SQL Prompt^™

Intelligent code completion changes way this CTO works with SQL Server

At Red Gate, we receive a lot of feedback on how our products are used. In cases where the feedback is very specific, we like to pass it along for the benefit of others in similar situations.

Below is what Dane Pescaia has to say about intelligent code completion using SQL Prompt.

I am the CTO of my company, but my core tech team is relatively small – I haven't hired a DBA yet – and so my role includes a lot of software and database development, database administration, and other database-related tasks.

My job dictates that I spend quite a bit of time in a query editor. Before SQL Prompt 3 came out, I evaluated other query editors that offered completion/insight, but nothing ever "felt" (or worked) quite right.

SQL Prompt has changed the way I work with SQL in the following ways:

I now use my query editor much more like a modern development IDE, where I am accustomed to, and depend on, object and code insight/completion for productivity. Using SQL Prompt requires a lot less referential information to be kept in my short-term memory, which means I can devote more of those resources to actual problem solving.

With SQL Prompt, I barely have to leave the editor for schema-related lookups. The schema panel is fabulous when I need to reference a table's schema or specific SQL code in a stored procedure, and possibly copy it out to paste in the editor. In fact, I often just type the name of the object I need to look up away from any actual query syntax to see the schema panel. There's far less jumping over to Enterprise Manager, where scrolling through hundreds of objects to find what you are looking for can be quite time consuming.

I also don't have to leave the editor to retrieve SQL snippets that I used to store in separate SQL files. What used to require navigating the file system and copying and pasting the contents of a file into QA now involves just a few keystrokes – the upside is less monkeying around with hard-to-find files on disk.

SQL Prompt saves me hundreds (sometimes thousands) of keystrokes each day, which means I am much more efficient at many of my tasks. As an added benefit, I obviously now have more time for my non-SQL tasks, which really underscores the value in any tool a person uses.

SQL Prompt is the best thing since sliced bread. I can't get along without it now (same goes for SQL Compare).

About Dane Pescaia

Dane Pescaia is CTO of Intelligent Beauty Inc. He has nine years of experience in the IT industry in roles involving software engineering, database design and administration, and network administration. His programming background consists mainly of database-driven, web-based systems, and internet/network-centric back-end applications and daemons.

Dane lives in Fort Collins, Colo., with his wife and one-year-old son. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and hanging out with family and friends.

Intelligent Beauty Inc. is the first beauty brand incubator with a full in-house interactive advertising agency. The company provides a dynamic mix of competencies, including acquisition strategies, web-optimization technologies, and robust relationship management. The result, according to Dane, is a complete, turnkey infrastructure for bringing brands to life, creating relationships that go beyond sales, and fostering enduring brand loyalty.