Back to Basics,  Quick and Dirty

Quick SSMS Tip

It is widely known that I am a horrible speller and hate to type code. I tend to use a lot of code snippets and reuse code to avoid writing it. So, when I find little tips that make coding easier for me, I like to share.

Did you know that you can surround your code with a click of a button with IF, BEGIN END, WHILE code blocks? SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) gives us the basic structure of a Transact-SQL statement code block as a starting point.

Take Look In SSMS

In a query window, Right Click and Choose Surround With (note the hot keys of Ctrl+K or Ctrl+S)

It will bring up a code “window” where you can choose which code block you want to add.

Here is what you get when you choose each one.

I am not sure if this has always been here or it’s a recent add that I just stumbled on to. Regardless,  this feature along with the full list of code snippets, as well as some custom ones I’ve utilized over the years definitely come in handy. You can find more on code snippets inside management studio here.

Monica Morehouse (Rathbun), a Microsoft MVP for Data Platform, resides in Virginia and brings two decades of experience across various database platforms, with a particular focus on SQL Server and the Microsoft Data Platform. She is a frequent speaker at IT industry conferences, where she shares her expertise on performance tuning and configuration management for both on-premises and cloud environments. Monica leads the Hampton Roads SQL Server User Group and is passionate about SQL Server and its community, she is dedicated to giving back in any way she can. You can often find her online (@sqlespresso) offering helpful tips or blogging at sqlespresso.com.

One Comment