How SQL Prompt Improves SQL Server Database Development

Everyone knows SQL Prompt for its code completion and IntelliSense features, but a lot of its extra value comes from features that allow the development team to standardize coding practices and drive up code quality. Read more

Tracking use of Deprecated SQL Server Features

Phil Factor explains how to use Dynamic Management Views and Extended Events to track use of deprecated SQL Server syntax on working SQL Server databases, as well as SQL Prompt and SQL Change Automation to detect its use during database development. Read more

SQL Prompt Snippets to Drop Columns and Tables and Handle Associated Dependencies

Louis Davidson provides a pair of SQL Prompt snippets that will help you deal with dependencies, whenever you need to drop columns or tables. Read more

Never Create Columns with ANSI_PADDING set to OFF

There is no good reason for having ANSI_PADDING set to OFF when you create tables in SQL Server. It was provided purely for legacy databases that had code that assumed the old CHAR behavior for dealing with padding, and its use has now been deprecated. Read more

Avoid using constants in an ORDER BY clause

Phil Factor explains why an ORDER BY clause should always specify the sort columns using their names, or aliases, rather than using an integer to specify the position of a column in the SELECT list. Read more

Why you Should Always Specify Whether a Column Accepts Nulls

Phil Factor explains the factors that determine whether a column will allow null values, if you don't specify it explicitly in the column definition. If you rely on the default behavior established by your connection settings, you could be in for some nasty surprises. Read more

Using SQL Prompt Code Snippets for Repetitive Tasks

Louis Davidson discovers the joy of using SQL Prompt code snippets to remove repetition from a variety of tasks, from inserting comment headers, to creating tables, to executing useful metadata queries. Read more

The Dangers of using Float or Real Datatypes

Floating point datatypes accommodate very big numbers but sacrifice precision. They are handy for some types of scientific calculations, but are dangerous when used more widely, because they can introduce big rounding errors. Read more

Changing SET options in a Procedure or Trigger leads to Recompilation (PE012)

Phil Factor delves into SQL Prompt's performance rule, PE012, which will advise you if it detects the use of the SET statements within a stored procedure or trigger, which might cause unnecessary recompilations, though the issue extends to other types of batches. Read more

Removing the Square Bracket Decorations with SQL Prompt

If you avoid illegal characters and reserved words in your identifiers, you'll rarely need delimiters. Sadly, SSMS applies square bracket delimiters indiscriminately, as a precaution, when generating build scripts. Phil Factor provides a handy function that adds quoted delimiters only where they are really needed and then sits back and lets SQL Prompt strip out any extraneous square brackets, in a flash. Read more

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