SQL Prompt 5.3.6 with support for Visual Studio 2012

Paul Stephenson

SQL Prompt 5.3.6 - October 2012 (version 5.3.6.28)

Support for Visual Studio 2012

• SQL Prompt now installs into Visual Studio 2012.

Bug fixes

• Restore the default SSMS and VS behaviour whereby a middle-click on a tab closes it. (SP-4236 and SP-4501)
• Fix bug whereby Find Invalid Objects fails completely on certain databases, incorrectly reporting a login error. (SP-4454)
• No longer throws error when formatting scripts containing SQL 2012 keywords.

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Upgrading
Please upgrade by selecting the SQL Prompt 5 > Help > Check for Updates... menu item (or SQL Prompt 5 > Check for Updates... in version 5.0). If this doesn't work for you, then you can download the update directly.
SQL Prompt 5.3 replaces earlier releases of SQL Prompt. The installer will automatically uninstall earlier versions of SQL Prompt if present.

• Upgrading from SQL Prompt 5.x: the upgrade should be seamless and all customizations will remain intact.
• Upgrading from SQL Prompt 4.x: customized options settings and snippets from SQL Prompt 4 will be automatically migrated to SQL Prompt 5.
• Upgrading from SQL Prompt 3.x: none of your customized options settings or snippets from SQL Prompt 3 will be imported into SQL Prompt 5. You may wish to take screenshots before upgrading for your reference.
• SQL Refactor: SQL Prompt 5 replaces SQL Refactor. The installer will automatically uninstall SQL Refactor if it is present on the system. Saved layouts from SQL Refactor will not be automatically migrated: the Lay Out SQL feature is superseded by SQL Prompt's Format SQL feature.

Licensing

• Licensed users of SQL Prompt 5: SQL Prompt will remain activated when you install SQL Prompt 5.3.
• Existing users of SQL Prompt 4 and below without the Support and Upgrades package: You will have a trial license when you install SQL Prompt 5.3. To continue using SQL Prompt 5 after the trial period, you will need to purchase a new license.
• Existing users of SQL Prompt 4 and below with the Support and Upgrades package: If you already have a valid license number for version 4 or below of SQL Prompt, purchased with the Support and Upgrades package, then you can use the same license to activate SQL Prompt 5 manually.
• Existing SQL Refactor users with the Support and Upgrades package: If you already have a SQL Refactor valid license number purchased with the Support and Upgrades package then you are entitled to a free upgrade to SQL Prompt 5 Professional Edition. Please contact sales@red-gate.com for details.

Requirements
SQL Prompt 5 is primarily designed to work with SQL Server Management Studio 2005, 2008 and 2012. Reduced functionality is also available in Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2010. Please note that SQL Prompt 5 no longer supports Query Analyzer; if you need to work with Query Analyzer then please continue to use SQL Prompt 4.

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 is required to use SQL Prompt 5. You can download the framework here.

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Previous Versions

SQL Prompt 5.3.4 - July 2012 (version 5.3.4.1)

SQL Prompt 5.3.4 now offers suggestions in Visual Studio's most recent SQL query windows.

SQL Prompt 5.3.2 - May 2012 (version 5.3.2.2)

The following changes were made in SQL Prompt 5.3.2.

Quick Reference Guide

• The new SQL Prompt Quick Reference Guide, with handy tips and keyboard shortcuts, is now installed into the Start Menu and accessible from the SQL Prompt 5 Help menu. You can also see it online.

Bug Fixes

• Fix error in Snippet Editor that removed newlines from the code in SQL Prompt 5.3.0. (SP-4358)
• Fix crash when disabling the Query Tab Coloring experimental feature.

SQL Prompt 5.3 - March 2012 (version 5.3.0.3)
The following changes were made in SQL Prompt 5.3.

Partial Match Suggestions

• Partial match suggestions are now enabled for all users (no longer an experimental feature)

Automatic Refreshing of Suggestions (experimental)

• New SQL Prompt Labs feature to refresh suggestions automatically when SQL Prompt detects a change to a connected database
• Also refreshes SSMS’s own IntelliSense local cache (equivalent to Ctrl+Shift+R)
• See this blog post for more information

Improvements to Synonym Support (experimental)

• Basic support for most synonym types, so SQL Prompt notices when the base object is a table, stored procedure, view, function, etc.
• CREATE SYNONYM script is now shown in the object definition box for synonyms.
• Fixed problem caching when base object for synonym is inaccessible (e.g. due to offline database or inadequate permissions).

Other Changes

• Suggestions box will now pop up after inserting a snippet (if it's appropriate to do so)
• On installation, a link to SQL Prompt's Getting Started page is put into the Start Menu
• Added a MaxSupportedColumns parameter in RedGate_SqlPrompt_Engine_EngineOptions.xml, which will prevent SQL Prompt from trying to cache databases with a total number of columns exceeding this number. The default is -1, which allows all databases to be cached (related to SP-1207)

Bug Fixes

• Fix crash related to scripts containing column list after table alias (SP-4070)
• Format SQL will no longer insert a space before semicolons
• Script As ALTER will now always fetch the up-to-date script directly from the database, rather than using SQL Prompt's cached version
• Suggestions box no longer jumps around when the schema name is displayed (by using the little arrow at the bottom-left of the suggestions list)
• Fixed problem decrypting encrypted objects in SQL Server 2012 RC0
• Snippets are now listed in alphabetical order on first creation
• Connection colouring experimental feature now saves servers.xml in the settings directory, not the current working directory (i.e. in many cases, on the desktop). If you use this experimental feature then you will need to reconfigure whether your servers are Production, Development, etc.
• Changed method for loading Labs experimental features, which should prevent the Could not load file or assembly 'RedGate.SharedSSMS' errors that are being encountered by some Visual Studio users.

SQL Prompt 5.2.6 - February 2012 (version 5.2.6.1)
The following is a summary of the changes in version 5.2.6.

Synonym suggestions (partial support)

• New SQL Prompt Labs feature in development.
• Display all synonyms in the db as table candidates.
• DROP SYNONYM lists synonyms as candidates.
• Synonym base object names are displayed in the candidate list.
• Note: column names from the base object are not yet suggested. This is expected in a future release.

Bug fixes

• Fixed format SQL with a selection so that selection is not lost and errors outside of the selection are ignored (SP-4280)
• Ensure that completions are not inserted during an undo/redo operation to avoid breaking the redo stack (also fixes failure to format/refactor immediately after undo) (SP-3339)
• Fix pop-up windows (candidate list, hover prompts, etc.) appearing in the wrong place in split windows in SSMS 2012

SQL Prompt 5.2.2 - January 2012 (version 5.2.2.1)
The following is a summary of the changes in version 5.2.2.

SQL Prompt Labs

The latest build of SQL Prompt now includes ‘Labs’, a set of experimental features you can enable from the SQL Prompt options.

The following experimental features can be enabled by clicking a checkbox:

• Partial match suggestions – CamelCase and mid-string matching during code completion.
• Use tab characters instead of spaces to indent text during a Format SQL operation.
• Query tab coloring (only in SSMS 2012) – allows you to color query tabs by server.
• Data Explorer – provides an overview of the data in your database.

The following experimental features are available as a download link:

• SQL Tab Magic – better SSMS session management with a large number of open query tabs.
• SQL Test – unit test add-in for SSMS.

Experimental features are subject to change or removal in future versions. Eventually they may become part of SQL Prompt or, in some cases, a separate Red Gate product. We rely on user feedback to make these decisions, so please take a moment to tell us what you think of the experimental features by following the Provide Feedback links on the Labs page.

For more information on SQL Prompt Labs, see the blog post.

Minor enhancement

• During Format SQL or other script refactorings, trying to keep the caret position in view rather than always going to the end of the script.

Bug fixes

• Fixed incorrect indenting of new lines in SQL Server 2012.
• Fixed crash with CREATE SCHEMA scripts. (SP-3779)
• No longer incorrectly encloses collation names in square brackets. (SP-4207)
• Fixed crash on startup when Visual Studio is started with /log argument, as reported on this forum. (SP-4250)

SQL Prompt 5.2 - November 2011 (version 5.2.0.5)
The following is a summary of the changes in version 5.2.

Improvements

SQL Prompt 5.2 includes many improvements:

• All SQL Prompt features are now enabled in SQL Server Management Studio 2012 RC0 (aka "Denali").
• SQL Prompt now works with Denali servers, with improved support for new keywords and built-in functions.
• More of SQL Prompt's script refactoring features are now available inside Visual Studio for the first time.
• You can now turn code auto-completion on/off using a new SQL Prompt menu option, or a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Shift + P).
• You can now press Shift + Tab when editing the code for a snippet to get back to the Description field.

Fixes

A number of issues have been fixed, including:

• A SQL Azure connection issue has been fixed.
• Expand Wildcards now works for system tables.
• Uppercase Keywords could sometimes change whitespace inadvertently. It now doesn't.
• Some resource leaks have been fixed, which should prevent some crashes in extreme cases.

SQL Prompt 5.1.8 - August 2011 (version 5.1.8.2)
The following is a summary of the changes in version 5.1.8:

• Performance improvements in the parser, especially with many temporary tables in the script.
• Fix crash when adding a snippet in Visual Studio
• Fix crash in some scripts where aliases have the same name as existing objects
• Prevent more "Thread was being aborted" exceptions from being written to the Event Log

SQL Prompt 5.1.6 - June 2011 (version 5.1.6.35)
The following is a summary of the changes in SQL Prompt 5.1.6:

• Fix error when requesting trial extension
• Handle many errors related to SQL permissions and SQL timeouts, which previously caused a Notify Red Gate of this error dialog
• Fix leak of Windows GDI objects in suggestions window tooltips
• Remove unimportant IPNService error messages from event log

SQL Prompt 5.1 - April 2011 (version 5.1.4.11)
The following is a summary of the changes in SQL Prompt 5.1.

Find Invalid Objects improvements

SQL Prompt 5.1 includes many usability improvements to the Find Invalid Objects feature:

• you can do more with the list of invalid objects, including locating objects in the Object Explorer, copying the list of invalid objects, and scripting multiple invalid objects as ALTER
• the number of invalid objects that have been found is displayed
• a progress bar is displayed when finding invalid objects
• you can change the server or database you want to find invalid objects in

Timeout errors are also much reduced or eliminated.

SQL Refactor favorites

The following has been included from SQL Refactor:

• Uppercase Keywords, as a separate feature from Format SQL in SQL Prompt Professional Edition
• Ctrl+B Ctrl+L as a keyboard shortcut for Format SQL in SQL Server Management Studio (Ctrl+K Ctrl+Y is the primary shortcut)

Fixes

A number of bugs have been fixed, including:

• SQL Prompt 5.1 now works on SQL Server 2005 Express
• Fixed extreme slowdown with Common Table Expressions (CTEs)
• Prevented misleading Thread was being aborted message from being added to log
• Fixed a number of the most common crashes that cause a Notify Red Gate of this error dialog

SQL Prompt 5.0.1 - January 2011 (version 5.0.1.7)
Changes in version 5.0.1 include:

Performance improvements
General performance in the query window has been improved.

Check for Updates behind a proxy server
Check for Updates for users behind certain proxy server configurations has been improved.

Smart Rename parameters
Using the Smart Rename function on parameters of stored procedures now functions correctly.

SQL Prompt 5.0 - December 2010 (version 5.0.0.651)
SQL Prompt 5 is a major upgrade to SQL Prompt 4.

SQL Prompt 5 includes a number of significant new features:

Find Invalid Objects
SQL Prompt 5 enables you to easily find invalid objects in your database. This can be useful, for example, if you have inherited a legacy database and you want to know if objects are referencing other objects that no longer exist in the database.

Script Object as ALTER from a query window
If you are navigating a query that contains a reference to an object, SQL Prompt 5 enables you to script out that object directly from the query window by pressing F12.

View column dependencies
SQL Prompt 5 enables you to view a list of objects that reference a column.

SQL Refactor functionality
SQL Refactor has been retired with the release of SQL Prompt 5. Much of the functionality of SQL Refactor is now available in SQL Prompt Professional Edition, including the following:

• Smart Rename
• Qualify Object Names
• Expand Wildcards
• Split Table
• Encapsulate as New Stored Procedure
• Find Unused Variables and Parameters
• Summarize Script