustrating when I can’t use it.)

SQL Prompt does a couple of things for you. The most obvious thing that it does, is help you write SQL faster. Yes, SQL 2012 has intellisence, but SQL Prompt has a better version. The second feature that I love is the code standardization options. There are several settings and shortcut keys that you can use to standardize your code. The third feature that I love and will be featuring in my SQL Advent Calendar, are templatized scripts (called snippets). The snippets are accessed by keystrokes that you specify. A library of snippets comes with SQL Prompt, but you can also add your own.

ER/Studio Data Architect by Embarcadero

Embarcadero has a very wide range of products, and one of those is on my favorite tool list. I’m sure you can guess what it is based on my last couple of posts here and here. It’s Embarcadero’s ER/Studio Data Architect.

ER/Studio Data Architect is a database modeling tool. It’s a great product to use as the master copy of a database schema. It also has the ability to create scripts for different versions of databases. This came in real handy when I needed to script a database model for both SQL 2000 and SQL 2012.

One of the features that I really like ER/Studio Data Architect, is the ability to create and use macros inside the product to update the database model. All you need to know is VB script and the Object Model.

So, without further ado…..

Day 1 – Placeholders in SQL Prompt snippets

You may ask why I like the SQL Prompt snippets since SQL 2012 has a template library that is very similar. There are currently 8 reasons why I like them. ($DATE$, $TIME$, $USER$, $PASTE$, $MACHINE$, $CURSOR$, $SERVER$, and $DBNAME$) These are the 8 placeholders that can be used in conjunction with the snippets. As each name suggests, they represent a piece of information that is unique. $USER$ will be replaced by the name of the User logged into SSMS and $DBNAME$ will be replaced by the name of the currently active database. $PASTE$ will grab what is in your copy buffer and $CURSOR$ will move the cursor to the that location in your snippet. (An important thing to remember is that the placeholders are case sensitive.)

Note: There are 8 placeholders with version 6.1, which is the current version. Other versions may have a different set with different functionality. Visit the documentation for the version you have to see the current list.

To create an SSMS placeholder you use the syntax below.

<X,Y,Z>
  • Where X is the name of the placeholder and should be very descriptive. It will be viewed in a dialog box with all the other placeholders
  • Y is the data type of the placeholder. Most of the time I use “string”
  • Z is the default value for the placeholder and is optional, but you still need to have the third parameter position available. This is where you can really leverage the SQL Prompt Placeholders.

In the example below I created three SSMS placeholders and I use three different SQL Prompt placeholders. Two of the SSMS placeholders are identical, so they will appear as one placeholder to the user. Notice that $DBNAME$ is used inside the SSMS placeholder. This will allow the current database name to be the default for that placeholder.

USE <Database Name,string,$DBNAME$>
GO

--Created by: $USER$ on $DATE$

SELECT
     name
FROM
     <Database Name,string,$DBNAME$>.sys.objects AS o
WHERE
     name LIKE '<Search Criteria,string,>%'

To use the code above, copy it into a new snippet in SQL Prompt.

  1. Open up the Snippet Manager.
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Name the snippet TNS.
  4. Set the description Table Name Search.
  5. Save the script.

In a new query window type TNS+. Notice that your SQL credentials were put in place of $USER$. Today’s date was put in place of $DATE$ and the current database was put in place of $DBNAME$.

AdventCalendar2013Day1_Img1

Now let’s leverage the SSMS placeholders by typing ++M. You can now accept the default values, or you can change them. After you click OK, you can run the script.

That’s a wrap

I hope you enjoyed the first day of 2013 SQL Advent Calendar.

Note: Since I live near the end of the GMT day, the calendar will be done based on the PST zone.

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SQL Advent Calendar 2013 – Day 2 – Macro to Remove Common Fields in ER Studio Data Architect

 

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