Introduction

I'm not quite done discussing the Visual Studio IDE and the tools it exposes to help build your data-centric applications. This chapter continues by focusing more closely on the Server Explorer and how it can be used to manage T-SQL executables like stored procedures and functions. This includes coding, building parameter blocks, and saving and locating existing stored procedures and functions. I'll also discuss stored procedure-debugging techniques, including local and remote system debugging. Functions can be interactively debugged as well, so I'll discuss several techniques to test and step through your functions. As I'll illustrate in detail, all of this functionality can be managedcreated, explored, and debuggedwith the Server Explorer. Yes, much of this same functionality can be handled by the SQL Server Management Studio Object Explorer as wellin much the same way. While the IDE is a bit different, there are many similaritiesit's almost as if (almost) the two tools were created by the same company with the same goals. But it's late and I must be getting tired.

Since many of the designs I implement and see implemented all over the world are based on stored procedures, I'm glad to see the ability to manage stored procedures and functions woven so deeply into the fabric of Visual Studio. The Server Explorer does a pretty good job of managing these executablesit can locate and rename stored procedures and functions, as well as expose their parameters. Using the new "view by schema" option, you can also find pertinent executable objects more easily. If you have the Professional or Team editions, you'll also be able to step into (debug) stored procedures and functions from the Server Explorer. In any edition, you can edit these executables and even get the Query Designer to help generate SQL for them.

You don't need to create a Visual Basic .NET or C# application to use the Server Explorer to manage stored procedures, functions, or build queries. However, if you want to save the queries you're working on, you'll want to create a "Database" project.