SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Some Management Studio bugs you should vote for

AaronBertrand — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:14:00 GMT

It's been a while since I hosted a true Connect ~~pity party~~ digest, trying to pimp your votes for the issues I think are worthwhile. And okay, some of these bugs haven't been filed in the Denali time frame - but those are still in Denali's version of SSMS. And since we are not expecting a release for a year, and the next CTP won't be here until early 2011 sometime, what better time to build some momentum and hopefully sneak some of these fixes in? It won't happen without votes, so please check out any that you can appreciate.

The "Change Connection" dialog

#542304 : Change Connection should order instance names in a better way
It would be great if we could customize this, but I'll take at least a defined and predictable sort order, regardless of what they choose. Alphabetical seems to make the most sense to me, though others (such as @AdamMachanic) might argue that most recently connected would be more logical.

#424800 : SSMS : Expose "Connect to Server" MRU list to users
The most important problem here is that you can have duplicates in the list - one for Windows Authentication, and potentially one for each SQL Authentication login you've used. So when you pull from the list again, it is trial and error to pick the right server + credential combination - like Forrest Gump not knowing which chocolate he's going to get. What I've requested here is a way to see and prune this list (and by extension, possibly even re-order it, addressing Adam's point above). Don't be fooled by the bug's current status - it says "Closed as Fixed," but the last Microsoft comment (from November 18) clearly states: "We will be [sic] try to fix this bug in next major release..." - which doesn't sound too fixed to me just yet.

#621507 : [Denali SSMS] : Prompt about previously registered servers is too sticky
While not completely related to the Change Connection dialog, this prompt comes back for me every time I try to change a connection by right-clicking within a query window. It also keeps coming back every time I launch SSMS, no matter how many times I check the "Do not show this message again" checkbox. For other users (e.g. @SQLSoldier), they can't get this prompt to show up at all.

Keyboard shortcuts

In the move to the VS shell, we have lost a LOT of keyboard functionality that we were used to in prior iterations of SSMS, and gained a few undesirable behaviors as well.

#616721 : SSMS Short Cut key "CTRL + E" is not working to execute any query
Along with Ctrl + N, this functionality is missed by many users. Thankfully, it seems this bug will be fixed for the next CTP.
#614413 : [Denali SSMS] CTRL+U keybaord shortcut no longer works
Ctrl + U stopped working because of the next item: the keyboard shortcut for lower case (Ctrl + Shift + L) was reassigned. Jamie probably didn't notice the new functionality of Ctrl + U because he didn't have any text selected at the time (or it was already lower case).
#625257 : [Denali SSMS] : Ctrl + Shift + L no longer issues lower case
As described above - this keyboard shortcut was inexplicably changed to a very unintuitive key combination. Yet Ctrl + Shift + U still handles upper case.
#623863 : [Denali SSMS] : Ctrl + Shift + M no longer raises template parameter dialog
This keystroke omission practically destroys the functionality of templates.

#625260 : [Denali SSMS] : F5 in Object Explorer no longer refreshes; triggers debug instead
"Start debugging" is supposed to be triggered by Alt + F5, not F5 on its own. And I shouldn't be able to start debugging when I am focused in Object Explorer anyway.
#623498 : Error when pressing the F1 key in SSMS
In older versions of SSMS, pressing F1 without focus on a relevant object would just be a no-op; now it yields a pretty badly-handled error.

Just plain old inconsistency, or promoting bad practices

#623865 : [Denali SSMS] : Inconsistency : Non-Clustered vs. Nonclustered
This is just a simple inconsistency that should be easy to correct, but they're already making excuses about why they can't correct it in the next 12 months.

#623864 : [Denali SSMS] : Inconsistency : Is it Template Explorer or Template Browser?
Another simple inconsistency that should be easy to fix. I think it's just a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

#622784 : [Denali SSMS] : Proliferation of the use of deprecated system tables (e.g. sysobjects)
There should be a standard way to prevent the dev team from implementing code that uses deprecated objects. It's kind of embarrassing when we spread the word that you should stop using sysobjects in your scripts, and then Microsoft goes along and keeps using it...

#623047 : Incorrect SET options for New Service Broker Application
As above, they need to follow better standards and be on the same page as far as scripting conventions and defaults.
#623049 : master misspelled in new Service Broker tasks
All code that gets called within or generated by Management Studio and other shipped components should be tested on a case sensitive collation.

Poor behavior

#625266 : Denali SSMS Incorrectly Reports session_id for connected tabs
Pretty scary that SSMS can get into a confused state and not know which SPID is which. I believe the symptom is related to SSMS losing connectivity with the server, whether it be because of a network blip of some kind or because the service restarted or failed over.
#615766 : [Denali SSMS] : Execution plan tooltip causes very slow behavior
I see this bug constantly - I swear every time I accidentally hover over the query portion of an execution plan. I have showed one of the program managers - in person - how to reproduce this bug, so I expect that it will get corrected (preferably just by eliminating the useless tooltip altogether).
#623735 : Denali CTP1 SSMS Error Message Click doesn't return to error line
This is a behavior that is sorely missed. It is currently non-functional because of the transition to the Errors List that Visual Studio developers know and love (I talked about this a bit at the bottom of an earlier blog post about "the new SSMS"). I hope there is middle ground here somewhere.

#425661 : SSMS : unable to register local servers
This bug has been around for a long time, but Microsoft continuously insists that it can't reproduce. If you have any further evidence of this problem, please comment / vote / validate!

Toolbar customization

#615154 : [Denali SSMS] : Can no longer drag buttons within or off the toolbar
While most of the T-SQL developers out there are clamoring for better debugging support in Management Studio, I am still "old school" and want nothing else but to remove the Debug icon from the toolbar. I've found that customizing the toolbar has become a lot more cumbersome in Denali.

Debugging

I mentioned four Connect items about debugging in a post a few days ago. Rather than repeat them here, I'll just point you at that blog post.

Debugging T-SQL in SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : You can make a difference!

AaronBertrand — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:23:00 GMT

This afternoon, Adam Machanic (blog | twitter) reminded me how the current T-SQL debugger in Management Studio is ineffective. Sure, there are some enhancements coming in Denali (I mentioned them briefly yesterday), but there are some real key elements missing. One of the most glaring omissions is the ability to see the contents of #temp tables and @table variables during a debugging session. For stored procedures that can take a long time to run, it is quite cumbersome to edit the procedure to dump the contents of the #temp table as a resultset, which can obviously interfere with the operation of the procedure (especially if applications currently rely on its interface). As Adam eloquently stated, "All I want right now is a debugger that helps with real challenges. Scalar variables are not enough."

Hear, hear. This is one of the reasons I have yet to step back from my curmudgeony debugging methods: PRINT, RAISERROR, and (since 2005) TRY/CATCH. I don't come from an OOP background, but I do understand why many people value a more formal method of debugging.

So, how can you help? Well, I know some of you do not believe in Connect, but for those that do - this issue of not being able to see into #temp tables and @table variables is covered by no fewer than four Connect items. I am asking that you go and vote for all four of them, because Connect doesn't have a good way for us peons to close duplicates and focus on a single item. (I'd love to pick just one and tell you to vote there, but with my luck, Microsoft will choose a different one to keep alive, if they ever get around to consolidating.)

Connect #623353 : View contents of table variables and temp tables in SSMS debugger
Connect #582167 : Debugger should hyperlink into CTE-s, table variables, temp tables and changed rows
Connect #454870 : No way to see contents of table valued variable in debugger
Connect #363054 : temp table and table variable visibility through debug

So please, if you value debugging and you want to see better improvements than just being able to watch scalar variables, vote on these items. And if someone tells you they're going to create a new Connect item in a similar vein, please tell them to search first. Having multiple items covering the same issue just spreads out the votes and makes it less likely that the issue will be tackled. Thanks!

Search results matching tags 'denali', 'debugging', and 'SSMS'

SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Some Management Studio bugs you should vote for

Debugging T-SQL in SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : You can make a difference!