1. Increasing your Coding Speed in SQL Server Management Studio
Samir behara

2. About Me I am Samir Behara.
Currently working as a Senior Developer in EBSCO Industries, Birmingham.
More than ten years of experience in IT industry, working on large-scale enterprise applications involving complex business functions, web integration, and data management in various domains like Insurance, Manufacturing and Publishing.
Twitter –  @samirbehara
LinkedIn
Website –
Steel City SQL User group -

3. What we will try to cover in this session?
SSMS Tips and Tricks
Boost Productivity
SSMS 2016 Enhancements
Increase Coding Speed

4. SSMS 2016 Productivity Enhancements

5. SQL Server Management Studio 2016
SSMS 2016 is FREE.
SSMS is an independent web installer.
SSMS is decoupled from the underlying SQL Server Engine.
SSMS now uses Visual Studio 2015 isolated shell.
More frequent releases for new features, enhancement and bug fixes.

6. New Installation Experience with SSMS 2016

9. Move quickly between various tabs
Navigation Buttons
Move quickly between various tabs
‘Navigate Backward’ button has a drop-down list box containing the list of all your navigation history.

10. Automatic Check for Updates
Built in notification system to alert users about updates for new releases.

11. Option to manually check for updates
SSMS is up to date

12. Vertical Scroll Bar Enhancements
The enhanced scroll bar displays different colors on the vertical bar –
Red – Syntax Errors
Blue – Current Cursor Position
Green – Saved Changes
Yellow – Unsaved Changes

13. Quick Launch – The search tool
Search features & options inside SSMS
No need to remember any shortcuts

14. Improvements to Execution Plan window
Allows you to zoom the contents of the execution plans.
CTRL + Mouse Scroll to increase/decrease size of execution plan.

15. Compare Execution Plans
‘Compare Showplan’ feature allows side by side comparison of two execution plans.

16. Dual Properties Window Choose specific operator and compare –
Actual Number of rows
Estimated Operator Cost
Number of rows read

17. Compare Global Properties Choose the SELECT operator and view –
Compile Time
Estimated Subtree Cost
Missing Indexes

18. Color Theme Option to switch between 2 color themes – Blue and Light
Dark theme and high DPI support to be enabled in future releases

20. SSMS Tips and Tricks

21. Type less and generate more code
Code Snippets are ready-made snippets of code, which you can insert into your T-SQL code.
Expansion Snippet Type - CTRL K + X
Surround With Snippet Type - CTRL K + S

22. Reuse code by creating Custom Code Snippet
Create your own Code Snippet using XML
Register the Code Snippet in SSMS
Invoke the Code Snippet

23. Get Row Count of tables without executing a T-SQL script
Click F7 or go to View -> Object Explorer Details window

24. Save connection information of frequently accessed servers1 2 3
Registered Servers

25. Execute a SQL Query against multiple servers at the same time1 2
No need to connect to different database instances one by one
and execute the same query multiple times.

26. Save time by leveraging pre-defined SQL scripts2 1
Template Browser 3

27. Use Keyboard Shortcuts to increase efficiency
Action
CTRL+R
Toggle between displaying and hiding Results Pane
CTRL+N
Open new query tab with current database connection
CTRL+L
Display estimated execution plan of the query
SHIFT+ALT+ENTER
Toggle between Code Editor being displayed in Full Screen
CTRL + ]
Navigate to the matching parenthesis
CTRL+K+X
Insert SQL Code Snippets
CTRL+SHIFT+U
Change text to upper case
CTRL+SHIFT+L
Change text to lower case
CTRL+K+C
Comment selected text
CTRL+K+U
Uncomment selected text
CTRL+TAB to switch between tabs
Using Keyboard shortcuts for repetitive day to day actions

28. Leverage Regular Expressions for faster find and replace
CTRL+SHIFT+H to open Find and Replace dialog box

29. Maximize your workspace with multiple code windows1
Horizontal/Vertical Tab Groups 2

30. Use custom colors to differentiate between environments

31. Set different colors for connection to separate environments1 2
Set different colors for connection to separate environments

32. Reuse your copied items by storing in memory
Cycle Clipboard Ring - CTRL+SHIFT+V
Allows you to keep track of last 20 items you have cut/copy and reuse them

33. Edit multiple lines of code at the same time
Vertical Block Select Mode
Keyboard Shortcut – ALT + SHIFT + Arrow Keys
Mouse – ALT + Left-Click + Drag

34. Leverage built in Performance Reports in SSMS
Standard Reports for Performance Monitoring & Troubleshooting

35. Generate SQL Insert scripts using SSMS1 2
‘Generate and Publish Scripts’ Wizard

36. Troubleshoot issues with Intellisense in SSMS
Edit -> IntelliSense -> Refresh Local Cache

37. Recover your unsaved SQL queries in SSMS
Configure the ‘Auto-Recovery’ option
to be helpful during
SSMS Crashes &
Sudden machine reboots

38. If you don’t get File Recovery prompt, navigate to the backup file location.
SSMS tries to recover unsaved queries, incase of unexpected SSMS shutdown.

39. Customize your environment for better productivity
Personalize the toolbar by placing frequently used buttons

40. Add buttons to the toolbar

41. Take assistance of online articles from within SSMS
Click on ‘Web Browser’ icon or use CTRL+ALT+R to open web browser inside SSMS

42. Leverage Horizontal/Vertical Tab Group Feature to have your
SQL Query and Web Browser in side by side

44. More information… More in-depth details on my blog –
SQL Scripts used for the purpose of this presentation are upload in –

45. THANK YOU