[EN] Five things I would change in SSMS
SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is the most often used environment in my everyday work. I got used to all those dockable windows and I stopped complaining about the loading time or the clipboard smaller than the one in Query Analyzer (QA) - at least it seems to be smaller :-) But there are some things that are quite annoying to me. Here are my five most wanted changes to implement in SSMS by Microsoft’s developers.
- Custom keyboard shortcuts working in Results and Messages windows. I use those shortcuts a lot and I really miss the old behavior from QA.
- Persistent windows numbers in Window menu. When working with multiple windows in QA I have been using Alt+W and then Alt+<<Number>> to switch to another window. In SSMS this feature works slightly different because the active query window has always number 1 which makes the numbers dynamic and it becomes impossible to remember the numbers (it’s impossible to remember something that changes everytime you use the shortcut...). Anyway, Microsoft folks claim this behavoir is identical with the one from Visual Studio and is not going to be changed...
- Filters on databases in Object Explorer. This problem does not touch me explicitly. But sometimes there are many databases on the instance and finding the proper database with Object Explorer window in SSMS can be very painful. Also, filters could remain active when user re-opens SSMS. In SQL Server 2008 there is a new feature called Object Search but it can be used with Object Explorer Details window and it can search for database objects only (you can’t find the database this way). Besides, this new search mechanism need some improvement also, because it is unable to find an object when you enter a qualified object name. There is an article on how to create an add-in for enhanced object filtering in SSMS (including databases) written by Joseph Cooney - The Black Art of Writing a SQL Server Management Studio 2005 Add-In.
- Automatic or semi-automatic refresh in Object Explorer. This problem seems to have a beard already. When you perform any action outside the Object Explorer window even collapsing and expanding of the proper folder in this window do not refresh the tree (you have to perform right-click and Refresh which makes me mad).
- Changes in options do not require the application restart. Sometimes (especially during presentations) I have to change some options in SSMS. I feel very uncomfortable with the requirement of the application restart after some small changes like font size of grid results.
Do this changes have some chances to be implemented? Well, I guess they are not very hard to add! Some of them have been posted to connect.microsoft.com as suggestions. See the links below.
Management Studio - Windows List Order (status: closed)
Customize Keyboard stored procedures do not work in results pane in SSMS (status: closed)
Expand the Management Studio Object Explorer Filter (status: closed)
Refreshing Object explorer (status: closed)
Finally, I’m not as frustrated as the author of this suggestion: Usability of Management Studio is worst between all DB managers (see Proposed Solution – my favourite :-)). However, it would be nice to see some of the wishes listed above added to SSMS in SQL Server 2008 or some of its Service Packs, wouldn’t it?
If you have any suggestion or most wanted things to repair or to implement in SSMS, feel free to post a comment to this note.