Add Transact-SQL Snippets

Article
03/03/2023

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW)

You can add your own Transact-SQL code snippets to the set of pre-defined snippets included in SQL Server.

Creating a Transact-SQL Snippet File

The first part of creating a Transact-SQL code snippet is to create an XML file with the text of your code snippet. The file must have a .snippet file extension, and meet the requirements of the Code Snippets Schema. Set the snippet language to SQL.

You can use the pre-defined snippets that ship with SQL Server as examples. To find the pre-defined snippets, open SQL Server Management Studio, select the Tools menu, and click Code Snippet Manager. Select SQL in the Language list box, the path to the Transact-SQL snippets is displayed in the Location box.

Registering the Code Snippet

After creating the snippet file, use the Code Snippets Manager to register the snippet with SQL Server Management Studio. You can either add a folder containing multiple snippets, or import individual snippets to the My Code Snippets folder.

Procedures

Adding a Snippet Folder

Open SQL Server Management Studio.
Select the Tools menu, and click Code Snippets Manager.
Click the Add button.
Navigate to the folder containing your code snippets, and click the Select Folder button.

Importing a Snippet

Open SQL Server Management Studio.
Select the Tools menu, and click Code Snippets Manager.
Click the Import button.
Navigate to the folder containing your snippet, click on the .snippet file, and click the Open button.

Examples

The following example creates a TRY-CATCH surround-with snippet and imports it to SQL Server Management Studio.

Paste the following code into notepad, then save as a file named TryCatch.snippet.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>  
<CodeSnippets  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">  
<_locDefinition xmlns="urn:locstudio">  
    <_locDefault _loc="locNone" />  
    <_locTag _loc="locData">Title</_locTag>  
    <_locTag _loc="locData">Description</_locTag>  
    <_locTag _loc="locData">Author</_locTag>  
    <_locTag _loc="locData">ToolTip</_locTag>  
   <_locTag _loc="locData">Default</_locTag>  
</_locDefinition>  
<CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">  
<Header>  
<Title>TryCatch</Title>  
                        <Shortcut></Shortcut>  
<Description>Example Snippet for Try-Catch.</Description>  
<Author>SQL Server Books Online Example</Author>  
<SnippetTypes>  
                                <SnippetType>SurroundsWith</SnippetType>  
</SnippetTypes>  
</Header>  
<Snippet>  
<Declarations>  
                                <Literal>  
                                <ID>CatchCode</ID>  
                                <ToolTip>Code to handle the caught error</ToolTip>  
                                <Default>CatchCode</Default>  
                                </Literal>  
</Declarations>  
<Code Language="SQL"><![CDATA[  
BEGIN TRY  

$selected$ $end$  

END TRY  
BEGIN CATCH  

$CatchCode$  

END CATCH;  
]]>  
</Code>  
</Snippet>  
</CodeSnippet>  
</CodeSnippets>

Open SQL Server Management Studio.
Select the Tools menu, and click Code Snippets Manager.
Click the Import button.
Navigate to the folder containing TryCatch.snippet, click on the TryCatch.snippet file, and click the Open button. You should now have a TryCatch snippet in your My Code Snippets folder.

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