I've filed a few Connect items recently that I think are important. In #752210, I complain that the documentation for DDL triggers suggests that they can prevent certain DDL from being run, which is not the case at all.      ...

Next week I'll be up in Alaska for SQL Cruise, so I'll be skipping at least one digest. This week I gathered a few engine-related issues, two involving what the engine does while an index is being created. The most important one, though, at least IMHO, is the first one listed, involving a hashing algorithm fix that is in SQL Server 2008 R2 - but ...

This week I decided to focus on some of the long-outstanding issues with IntelliSense in Management Studio. While I know many of you are using 3rd party tools like RedGate's SQL Prompt, not everybody has that luxury - in my case, I can't justify a license for every single server I touch, since I can't connect to every environment using SSMS ...

This week I have collected five important bugs involving Management Studio, and I hope you'll visit them, provide input and vote on the ones you think are worthwhile. #651176 : SSMS tries to access disconnected network drives when in the Save File As wizardPaul Randal (blog | twitter) filed this issue when he experienced significant delays trying ...

Background Last year, I came to a very tough decision that I would cease publicizing Connect items in an attempt to drive up votes and get important issues fixed. This was almost entirely due to a couple of MVPs criticizing me for raising awareness of certain Connect items instead of letting them be found ''naturally.'' I wasn't sure what world ...

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 ...

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 ...

I find myself categorizing a subset of SSMS features ranging from ''must have'' features to ''cringe when they are mentioned.''  I'll try to summarize the standouts for you here, then ask you these questions: Which parts of SSMS do you rely on? Which do you wish were not there at all? The ''I almost always use it to get the task done.'' ...

Upgrading a database with read-only filegroups Earlier today, I complained that I should be able to upgrade a database with read-only filegroups.  In this case an upgrade from, say, 2000 to 2005 is blocked because the engine can't update the system schema / structure.  Since I am trying to protect the data, not the system schema, I ...

Give us easier to read execution plansMichelle Ufford (@SQLFool) recently asked for help pinpointing the most expensive node(s) in a complicated execution plan.  Mladen Prajdic (@MladenPrajdic) has a useful workaround; he coded up a quick query to parse the showplan XML and order results by cost descending.  The Connect item that would ...