SQL SERVER MANAGEMENT STUDIO

MAIN TOPICS
Introduction
Tools Windows Object Explorer Code Editor Solution Explorer Properties Windows Registered Servers

Bookmark Window
Toolbox Summary Window

Web Browser
Template Explorer Log File Viewer Toolbars

Solution Explorer
New in SQL 2008. Allows for a collection of

T-SQL scripts, connection objects to be organized into a Visual Studio style project and solution. If the panel isnt visible, enable it by selecting View from the top menu, then Solution Explorer. The ability to organize and group scripts together or to check them in to a source control system.

Provides the means of grouping various connection objects and scripts into a single solution called a SQL Server Management Studio Solution.

 If no solution is currently open, the Management Studio will

create a new one. In the Menu Bar, click on File New Project. SQL Server Script projects contain T-SQL Database Engine queries; Analysis Services Script projects contain MDX, DMX, & XMLA analysis queries;

 By default, the solution folder and the first project folder will

have the same name, so it is generally a good idea to change the name of the solution.
Serves purpose of allowing to navigate & manage files in a

project, and the projects in a solution.

Provides context sensitive functionality by right clicking

items.
Solutions can contain many projects. Projects contain three folders:
Connections, Queries, and Miscellaneous.
Miscellaneous folder can be used to store gist about any other

file that is pertinent to the project (project documentation, XML files, etc)

 The solution folder contains two files.

One file is the solution file, which, in this case, is called

AdventureWorksWebApp.ssmssln.
This contains a list of all the projects in the solution and their locations.

The

second file is the SQL AdventureWorksWebApp.sqlsuo.

environment.

Solution

Options

file

contains information about the options that customize the development

The solution folder will contain a project folder for every

project added to the solution.

The project folder contains all the project files, including the

project definition file. The project definition file, or SQL Server Management Studio SQL Project (SSMSSQLPROJ) file, is an XML file with the .ssmssqlproj extension. In the previous ProductCatalog project example, this file is called ProductCatalog.ssmssqlproj.

Properties Window
The Properties window is linked to the Solution

Explorer and simply displays the properties for the currently selected item in the Solution Explorer window. Editable properties will be bolded

Registered Servers
Multiple servers

can be registered and managed with the Management Studio. View Registered Servers

 Right-click Database Engine and select New | Server

Registration from the context menu. Also allows for the creation of server groups. Server registrations can be segregated so that all the test and development servers are in one group, and the production servers are in another, or servers could be grouped based on function or department.

Bookmark Window
When working with very large scripts in the Code Editor, it

is very useful to be able mark a location in the script. Bookmarks enable this functionality. The Bookmark window is made visible with the View menu and is enabled when working with any SQL Server script type. Any number of bookmarks can be created and then renamed with an intuitive name that identifies the bookmark. If the script is part of a solution, the bookmarks are saved with the solution in the solution options file. Bookmarks can be organized into multiple folders for each project.

Toolbox

Summary Window
The Summary window is displayed by default and is a

great deal like the list or detail view in Windows Explorer. Summary window also provides a very useful reporting feature. This feature allows the rendering of various server and database reports. The report feature is enabled when selecting an object in the Object Explorer or in the Summary window that has reports associated with it.

Web Browser
An Internet Explorer window can be launched from within SQL Server Management

Studio if desired to minimize the number of open applications, and to allow direct access to Internet content from within the Management Studio application. The Web Browser window is made visible in the View menu and has two options: Home and Search.
The Home command opens the SQL Server home page at Microsoft in a Management Studio

browser window. The Search command opens the MSDN site.

The benefit is that it allows tabbed browsing of content or newsgroups that may be

pertinent to the current solution. Can search or ask questions without having to switch back and forth between the Management Studio and Internet Explorer. Web Browser window is just an instance of Internet Explorer embedded in Management Studio. Behavior of the Web Browser window is the same as Internet Explorer, and the security configuration of Internet Explorer is in full effect in the Web Browser window.

Template Explorer
The Template Explorer contains hundreds of SQL Server,

Analysis Server, and SQL Mobile scripts. Each script is grouped into folders based on their function. View template explorer
Once a template is open in the Query Editor, the

parameters of the template can be replaced with actual values by launching the Specify Values for Template Parameters dialog.

Toolbars
SQL Server Management studio provides 11

different toolbars that expose features from various menus. Each toolbar can be displayed or hidden by using the View Toolbars menu Can also be customized to display only the buttons that are most often used, or you can create a new toolbar that has just the commands you typically use.

 Creating a custom toolbar:

1. Select the Customize command on the View Toolbars

menu. This will launch the Customize window. 2. On the Customize window, click the New button, give your toolbar a new name, and click OK. A new empty toolbar will appear. 3. Select the Commands tab on the Customize window. Two panes are visible on the Commands tab: Categories and Commands. Each category contains commands specific to that category. For example, the File category contains commands such as Open File, Save Project, and so on. 4. Select the Edit Category and drag several commands to the new custom toolbar created in Step 2. Once you have all the commands that you want on the new toolbar, you can drag it and dock it in a desired location.

1. Database Diagram Toolbar

visual tool that allows you to design and visualize a

database to which you are connected. Can be used while designing a database, to create, edit, or delete tables, columns, keys, indexes, relationships, and constraints. To visualize a database, you can create one or more diagrams illustrating some or all of the tables, columns, keys, and relationships in it. For any database, you can create as many database diagrams as you like; each database table can appear on any number of diagrams. Thus, you can create different diagrams to visualize different portions of the database.

 The relationships that you will make for creating the

diagram will be saved for the database tables. Thats why you will see that when you will add two linked tables to the diagram, the connection will be shown automatically.

2. Help Toolbar

provides a very easy and convenient mechanism for

consulting online help Management Studio.

articles

while

using

the

3. Query Designer Toolbar

Query Designer toolbar is enabled when a table is opened

with Object Explorer. To open a table, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the table you want to open in Object Explorer. 2. Click Open Table.

4. SQL Editor Toolbar

becomes visible (or is enabled if already visible) when a

new SQL query window is opened. It provides the most common features used by SQL programmers and DBAs.

5. SQL Mobile Editor Toolbar

The SQL Mobile Editor toolbar becomes visible (or is

enabled if already visible) when a new SQL Mobile query window is opened. The tools on the SQL Mobile toolbar are a subset of the SQL Editor tools that are applicable for SQL Mobile queries.

6. SQL Analysis Services Editor Toolbar

The Analysis Services toolbar also becomes visible (or is

enabled if already visible) when a new Analysis query is opened or created. The tools on this toolbar are also a subset of the SQL Editor tools, but contain only those tools applicable to Analysis Services queries (DMX, MDX, XMLA).

7. Standard Toolbar

The Standard toolbar provides buttons to execute the most common actions such as opening and saving files. It also provides buttons that will launch new queries and expose different tool windows.

8. Table Designer Toolbar

The Table Designer toolbar becomes visible (or is enabled if already visible) when a new table is created using Table Designer or an existing table is modified using the Table Designer. The Table Designer is launched by right-clicking the table node in the Object Explorer and choosing New Table from the context menu, or by right-clicking an existing table in the table node of Object Explorer and choosing Modify.