Quickstart: Use Azure Data Studio to connect and query SQL Server

This quickstart shows how to use Azure Data Studio to connect to SQL Server, and then use Transact-SQL (T-SQL) statements to create the TutorialDB used in Azure Data Studio tutorials.

Prerequisites

To complete this quickstart, you need Azure Data Studio, and access to a SQL Server instance.

• Install Azure Data Studio.

If you don't have access to a SQL Server, select your platform from the following links (make sure you remember your SQL Login and Password!):

• Windows - Download SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition
• Linux - Download SQL Server 2022 in a container
• Linux - Download SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition - You only need to follow the steps up to Create and Query Data.

Connect to a SQL Server

1. Start Azure Data Studio.

2. The first time you run Azure Data Studio the Welcome page should open. If you don't see the Welcome page, select Help > Welcome. Select New Connection to open the Connection pane:

   

3. This article uses SQL Login, but Windows Authentication is supported. Fill in the fields as follows:

   • Server Name: Enter server name here. For example, localhost.
   • Authentication Type: SQL Login
   • User name: User name for the SQL Server
   • Password: Password for the SQL Server
   • Database Name: <Default>
   • Server Group: <Default>

   

Create a database

The following steps create a database named TutorialDB:

1. Right-click on your server, localhost, and select New Query.

2. Paste the following snippet into the query window: and then select Run.

   USE master;
   GO
   
   IF NOT EXISTS (
         SELECT name
         FROM sys.databases
         WHERE name = N'TutorialDB'
         )
      CREATE DATABASE [TutorialDB];
   GO
   
   IF SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion') > '12'
      ALTER DATABASE [TutorialDB] SET QUERY_STORE = ON;
   GO
   

   After the query completes, the new TutorialDB appears in the list of databases. If you don't see it, right-click the Databases node and select Refresh.

   

Create a table

The query editor is still connected to the master database, but we want to create a table in the TutorialDB database.

1. Change the connection context to TutorialDB:

   

2. Replace the text in the query window with the following snippet and select Run:

   -- Create a new table called 'Customers' in schema 'dbo'
   -- Drop the table if it already exists
   IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.Customers', 'U') IS NOT NULL
      DROP TABLE dbo.Customers;
   GO
   
   -- Create the table in the specified schema
   CREATE TABLE dbo.Customers (
      CustomerId INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, -- primary key column
      [Name] NVARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
      [Location] NVARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
      [Email] NVARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
      );
   GO
   

After the query completes, the new Customers table appears in the list of tables. You might need to right-click the TutorialDB > Tables node and select Refresh.

Insert rows

Replace the text in the query window with the following snippet and select Run:

-- Insert rows into table 'Customers'
INSERT INTO dbo.Customers (
   [CustomerId],
   [Name],
   [Location],
   [Email]
)
VALUES
   (1, N'Orlando', N'Australia', N''),
   (2, N'Keith', N'India', N'keith0@adventure-works.com'),
   (3, N'Donna', N'Germany', N'donna0@adventure-works.com'),
   (4, N'Janet', N'United States', N'janet1@adventure-works.com')
GO

View the data returned by a query

Replace the text in the query window with the following snippet and select Run:

-- Select rows from table 'Customers'
SELECT * FROM dbo.Customers;

Related content

• Tutorial: Use the Transact-SQL editor to create database objects