Checking out dbForge’s SQL Complete for SQL Server (Part 2)
Tags: devart, sqlserver, database, dbdevelopment
Published: 2022-07-06 02:30:56

In Part 1 of the coverage for SQL Complete for SQL Server, I gave a quick glimpse at what the tool has to offer for SQL Server database developers ([you can check it out here](https://dev.to/alejandrocobar/checking-out-dbforges-sql-complete-for-sql-server-part-1-13bo)). Therefore, it is time for me to continue with the coverage of the features that didn’t make the cut in the previous article, so let’s get right into it!

I’d like to take a brief pause because right after firing up SQL Server Management Studio, I got a popup window that looks like this:

So I’m getting v6.11.3 before moving on with the article!
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/mkouh43o2xrjoti8fxdj.png)  

After clicking the “Update” button, this is what you’ll see:
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/odn35s7non5h6u603lqo.png)  

After clicking “Run Installation," SQL Server Management Studio will close and you’ll see a window like this one:
 
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/nisgqqtt01dbmdaerp8a.png)
 
As part of the setup process, there’s a “Startup Optimization” step, which is a very welcome thing from the Devart team, so I suggest you enable that as well to enhance your experience with the tool:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/q0zep6kpuz54yesviy4p.png)  

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/j0clrdee0cahpcknkry1.png) 

As a quick side note, here are the release notes for SQL Complete version 6.11.3:
_**New features and improvements**_

_●	SSMS v19 Preview 2 integration is added_

**_User-reported and internal bug fixes_**

_●	Fixed an application error that occurred when starting SSMS 2014
●	Fixed the display of data in Data Viewer when changing the order of columns in the Editor
●	Fixed an error that might occur when opening documents
●	Fixed an issue with displaying Quick Info on an incomplete script
●	Fixed an issue with missing hints for Linked Server objects
●	Added temporary table hints that do not depend on the selected database
●	Fixed the problem with incorrect formatting of procedure parameter names
●	Fixed an unexpected exception that might occur when copying data to the clipboard (D89130)
●	Fixed the reset of tabs color settings after closing SSMS with SQL Complete activated (D85351)
●	Fixed an issue with setting the database name in the Query Editor window when starting SSMS using the -d argument ** (D81862)
●	Fixed the disappearance of the Document Outline window (D81156)
●	Fixed an error that occurred when starting SSMS (D87321, D89325, D90091, D90192, D90396, D90381, D90374, D90368)
●	Fixed memory leak issue that occurred when executing large scripts (D89598, D90100)_

Moving on with the review of the rest of the tool, here’s what you can do with it:

**Tabs and database colors:**
When you are performing database development work and you have to work with multiple databases across different SQL Server instances, sometimes you can have a hard time recognizing right away to which environment each tab belongs. 

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/qrlvixe09u6a6g52rd2z.png) 
 
You can also create your own categories as you please, so that you can structure your workflow to your own liking.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/h9wl0cjayu4glix1wv4t.png)
   
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/0jyvrw4281ifgxm7l0ra.png)

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3o32e50zlzp3wxrcn3sa.png)
  
**Result set grid:**
The first option is a cool complementary bar at the bottom of the result set grid where you can see aggregate information about the data you manually select. Let me give you a quick example of what this is about:

As you can see, I have manually selected the first 10 values of my first column, and since that’s an IDENTITY PK field, then it has consecutive INT numbers. After I select them, then I can see at the bottom that the MAX selected value is 10, the SUM of all selected is 55, and so on. The results calculated will vary by the number of values selected, which makes it the very first time I’ve seen anything like this.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rba0lrif87utb73f6sga.png)  

Now, if you want to look for a specific string within your result set, then you can click the **_Find_** option and any match will be highlighted:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/h1aqi9cpny9wsr9ab2pz.png)  

The next option is called **_Data Viewer_**.  Let’s suppose that you have a table with an NVARCHAR(MAX) column and you have very long strings in there. If you right-click your result set and select the **_Show Data Viewer_** option, then you will have a new view to display the information in a more “digestible” way.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/qslunx32ptxcbdy9n8c5.png)
  
As you can see, the view at the bottom shows the entire string, while the original view has limited visibility, and you would have to drag the size of the column all the way to the left to give it a shot. This is very handy when you have to deal with columns that store large strings.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/i6w483omv0mzop9nqd6w.png)  

The Data Viewer allows you to quickly visualize image data that you might have stored in your database, which is a very cool feature on its own:

_*The following screenshot is taken from Devart’s website, for demonstration purposes._

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/lc6vy8fn2nox5vmw33y9.png)
  
The next option is **_Generate Script As_**, which gives you different options to work with your result set. 

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/tmr27bpwz0uc71ztm8yv.png)  

If I pick the INSERT option, then it will create the TSQL statement to perform the insert of my data, which is very useful if you are trying to migrate a particular database table to another place, something that SQL Server’s native backup hasn’t been able to bring to the table yet.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2wze2bl6ms8cdaajnolb.png)
  
Let me show you another example with one of the other options (in this case, “INSERT #tmpTable”):

I’ve selected the rows of another table that I have just to show that any of the selected options will work only against the manually selected rows, as follows:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2x5u87hqcss37aud0o2g.png)  

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ttw6zg89iv9pznrkhcbt.png) 

The next feature I want to demonstrate is related to the export of the data. Natively, SQL Server Management Studio lets you export your data to different file formats, but it is not as straight-forward as compared to [SQL Intellisense](https://www.devart.com/dbforge/sql/sqlcomplete/). Let me show you how, with a couple of clicks, I can export my result set to a JSON file:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ihxvhdswrv1efcfkz528.png)  

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/njas6zei27xhyzjz12j9.png)

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ab87r0f31m0lxndrg7or.png)   

Again, the export will work on the data that you have selected in the result grid, so keep that in mind.

**Final thoughts**
●	Right after I started working on the first part of the review for this tool, I got notified that SQL Complete had a new release ready to be installed, which tells you that the Devart team is constantly polishing their suite of products so that DB developers can maximize their productivity. And not only that, the release notes specifically state that the bugfixes issued are user-reported ones, which is very cool because they definitely listen to their audience!

●	As you just saw in this follow-up review of SQL Complete, the tool brings to the table a variety of options to enhance the productivity of SQL Server database developers.

●	I’m thinking of making a Part 3 because there are options that I haven’t covered yet, but would still like to keep the format of these reviews as digestible as possible for the reader, so stay tuned!