Skip to main content

Using template explorer to create your own code bank

Most of the Developers / DBAs I have worked with are maintaining their utility scripts in file system. When ever a script is needed they browse through that folder via SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and open it. 


I have personally found this method little tedious and not so productive way of doing things. I always prefer these two methods instead:

  • Creating an Utility database in the server and having all the required scripts in it
  • The other way is to organize our utility script with the help of SSMS Template explorer

Maintaining Utility DB method is self-explanatory and so in this post we would concentrate on the way to make use of Template Explorer for organizing our scripts. Let's get started.

To open template explorer from SSMS follow either of the methods:

Option 1: Click View >> Template Explorer
Option 2: Press Control + ALT + T



We would see how to utilize template explorer to organize our utility scripts and how it helps us in improving our productivity.

Creating Custom Folder

Step 1: Right click on "SQL Server Templates" and choose "New" >> "Folder"



Step 2: I am naming it as "Vadivel - TSQL Code Bank"



Organizing Utility Scripts within the folder:

Step 1: Right click on the new folder we created and choose "New" >> "Template"


Step 2: Lets create a template and name it as "Identify_Remove_DuplicateRecords"


Step 3: Right click on the new template created and choose "Edit"


Step 4: It would open a new blank query window. Paste/Write the required TSQL script and Save it.

Step 5: Repeat Step 1 to 4 until you have all your required frequently used Utility scripts added into this folder.

How to use it?

Now that we have added ALL our utility scripts within a code bank folder. Using it when required becomes very easy.

Step 1: Open a new query window
Step 2: Click on the utility script which you need from the Template explorer and "drag" it into the query window. That's it :)

I would like to add that this method is in no way a replacement to maintaining the scripts in source control. Having it added in the template explorer also as mentioned above would actually just help us improve the productivity.

If you are wondering where these scripts are getting stored. Read on.

I used SQL Server 2005 to create the folder/templates and they are available at \Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Shell\Templates\Sql


Comments

Unknown said…
can u give some examples of synchronization of two or more database

Popular posts from this blog

Registry manipulation from SQL

Registry Manupulation from SQL Server is pretty easy. There are 4 extended stored procedure in SQL Server 2000 for the purpose of manupulating the server registry. They are: 1) xp_regwrite 2) xp_regread 3) xp_regdeletekey 4) xp_regdeletevalue Let us see each one of them in detail! About xp_regwrite This extended stored procedure helps us to create data item in the (server’s) registry and we could also create a new key. Usage: We must specify the root key with the @rootkey parameter and an individual key with the @key parameter. Please note that if the key doesn’t exist (without any warnnig) it would be created in the registry. The @value_name parameter designates the data item and the @type the type of the data item. Valid data item types include REG_SZ and REG_DWORD . The last parameter is the @value parameter, which assigns a value to the data item. Let us now see an example which would add a new key called " TestKey ", and a new data item under it called TestKeyValue :

Screen scraping using XmlHttp and Vbscript ...

I wrote a small program for screen scraping any sites using XmlHttp object and VBScript. I know I haven't done any rocket science :) still I thought of sharing the code with you all. XmlHttp -- E x tensible M arkup L anguage H ypertext T ransfer P rotocol An advantage is that - the XmlHttp object queries the server and retrieve the latest information without reloading the page. Source code: < html > < head > < script language ="vbscript"> Dim objXmlHttp Set objXmlHttp = CreateObject("Msxml2.XMLHttp") Function ScreenScrapping() URL == "UR site URL comes here" objXmlHttp.Open "POST", url, False objXmlHttp.onreadystatechange = getref("HandleStateChange") objXmlHttp.Send End Function Function HandleStateChange() If (ObjXmlHttp.readyState = 4) Then msgbox "Screenscrapping completed .." divShowContent.innerHtml = objXmlHttp.responseText End If End Function </ script > < head > < body > &l

Script table as - ALTER TO is greyed out - SQL SERVER

One of my office colleague recently asked me why we are not able to generate ALTER Table script from SSMS. If we right click on the table and choose "Script Table As"  ALTER To option would be disabled or Greyed out. Is it a bug? No it isn't a bug. ALTER To is there to be used for generating modified script of Stored Procedure, Functions, Views, Triggers etc., and NOT for Tables. For generating ALTER Table script there is an work around. Right click on the table, choose "Modify" and enter into the design mode. Make what ever changes you want to make and WITHOUT saving it right click anywhere on the top half of the window (above Column properties) and choose "Generate Change Script". Please be advised that SQL Server would drop actually create a new table with modifications, move the data from the old table into it and then drop the old table. Sounds simple but assume you have a very large table for which you want to do this! Then it woul