Tag Archive for SQL Search

| April 30, 2014
6 comments

New and Improved SQL Search By Red Gate

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The Third Mission

In this installment of SQLCoOp, we are sharing our views on the newly released SQL Search 2.0 product by Red Gate. This amazing product is free to the public and can be downloaded here.

 

 

SQL Search is one of those amazing products that you just can’t believe they give away. While I always find it useful, I found it the most useful this year when I was getting to know a new (to me) database. Why? Because I could quickly and easily search all the databases for particular keywords. Below I’ve included some of my favorite Use Cases for using SQL Search.

Use Case 1: Where did I leave my TODO list?

One of the things I love to do is leave notes for myself in my SQL objects, but I’m not always good at remembering where those notes are. With SQL Search, I can find them easily by searching for the keyword TODO. Now I can go a step further and look for all the TODO’s that ALSO have my name.

 

I do this by using the AND operator to search for the two keywords todo and mstuewe. There are some special rules to note.

1. AND and it’s counter part OR are both case sensitive.

2. You can only use one at a time. I can have todo AND mtuewe AND 2014, but  I can’t have todo AND (mstuewe OR mickey). (Maybe in a future version – hint, hint.)

 

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Use Case 2: How many databases do I need to look through?

George is new to the company and he needs to get to know how orders are stored in the database. He decides to use SQL Search to look at all the tables that have Order in their name. He is a bit shocked when he find out that there are hundreds of databases on the server and he is not sure which ones he should start with. George, luckily got some help from one of his co-workers Sarah. She told him he should start with three specific databases.

 

In previous versions of SQL Search, you could look through one database or all the databases. This could lead to a very long list of values if you have quite a few databases on your server. This is now a problem of the past. (And there was much rejoicing.)  Now you have the option of selecting only the database you are interested. You can even select the system tables which are all listed at the bottom  of the pull down window.

 

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Use Case 3: Rolling the dice for a job.

imageLiz needs to find all the SQL objects that use the SalesOrder  table, but she isn’t interested in searching through tables and views. She does, however want to search through all the jobs first, and then she’ll take a look at triggers, stored procedures and functions.

 

I found this next new feature a huge bonus. Jobs are not something I’m looking through often, but now I have a way to search through them without any trouble. Simply, select Jobs.

 

I’m also very happy to be able to select ONLY the database objects I want to search through. For me this means I can ignore tables and views. (Yippee!)

Use Case 4: Getting to know your neighbors.

There have been some implicit conversion problems with some of the date fields in the database. Sarah has been tasked to verify that all fields that end in “DTS” are actually datetime data types and not date data types.

 

Red Gate has added the ability to see table definitions in the results pane. It’s a simple view of the table structure, but it beats having to go back to the Object Explorer to see the entire table structure. Now when you’re researching field data types, you can do it quickly and efficiently.

 

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Bonus Tips

Here are a few bonus tips that make SQL Search even more useful:

1. You can highlight all the rows in the grid, copy it, and paste it directly into Excel for further reference. This can be very helpful if you are changing all the objects in the list and you want to keep track of the original list. (This isn’t a new feature, but it is an awesome one to know about.)

2. They have improved the indexing of the database objects. This is GREAT  news. In the past, if you were expecting a modified object to appear on the list and it didn’t, you would have to close SSMS and restart it in order for the SQL objects to be properly re-indexed. You no longer need to do that. Just go to the Index menu item, and select Reindex.

3. Each of the columns in the grid can be sorted. This can be very handy if you want to deal with all the tables at one time, or a particular schema first.

 

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Don’t Stop Yet

If you want to read more about the newly released SQL Search, don’t forget to check out these blog posts:

 

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

Category: Red Gate, SQL CoOp | Tags: , , , , ,
| February 25, 2014
5 comments

On a SQL Quest Using SQL Search by Red Gate

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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 

The First Mission

For our first collaborative entry in this blog series, we have chosen to investigate Red Gate’s FREE tool, SQL Search. The question we posed to each other was: What is the purpose of Red Gate’s SQL Search and how do you use it in your daily work life?

The Search Begins

Right now I’m in retro-fit mode at work. I have an application that I recently inherited that needs a new feature. This requires me to add new columns to tables in the database(s), as well as find all the objects (Stored procedures, triggers, etc.) that reference the tables I need to modify to make sure they will still work and to add logic to support the new feature.

Red Gate has a whole suite of tools for me to use on my current adventure at work, but the tool I used the most this past week was their FREE tool, SQL Search. This tool will work with SQL 2005 and up.

Instead of writing about how to use SQL Search, I want to highlight some shortcut keystrokes that will improve the speed of using this awesome tool. Did I mention it is a FREE awesome tool?

The Task

I have a set of tables that I modified and I need to look at the code for all the objects that reference that set of tables to not only make sure they still worked properly, but to add code to support the new feature that was added. I’ll use the Adventureworks2008R2 database in my example below.

After I found the list of objects I needed to inspect, I did the following:

  1. Scripted out the object as an ALTER statement.
  2. Quickly searched for the table in the script (some of the scripts were 1000+ rows long).

Here is my favorite part

If you double-click one of the objects in the SQL Search list of found objects, that object will be found and selected in the in the Object Explorer. Unfortunately, if that object is a view, it takes several mouse clicks to get an ALTER script created, soooo…

With the help of Mark Holmes (b|t), we figured out what the hot key combination is to script out the highlighted object as an ALTER statement. You ready? SHIFT  F10 + S+A+N. Yes, that is a lot of keys, but if you are like me, keystrokes are faster than mouse clicks.

Note: I remember it as SHIFT F10 + SAN

The CTRL + F shortcut will take you into the Find dialog box where you can search for the name within the script. If you had been searching  for the same value prior to this script, then F3 is your best friend and it will take you directly to the search term in the ALTER script.

But wait! There’s more

If you are a Red Gate junkie like myself and have SQL Prompt installed, then there is another shortcut you can add between SHIFT + F10 + SAN and F3.  If you use CTRL K + CTRL Y then you can have the alter script formatted to your taste. (aka, you can read it faster. Win!)

Note: I remember it as CTRL + KY

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Scenario Time

So here is what it would look like if you were using the Adventureworks2008R2 database and looking for the Person table.

  1. Enter Person into the search field
  2. Select the “Exact Match” option. (Optional)
  3. Select the “All Objects” from the list of objects
  4. Select “All Databases” from the list of databases (The search term is automatically searched. Hitting ENTER is not required.)
  5. Click on one of the objects listed
  6. SHIFT  F10 + S + A + N to create an ALTER script
  7. CTRL K + CTRL Y to format it (this step requires SQL Prompt)
  8. CTRL  F to pull up the SSMS search window to search within the script
  9. Type in Person and click enter. You’ll be taken to the first instance of Person
  10. Use F3 to find the other instances of Person in the script

Now to look at a second script. You already have the list of objects, so you don’t have to search for them again.

  1. Click on one of the objects listed.
  2. SHIFT  F10 + S + A + N to create an ALTER script
  3. CTRL K + CTRL Y to format it (this step requires SQL Prompt)
  4. Use F3 to find the other instances of Person in the script

Repeat these four steps for each script you need to look at. Win!

Don’t Stop Yet

If you want to read more about SQL Search, don’t forget to check out these blog posts:

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

Category: Community, Red Gate, SQL CoOp, T-SQL, Tools | Tags: , , , , , ,
 
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