SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage)

Thu Sep 20, 2007 by Mladen Prajdić in sql-server, ssms-tools-pack

SSMS Tools Pack is an Add-In (Add-On) for Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 2005 and

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express 2005.

It contains a few upgrades to the IDE that I thought were missing from Management Studio.

These are:

- Query Execution History (Soft Source Control): saves every query text you execute in a file or in a database

- Text document Collapsable Regions and Debug sections: regions and debug section known from Visual Studio which are missing in SSMS

- New query template: set the template that will open when you open a new query

- CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) stored procedure generation: templated CRUD stored procedure generation

- Running custom scripts from Object Explorer's Context menu: Add custom scripts you can execute from the object explorer context menu

you can find it on www.SsmsToolsPack.com

Any suggestions for improvements are welcomed.

Legacy Comments


Franklin Rau 2007-09-20	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) Very nice tool!! These life-saving features will definitly come in handy. One suggestion, on the query history dialog maybe have an option to send the query text to a new query window in SSMS? Also, I have compiled a list of exceptions that I have experienced when using this add-in. You can find it here: http://developer.franklinrau.com/uploads/ssms_tools_exceptions.txt. One other error thrown was when creating a database snapshot from the context menu it gives: Msg 156, Level 15, State 1, Line 1 Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'AS'. Nice Job.

Mladen 2007-09-20	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) hey thanx for that! what is the script that gets executed when you create a snapshot?

Franklin Rau 2007-09-20	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) CREATE DATABASE ldx_ss ON ( NAME = ldx, FILENAME = 'c:\ldx_ss.ss' ) AS SNAPSHOT OF ldx;

Mladen 2007-09-20	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) so in this script where is the error? because this parese fine for me.

Franklin Rau 2007-09-20	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) Nevermind... leave it to a rookie to try to create a snapshot on a 2000 instance. Sorry!

Bojan Vrhovnik 2007-09-21	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) Will this tool be free, when released?

Mladen 2007-09-21	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) that's my plan for now

oggelito 2007-09-25	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) Very handy tool, congratulations on a great work! The Ctrl+Shift+M shortcut interferes with Template Parameter dialog, except that little annoyance I'm very pleased! keep it up

Mladen 2007-09-25	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) yeah i noticed that... i plan to add configurable shortcuts in the next version.

dfrr 2007-10-03	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) It doesn't work in Katmai

Mladen 2007-10-03	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) no it doesn't. and it won't until katmai gets out.

Peter Larsson 2007-10-09	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) How do this stand out compared to yours? http://entropia-online.blogspot.com/2007/08/free-script-to-create-crud-procedures.html

Mladen 2007-10-09	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) you tell me :)

Peter Larsson 2007-10-09	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) I can't. I am using SQL Server 2008 :-)

Mladen 2007-10-09	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) oh right... :)) well mine is fully templated as well. so you can do whatever you want to it.

Peter Schmitz 2007-10-09	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) Hi guys :) I just tested Mladen's CRUD generator. A few things I noticed: Transactions used everywhere, which might significantly affect performance. Also, why wrap things in a transaction and then not offer a rollback in case something goes wrong? What I can see my script doing better is it allows for user-defined types, and it allows for the option of excluding certain often repeated columns. Other than that, it's up to the programmer to decide which flavour of the procedures he/she prefers, I guess :) (I did notice that in the right-click menu, SSMS tools shows up twice for me. As do the options under it... I.e. right-click a table SSMSTools -> Run custom scripts -> Generate CRUD <seperator> SSMSTools -> Run custom scripts -> Generate CRUD <seperator>

Mladen 2007-10-09	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) hey peter! well i put the transactions there just for the template. you're of course welcome to change it. that's why it's there for :)) userdefined types, huh? haven't thought of them at all! thanx for reminding me! fo items appearing twice just restore ssms. i've fixed the problem (hopefully :)) and will put the fix in the next version.

Bob Fazio 2007-10-10	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) The ability to purge history automatically would be nice. Custom Scripts are really nice, but they sometimes show up when they shouldn't and will crash. Add Remove Buttons/configure menu options would be nice. When a region is created, but then removed after the fact it stays until you exit script and come back in. Expand all/collapse all regions would be nice. In general quite nice.

Mladen 2007-10-10	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) > The ability to purge history automatically would be nice. purge all history? hmm... well you can just delete the files/directirues in the history folder you want to remove. > Custom Scripts are really nice, but they sometimes show up when they shouldn't and > will crash. i know of this bug and i'm in the process of fixing it > Add Remove Buttons/configure menu options would be nice. i'm not quite sure what you mean by that > When a region is created, but then removed after the fact it stays until you exit script > and come back in. will look into this. thanx! > Expand all/collapse all regions would be nice. I tried to implement this but haven't found a way to do it. yet! :) > In general quite nice. Thanx :)

Henk 2007-10-17	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) Is it correct that the query is saved twice with different execution times in the query history?

Mladen 2007-10-17	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) this shouldn't be happening

ALEEM 2008-07-05	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) hi i a doing a course in sql server 2005 i am having a 180 day triel sw for sql i.e SSMS BUT IT IS EXPIRED WAT TO DO NOW ...

kuklei 2008-08-14	re: SSMS Tools Pack support for SQL Sever 2008 does not work Support for SQL Server 2008 does not work correctly. Just for information. Thanks for the tool in 2005, though

Mladen 2008-08-14	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) yes i know. i haven't had time to implement it for the RTM of sql server 2008.

Burrows 2008-11-21	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) Great product been using on my home machine using Managment Studio Express 2005 with no problems just installed Sql 2005 Developer on my work machine and also installed SSMS Tool Pack upon loading Mansagment Studio I get the following error. System.MissingMethodException: Method not found: 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem[] Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.ObjectExplorer.IWinformsMenuHandler.GetMenuItems()'. at az.i() at SSMSToolsPack.Connect.OnConnection(Object application, ext_ConnectMode connectMode, Object addInInst, Array& custom)

Hari 2009-02-04	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) You are the man!!!!!!!!!!! The add-on is simply awesome. Thank you very much

Markus 2009-03-30	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) I am really looking for a "favorites" feature where I can pick a template in existing window. You support the custom template but: 1) it tries to execute it, I currently have to break the sql so that it fails to execute and I can update the statements with criteria 2) opens up a new query window I would really love to right click in my existing window and pick a favorite query To improve your existing template support it would be really nice to: 1) have a template variable example: select * from orders where orderid = <orderid> and it would populate that <orderid> with whatever is in the clipboard 2) have an option to not automatically run when being chosen. -Markus

VLAD 2009-06-14	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) Hi, i GET THE FOLLOWING ERROR WHEN TRYING TO OPEN SSMSEE.EXE (EXPRESS EDDITION): System.MissingMethodException: Method not found: 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem[] Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.ObjectExplorer.IWinformsMenuHandler.GetMenuItems()'. at ab..ctor(DTExtensiblity2Class A_0) at SSMSToolsPackBase.DTExtensiblity2Class.a(Boolean A_0) at SSMSToolsPack.Connect.OnConnection(Object application, ext_ConnectMode connectMode, Object addInInst, Array& custom) Is there a fix or work-around? Thx

Mladen 2009-06-14	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) You need to install SP2 for SSMS. I've stopped supporting pre SP2 versions with ssms tools pack version 1.1. Have fun!

James 2009-07-31	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) Here is another useful add-on for SQL Server Management Studio if you often reformat sql from others. SQL Pretty Printer Add-On for SSMS http://www.dpriver.com/sqlpp/ssmsaddin.html

gereon 2009-08-10	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) hi, i even face above error having properly installed ssms 2005 enterprise with SP 2. (Method not found: 'System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem[] Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.ObjectExplorer.IWinformsMenuHandler.GetMenuItems()'.) SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('productversion'), SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'), SERVERPROPERTY ('edition') shows 9.00.3294.00 SP2 Enterprise Edition (64-bit) any suggests?

Mladen 2009-08-10	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) @gereon: you need sp2 or higher for SSMS (client tools) not sql server. SERVERPROPERTY('productversion') returns the SP of the server not SSMS.

gereon 2009-08-11	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) thx. thats it.... just playing around with "region" feature. this is great feature -for me- 'cos were having very large sp's... but it doesnt work like beeing used to in VS. so just typing "--#region blah" and "--#endregion blah" won`t work. just marking the area to be regionalised and then choose "create region" from menu works. whats the trick?

Mladen 2009-08-16	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) you have to choose parse regions from the context menu in the editor. i might add the auto recognize region in the future though.

Dan 2009-12-22	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) You should consider making this a codeplex opensource project. I was going to make another function that I think SQL is lacking and make it its own plug in, but I'd rather add to your project - if it were opensource.

David Lean 2010-09-21	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) Looks nice but I wonder about the wisdom of generating Stored Procs to replace single statement DML. Eg: p_InsertRow, p_UpdateRow, p_DeleteRow, p_SelectRow. To me the value of a SP is encapsulation of the interface. Thus I prefer people to create SP's that do a complete unit of work relevant to an application. eg: p_AddInvoice may insert rows in both the InvoiceHeader & InvoiceDetails tables & possibly Update the Customer table or enter Audit info. OR p_ShowEmployeeTree to retrieve a hierarchy filtered in some way, perhaps User_ID. Sure I'd prefer people used a SP than use TSQL directly but rarely is it optimum design to flood the DB schema with 4 procs per table. That said, Thanks for sharing your work. Clearly you put a lot of work into this tool. I do like the fact that some of your syntax is more efficient than SSMS. ie DROP OBJECT using OBJECT_ID() function correctly. For your INSERT & SELECT example, please consider using the OUTPUT clause of the INSERT statement, as it is much more efficient.

mladenp 2010-09-22	re: SSMS Tools Pack - an add-in for SQL Management Studio 2005 is out (beta stage) @David: The STP creates simple CRUD that you need fast. if you have to modify the procs you can do that. Template is also customizable. In any case you have to do some work my hand and there's no tool that will automate everything. As for the output SQL Server 2000 didn't have that and still a lot of people use it. So i prefer not to be version specific.