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First Release of SSDT Power Tools

  • Articolo

I am pleased to announce the first release of SSDT Power Tools. The SSDT team will be leveraging Power Tools as a mechanism to deliver new functionality and experiences through frequent updates, of which this is the first example. In this first iteration, we focused on addressing the feedback that SSDT does not offer the equivalent of the Schema View tool window found in the Visual Studio 2010 Database Project. This release of the SSDT Power Tools will add the Schema View capabilities back by extending the SQL Server Object Explorer, providing a logical view over the schema hosted inside your projects.

Edit:  SSDT Power Tools are no longer available via the links below, but have been integrated into the core SSDT product in the December 2012 release (https://blogs.msdn.com/b/ssdt/archive/2012/12/13/available-today-ssdt-december-2012.aspx) 

What can it do?

After the Power Tools are installed, you'll notice a new node named “Projects” inside the SQL Server Object Explorer. You can use this tree to navigate your schema, edit objects, refactor them, and add new objects.  

What's next?

There are several features in the Visual Studio 2010 Schema View version that are not included in this release: 

  • Group by Schema: The tool only has top-level folders for object types. We plan on adding the option to the SQL Server Object Explorer in general, in order to group objects by schema, then object type
  • Filtering Built-In Objects and External Objects: Checkboxes to filter out built-in and external objects from the tree
  • Auto-refresh: Detect drift from project and refresh the tree automatically.

 

We plan on addressing these features to complete the experience in a future update.

 

Send us feedback!

We're actively prioritizing our plans and adding new ideas based on your suggestions and feedback.  Please let us know what you think via the "Q and A" tab of our gallery page or on our team forum.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    April 02, 2012
    Hi Janet, I understand (rightly or wrongly) that SSDT is the replacement for BIDS for SQL 2012 and have just installed this. If this is the case can you please point me to how I can edit rdl and rdlc files from within Visual Studio 2010 and import MS Access reports. I can't find anything that resembles a BIDS reporting project for editing rdl reports. BTW can SSDT be installed into Visual Studio 11? Cheers Simon

  • Anonymous
    April 02, 2012
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 02, 2012
    Thanks for the clarification Janet, I will do that. Cheers Simon

  • Anonymous
    April 02, 2012
    I installed it successfully, opened VS2010 pro, but could not find the "SQL Server Object Explorer". Where is it?

  • Anonymous
    April 02, 2012
    Hi Janet, I have done some more digging and am more confused than ever. This documentation (and many others) : msdn.microsoft.com/.../ms156280.aspx  expressly states that SSDT is where report editing tools are to be found: "Use the information in this topic to design reports and related items for a single reporting project in a SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) solution. For more information about solutions and multiple projects in SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), see Reporting Services in SQL Server Data Tools (SSRS)." The forums all appear to be unofficial friendly help, where as I am trying to find and authoritative answer. Given that the SSDT docs say report editing is in the SSDT domain, could you point me to someone who can help clear this up as I have a major reporting revamp to get underway. Thanks in advance. Simon

  • Anonymous
    April 02, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    April 02, 2012
    Hi Janet, great tools, thanks for the release! Especially that it was on time as mentioned on SQLBits on Saturday. Is there a plan to implement an option which would allow the user to change localdb to a locally installed database server instance? Eg. I have SQL2012 installed on my workstation and we have a shared dev server. If I could test my changes before cheking in to TFS on my local SQL2012 instance that would be great. Or am I missing something and it's already there? :) Cheers, Janos

  • Anonymous
    April 02, 2012
    It sounds from your description as though a tool has been created that lets me see my objects under object explorer. Couldn't I do that already? What additional functionality does it provide? Can you post some details about the benefits? Thanks.

  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2012
    To Simon, (2 Apr 2012 11:11) I can see my tools here File->New Project->Business Intelligence HTH Tony

  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2012
    Hi Janet, You say: "You can use this tree to ... add new objects" That is true up to a point. I can add new tables and procedures but there are some thing I can't add. For example, I want to create a default constraint by right-clicking on the "Constraints" folder underneath a table but there is no option on the right-click menu to do that. I'll make sure I feed this back through the proper channels. Thanks Jamie

  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2012
    Can we view this essentially as an incubation for "SSDT proper"?  Will these features migrate over to the main SSDT as they mature?  It would be nice to minimize the number of separate things that need to be installed, while still providing for regular updates.

  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2012
    Hi James I would look at the power tools a little differently.  Some of the things may make it in to SSDT proper, but some won't. Among our goals: We're hoping to be able to address some feedback and tactical more quickly in the form of previews. Some of these are experiments... we're looking for feedback  around experience, workflow, and value. These may feed in to larger SSDT experiences later. Some of the things we'll be doing are niche solutions that will probably remain as power tools forever. (As you said) We want to provide you with more regular updates Hope that helps.

  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    April 04, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    April 04, 2012
    "We recognize that our messaging on what SSDT is has been confusing and even contradictory and we're working on getting a cleaner story in the future." That's good to hear, thanks Janet.

  • Anonymous
    April 05, 2012
    Very good :)

  • Anonymous
    April 19, 2012
    I'll echo Jamie's earlier comment about being able to add objects from the schema view tree via right-click menu. Also, will SSDT eventually include the "View Dependencies" feature of dbproj?  That's one of my favorite features from dbproj. Nice release, keep up the good work!

  • Anonymous
    April 25, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    May 03, 2012
    Hello, I've just been informed by the VS Extension Manager that there is a new version of SSDT Power Tools available. However, on clicking Update I was told: Digital signature mismatch The signature on the update version of 'SSDT Power Tools' does not match the signature on the installed version. Therefore, extension manager cannot install the update. If you trust the update, try the installation again after you install the installed version. What's going on? What should we do? Help! JT

  • Anonymous
    May 03, 2012
    Hi Jamie, You'll need to uninstall the previous version of the Power Tools before installing the new one. This is due to a known issue in comparing the signatures of the extensions (support.microsoft.com/.../2581019).  This issue and the workaround are described on the main description page for the extension under Upgrading SSDT Power Tools

  • Anonymous
    May 03, 2012
    Thanks Janet. I've blogged about the issue here: sqlblog.com/.../new-version-of-ssdt-power-tools-are-available-but-with-a-caveat.aspx

  • Anonymous
    May 03, 2012
    Is there any way to hide the system procedures/functions that are added by master/msdb reference inclusion? I would definately want them seperate to the external / internal option that was mentioned as a future feature in the same way that ssms splits out system objects.

  • Anonymous
    May 06, 2012
    Wow, Janet, is that ever messed up. First off, shipping two DIFFERENT products with the same name is mind boggling just on its own. But then, having the SQL installer include a link that launches the Web platform installer for SSDT.... but gives you something different than the SSDT you need.... and then, add a complete absence of documentation... All I want to do is create and edit reports on a development workstation on which VS2010 SP1 is already installed. I doubt somewhat that I am the only one looking to do this. There are no clear directions available on how this is done.

  • Anonymous
    May 07, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    May 17, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    May 21, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    May 28, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    May 29, 2012
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  • Anonymous
    May 31, 2012
    Hi What's the plan with Report Models? I have just "upgraded" to SSDT from BIDS only to discover that Report Models are no longer supported. Looks like I am going to have keep BIDS 2k8 around just to work with models. Is this just something that didn't make release, or is it something phased out in favour of the excel services/powerpivot/sharepoint data sources kind of approach?

  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2012
    Does this work with Visual Studio 2012 Release Candidate? I had it working with Visual Studio 11 Beta, but after installing the Release Candidate and trying to install Power Tools, I received a message that it had been installed on "all applicable" products. Yet I can't get the "Projects" node to appear in any projects in the RC.

  • Anonymous
    June 07, 2012
    Hi David, Unfortunately, there isn't support for Power Tools in Visual Studio 2012 RC yet.  When this functionality is introduced by VS, it's something we would definitely like to include.

  • Anonymous
    June 26, 2012
    I am trying to use SSDT to deploy database changes to a SQL 2008 R2 database (or SQL 2012 equivalent database). When I run the Deploy or GenerateDeployScript methods I receive the following error:- Pending - Generating deployment script Running - Generating deployment script Faulted - Generating deployment script Error: Could not generate deployment script. Error: Internal Error. The database platform service with type Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Sql.Sql100DatabaseSchemaProvider is not valid. You must make sure the service is loaded, or you must provide the full type name of a valid database platform service. Error: Internal Error. The database platform service with type Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Sql.Sql100DatabaseSchemaProvider is not valid. You must make sure the service is loaded, or you must provide the full type name of a valid database platform service. Error:    at Iris.Exchequer.LIVE.DataServices.LIVEDacPacDeploy.DeployCommon()   at Iris.Exchequer.LIVE.DataServices.SqlDeployment.Deploy(String path, List`1 companyCodes, String dataSource, String catalog) Does any have ideas on what might be calling this? I have set the AllowIncompatiblePlatform to true. Thanks

  • Anonymous
    June 26, 2012
    Hi Graham.  I see your forum post on this issue (social.msdn.microsoft.com/.../3c176ca1-6834-402b-989b-9a0f641c521d) and someone from the DAC team will follow up with you there. Thanks, Janet Yeilding