Beginning Microsoft SQL Server 2008 ... - S3 Tech Training

Again, many of the items here (New, Open, Save, Cut, Paste, and so on) are things that you have seen
plenty of times in other Windows applications and should be familiar with, but there’s also a fair amount
that’s specific to SQL Server. The main thing to notice for now is that the menus in the Management
Studio are context sensitive — that is, different menus are available and what they contain changes based
on which window is active in the Studio. Be sure to explore the different contextual menus you get as
you explore different parts of the Management Studio.
Query Window
This part of the Management Studio takes the place of what was, at one time, a separate tool that was
called Query Analyzer. The Query window is your tool for interactive sessions with a given SQL Server. It’s
where you can execute statements using Transact-SQL (T-SQL). I lovingly pronounce it “Tee-Squeal,” but
it’s supposed to be “Tee-Sequel.” T-SQL is the native language of SQL Server. It’s a dialect of Structured
Query Language (SQL), and is largely compliant with modern ANSI/ISO SQL standards. You’ll find that
most RDBMS products support basic ANSI/ISO SQL compatibility.
Because the Query window is where we will spend a fair amount of time in this book, let’s take a more
in-depth look at this tool and get familiar with how to use it.
Getting Started
Well, I’ve been doing plenty of talking about things in this book, and it’s high time we started doing
something. To that end, open a new Query window by clicking the New Query button towards the topleft
of the Management Studio, or choosing File ➪ New ➪ New Query With Current Connection from the
File menu. When the Query window opens, you’ll get menus that largely match those in Query Analyzer
back when that was a separate tool. We will look at the specifics, but let’s get our very first query out of
the way.
Start by selecting AdventureWorks2008 in the database drop-down box on the SQL Editor toolbar, then
type the following code into the main window of the Query window:
SELECT * FROM Person.Address;
Notice several things happen as you type:
Chapter 2: Tools of the Trade
❑ The coloring of words and phrases changes as you type.
❑ As you type, the Management Studio guesses at what you’re trying to do (as shown in Figure 2-9).
Utilizing IntelliSense, much like Visual Studio, SQL Server will give you hints as to what probably
should come next in your code.
Statement keywords should appear in blue. Unidentifiable items, such as column and table names (these
vary with every table in every database on every server), are in black. Statement arguments and connectors
are in red. Pay attention to how these work and learn them. They can help you catch many bugs
before you’ve even run the statement (and seen the resulting error).
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