Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Multiple result sets – SSMS versus xSQL's Script Executor

Up until now we have been promoting Script Executor as a tool that provides for deploying multiple t-sql scripts to many target databases (SQL Server, DB2 and MySQL). What we have neglected to emphasize is a seemingly small feature that many of our users find extremely helpful. If you work with SQL Server it is very likely that you have often executed queries that return multiple result sets and you have experienced firsthand how inconvenient it is to browse through those result sets - see the illustration below and just imagine what that looks like when you have more than just two result sets (click in the image to see full size):

Now, look at the screen shot down below to see how Script Executor displays the results – notice the green arrows (click on the image for full size) that allow you to jump from one result set to the other within the same server. Notice also something even cooler, on the left hand side there is a panel showing the list of databases against which the script was executed – so you can easily see the result sets you got from each database. Furthermore, those databases don’t all have to be SQL Server databases – the same scripts can be executed against multiple SQL Server, DB2 and MySQL databases at the same time.


And last but not least how about this ability to manipulate the result set – right click on the result set and a handy context menu appears allowing you to remove certain columns and or certain rows as well as copying and exporting the result set – see below:
I am of course not advocating ditching SSMS in favor of Script Executor – SSMS is an indispensable tool, but I am simply trying to emphasize the advantages that Script Executor has in certain situations. The reason Script Executor exists is to provide for an easy and efficient deployment of scripts to multiple targets.

Download a copy of Script Executor now and see for yourself how useful this tool can be.

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