Connect to Synapse SQL with Visual Studio and SSDT

Use Visual Studio to query dedicated SQL pool using Azure Synapse Analytics. This method uses the SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) extension in Visual Studio 2019.

Note

Serverless SQL pool support requires at least VS2022 17.7 see the release notes: Support for Serverless Sql Pool.

Prerequisites

To use this tutorial, you need to have the following components:

1. Connect to a dedicated SQL pool

  1. Open Visual Studio 2019.

  2. Open the SQL Server Object Explorer by selecting View > SQL Server Object Explorer.

    SQL Server Object Explorer

  3. Click the Add SQL Server icon.

    Add SQL Server

  4. Fill in the fields in the Connect to Server window.

    Connect to Server

    • Server name: Enter the server name previously identified.
    • Authentication: Select SQL Server Authentication or Active Directory Integrated Authentication:
    • User Name and Password: Enter your user name and password if SQL Server Authentication was selected above.
    • Click Connect.
  5. To explore, expand your Azure SQL server. You can view the databases associated with the server. Expand AdventureWorksDW to see the tables in your sample database.

    Explore AdventureWorksDW

2. Run a sample query

Now that a connection has been established to your database, you'll write a query.

  1. Right-click your database in SQL Server Object Explorer.

  2. Select New Query. A new query window opens.

    New query

  3. Copy the following T-SQL query into the query window:

    SELECT COUNT(*) FROM dbo.FactInternetSales;
    
  4. Run the query by clicking the green arrow or use the following shortcut: CTRL+SHIFT+E.

    Run query

  5. Look at the query results. In this example, the FactInternetSales table has 60398 rows.

    Query results

Next steps

Now that you can connect and query, try visualizing the data with Power BI. To configure your environment for Microsoft Entra authentication, see Authenticate to dedicated SQL pool.