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At work we recently upgraded from Microsoft SQL Server 7 to SQL 2005. The database engine is a lot more advanced, but the management studio is pretty awful in a number of ways. Most of our developers decided they preferred to stick with the old Query Analyzer tool, even though it had a lot of limitations.

In my spare time, I decided to write a replacement for Query Analyzer / Management Studio that did the things our developers most needed to do. I finally got permission to release it for free: Versabanq Squel (versabanq.com/squel).

Like I said, it's free, so this isn't a sales pitch. But it got me thinking. What I'm wondering is: are most of you satisfied with SQL Studio the way it is? Do people just use it because it's what Microsoft pushes on them? Are there many people out there looking for something better? Maybe I can get some support for long-term development of this, if it looks like there might be some wider interest.

By the way, check out SQL Server Management Studio Alternatives, someone else's earlier question on this topic. What I see there is that there are surprisingly few options. Why do you think that is?

divibisan
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apenwarr
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  • Might be because it looks like the question had been posted for maybe 3 or 4 hours before it was accepted. What do you do for analysis and optimization? – dkretz Dec 12 '08 at 23:37
  • I've never used the old query analyzer -- in what ways is it better? – Jimmy Dec 12 '08 at 23:41
  • @Jimmy: QA is just plain small and fast, and you can just use it to write queries easily. Sadly, SSMA is much slower and more complicated for this sort of basic developer activity. – apenwarr Dec 12 '08 at 23:43
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    for quick and small check out the Query Express and Query ExPlus – Piotr Owsiak Feb 26 '10 at 10:18

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Ha, I came from exactly the same standpoint, so I made a tool, code completion and all, plus there's a free edition available. It's at http://www.atlantis-interactive.co.uk - it's basically for people who miss QA. Your tool looks nice, good job.

Matt Whitfield
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  • I just tried out the SQL Everywhere product and it seems very good indeed. The intellisense works very well and it has some interesting features like being able to generate a C# class from a database query. – Chris B Dec 01 '11 at 17:19
  • Glad you liked it :) I'll be doing some more work on my tools in the coming months as that will be part of my new job. Extending the code generation capability is one of the things near the top of my list - so if you have any ideas in that area, feel free to drop me a line... – Matt Whitfield Dec 18 '11 at 21:11
  • I'm using this right now, I really like it. :) I'm currently in the middle of doing a search on my computer for my custom snippets though, couldn't see a way to export them. I see the defaults in the installation directory but not my own. Really like it though, great work, Matt. – Ricky Feb 03 '12 at 15:53
  • @Ricky - thanks very much. The snippets as in the VS-style snippets are in the AppData folder - the ones that are simple replacements (like ssf) are in the configuration XML in that folder... Drop me a mail if you need any more help :) – Matt Whitfield Feb 15 '12 at 11:22
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While I would love something better, it would have to be significantly better and free. SMS is definetly a hog but I've gotten used to it. What I miss the most is Query Analyzer. I don't mind using SSMS to manage the server but having a fast lightweight, editor for SQL queries would be awsome...

Did I mention free? Not something I'm willing to pay for right now.

EDIT

FYI I downloaded your tool looks neat but you need to add support for Windows Authentications unless I am just missing how its done.

JoshBerke
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I think Management Studio is far superior to the old SQL 2000 tools. Enterprise Manager was a shocker of a tool, forever hanging and crashing. Query Analyzer is still ok if ALL you ever do is create and run SQL queries, but to be honest once I started using Management Studio I never went back to EM/QA.

Nathan Griffiths
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I've used Apex SQL Edit before and preferred it over Management Studio. It provided intellisense well before SQL Server 2008's Management Studio.

http://www.apexsql.com/sql_tools_edit.asp

kenm
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I just moved to developing on linux with mysql and boy do I miss MS SQL Management Studio. It is a fantastic tool. I agree it takes a bit getting used to after using query analyzer, but the query tool in management studio is actually better. I really do not think there is a better alternative. I tried the Apex SQL Edit also but found MS to be superior.

I also suggest using SQL Prompt from Red-Gate to get intellisense (autocomplete). Their other tools are also excellent.

Espen
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If you are currently developing (or will start developing) using the .NET 3.5 Framework, then I suggest you give your developers this little handy application: LINQPad

This will help your developers learn LINQ (an Integrated O/R Mapper that makes .net developers' lives much easier) syntax, and at the same time use a more-light weight SQL management application

This advice is only valid if you're developers are using Microsoft's .net 3.5 Framework

Andreas Grech
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I was quite happy with the Enterprise Manager of 7.0 and 2000. I kind of liked the ideas of MMC snapins. As long as you remembered to hit refresh, it wasn't that bad.

The new 2005 Management Studio is ok too. I see no point in choosing anything else. I fail to see the grand improvement that could justify a move for me. Everybody seems to use the stuff that comes with SQL Server, and compared to the stuff that comes with Oracle, it is pretty good. Oracle developers have more choice, and it is no mystery!

Books Online is great, and has been since 7.0.

My favourite part about Query Analyzer is and has always been the execution plan view. It's such a Good Thing!

Every new version of SQL Server has a lot of new stuff, but sadly some stuff gets dropped too. I think it's sad that English Query is gone. I never found a project for it, pushing it in Norway was part of the problem, but I thought it was brilliant.

Guge
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I have tried a handful of them including TOAD, ApexSqlEdit and a couple of others. The problem with all of them is that while they include great features Management Studio is missing they also lack critical features Management Studio already has, I always found myself with two windows open, my third party editor and Management Studio. This is one area where I think Red-Gate has really nailed it, they don't try to replace management studio, just make up for it's deficiencies by extending it, adding intellisense, light refactoring, and code formatting. So far my favorite solution by quite a margin is Management Studio with RedGate SqlPrompt Pro added in for the intellisense and formatting which boost my productivity quite a bit.

Shane Delmore
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  • Agreed, the only thing really missing is support for Subversion, etc. and maybe object explorer navigation improvements. The rest can be "fixed" with add-ons. – Piotr Owsiak Feb 26 '10 at 10:15
  • Also as an SQL Prompt alternative you can check out SQL Assistant (cheaper and in my opinion more usefull). Oh and DevArt has a sort of SQL Prompt like tool too go search for their dbForge line of tools. – Piotr Owsiak Apr 02 '12 at 13:33
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SQL Server Management Studio 2008, when used against a SQL Server 2008 database, supports Intellisense for SQL Queries. Nuff said!

edit: sorry, didn't realize you said SQL 2005. Eh, I like SSMS 2005 as well.

Paul
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Management Studio is imperfect, and has a few bugs but I find it FAR and away better than the old 2000 tools. No contest. I use SSMS 2008 to manage all my servers including the SQL Server 2000 (ack!) instances.

Even with its warts, I have yet to see someone create a tool that is better for what it does - nobody probably has time to (re)build out every feature.

My 2 cents.

onupdatecascade
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  • If you use management studio for management, then you're unlikely to find something better. For development and ad-hoc work I think there's a lot out there that can do better - certainly over SSMS' idea of code completion - which is pansy. – Matt Whitfield Feb 02 '10 at 19:37
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I, for one, would definitely like something other than Management Studio. Is it just me, or do other people feel that it is wayyyyy slower than SQL Server 2000's Enterprise Manager? More features or not, I need something that can get the job done quickly.

jdve
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Yes, but they have almost always had their own problems.

Out of all of them, I used Toad for quite a bit, but found it to be a bit less responsive compared to Management studio. Maybe it was the building of intellisense (which was also very picky - it always required me to put in the Database.owner. prefix and had trouble with aliases), but it just didn't feel as comfy.

Back to SQLMS...

Tom H
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StingyJack
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I was having issues determining how to set up user permissions on SSMS. Eventually I accidentally ran into the correct way to do it and it works nicely now. I never used any tools previously for SQL Server so I can't compare but I think this does everything I need it to at the moment.

Joe Phillips
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Anything is better than the tripe called SQL Server Management Studio. Sorry, but it's plain awful for us non-DBA guys. Maybe you DBA and programmer types like it, but it's a major PITA for those of us who are just the Server guys who schedule backups and such. It's slow. SLOW. And the Maintenance Plan interface is a living nightmare of bugs and gotcha's. Enterprise Manager wasn't perfect, but it was far, far easier to use than SSMS.

It really reminds me of Visual Basic 4 compared to VB3 - MS was trying to go in the right direction, they just did a really poor job. Of course, we eventually got VB6, so maybe in MSSQL Server 2011 we'll have something decent again. But for now, I just wish I could run Enterprise Manager against my SQL2005 servers, as SMSS makes me batty.

However, I haven't yet had any problems running the Query Manager from 2000 against my 2005 servers, at least not for the simple queries I do. At least that still works.