SSMS is Free

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item SSMS is Free

  • Hi Steve,

    I am currently using SSMS 17.1 because of the Always Encrypted feature.
    I'm facing something really strange behaviour at the moment, just wanted to know if you heard anything about it or maybe somebody else is facing it as well.

    When I alter a stored procedure on SQL running on an Azure VM(I did not notice this happening on my local for example), for example, if I use SSMS 15.X it creates properly. If I use SSMS 17.1, the code loses all its formatting as well as any comment(I've altered a few stored procedure that had quite a bit of comments which were lost).

    I'm using SQL Prompt 8 for formatting the code.

    Just as an example, I've used the wizard and left most of the comments for illustration purposes:

    ORIGINAL STORED PROCEDURE CODE
    USE [Test]
    GO
    SET ANSI_NULLS ON
    GO
    SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
    GO
    -- =============================================
    -- Author:        Daniel
    -- Create date: 20/07/2017
    -- Description:   Test stored procedure
    -- =============================================
    CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[testproc]
        -- Add the parameters for the stored procedure here
    AS
    BEGIN
        -- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
        -- interfering with SELECT statements.
        SET NOCOUNT ON;

      -- Insert statements for procedure here
        --This is just a sample proc
        SELECT
            1 AS Code001,
            2 as Code002,
            3 as Code003

        ---I've changed the code here.
    END

    If I alter the proc using SSMS 17.1, the code is as follows:

    USE [Test]
    GO
    SET ANSI_NULLS ON
    GO
    SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
    GO
    ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[testproc]
    AS
    BEGIN
      SET NOCOUNT ON;
      SELECT 1 AS Code001,
        2 AS Code002,
        3 AS Code003;
    END

    Thanks

  • I have been using v17.1 for a while now and have not experienced any problems (yet).

  • dansousa - Wednesday, July 19, 2017 9:56 PM

    Hi Steve,

    I am currently using SSMS 17.1 because of the Always Encrypted feature.
    I'm facing something really strange behaviour at the moment, just wanted to know if you heard anything about it or maybe somebody else is facing it as well.

    When I alter a stored procedure on SQL running on an Azure VM(I did not notice this happening on my local for example), for example, if I use SSMS 15.X it creates properly. If I use SSMS 17.1, the code loses all its formatting as well as any comment(I've altered a few stored procedure that had quite a bit of comments which were lost).

    I'm using SQL Prompt 8 for formatting the code.
    Thanks

    Do you have the latest version of SQL Prompt?   I believe you have to get to a certain version or it might not work with SSMS 17.1.

    I'm on 8.0.5 and am having no issues with formatting in SSMS 17.1.  I see 8.0.6 just came out.

  • Yes, SSMS is free, as in free beer at a $5000 / week all inclusive resort. But the SQL Server resort experience is well worth the price tag.  🙂

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • I like that SSMS is a free download as it gets rid of excuses that a lot of developers who are using tools like WinSQL which to me is not an easy application to use.  
    I prefer SSMS to toad and almost any third party tool I've used.  I also use SQL Prompt and it is a welcome edition.

  • WOW, this is a surprise! When I started working with SQL Server (6.5, I think), like you Steve, I was working with Enterprise Manager. When SQL Server when to using Management Studio, so did we. But I've always considered them (the GUI interface to SQL Server and SQL Server itself) to come along as a complete and inseparable package. The idea of SSMS being a separate download is completely foreign to me.

    I've got SQL 2016 Developer Edition installed on my dev box, along with SSMS 2016. I'm going to try your suggestion and download this v17.x shell. Will it replace the SSMS 2016 shell?

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • Rod at work - Thursday, July 20, 2017 8:44 AM

    WOW, this is a surprise! When I started working with SQL Server (6.5, I think), like you Steve, I was working with Enterprise Manager. When SQL Server when to using Management Studio, so did we. But I've always considered them (the GUI interface to SQL Server and SQL Server itself) to come along as a complete and inseparable package. The idea of SSMS being a separate download is completely foreign to me.

    I've got SQL 2016 Developer Edition installed on my dev box, along with SSMS 2016. I'm going to try your suggestion and download this v17.x shell. Will it replace the SSMS 2016 shell?

    No, you have both shells. I had to move the .sql extension mapping to SSMS 17 because it was always opening SSMS2016.

  • It is free and works for most things.  Anybody who has worked with a 2012 SSIS catalog (possibly 2014 and 2016 as well... I did not test those) has probably had the "version number 8 is larger than 6" error message.
    I've found that for best compatability, I try to stick to keeping my SSMS version matching my SQL version.  It is painful as I have 3 different versions of SSMS on my machine right now so updates get a bit messy, but it means I have the least issues.

    Has anybody tried to deploy an SSIS package to a SSIS 2012, 2014 or 2016 server from SSMS 17?  I am curious if it still has the same headaches of auto-upgrading the version.  May have to give that a shot sometime soon.
    Was also reading your article and got to the point where you said that you can use it with 2008 and newer... and I remember that I have to manage a 2005 instance as well... hopefully we can kill that thing soon...

    Apart from that, I have found that the SSMS version doesn't matter too much.

    The above is all just my opinion on what you should do. 
    As with all advice you find on a random internet forum - you shouldn't blindly follow it.  Always test on a test server to see if there is negative side effects before making changes to live!
    I recommend you NEVER run "random code" you found online on any system you care about UNLESS you understand and can verify the code OR you don't care if the code trashes your system.

  • dansousa - Wednesday, July 19, 2017 9:56 PM

    Hi Steve,

    I am currently using SSMS 17.1 because of the Always Encrypted feature.
    I'm facing something really strange behaviour at the moment, just wanted to know if you heard anything about it or maybe somebody else is facing it as well.

    When I alter a stored procedure on SQL running on an Azure VM(I did not notice this happening on my local for example), for example, if I use SSMS 15.X it creates properly. If I use SSMS 17.1, the code loses all its formatting as well as any comment(I've altered a few stored procedure that had quite a bit of comments which were lost).

    How are you losing the code? If I compile this on Azure SQL DB, then right click and say "modify" it, I get the code back correctly

  • So besides being 'free' are there any real feature/usability advantages to this over previous versions? I don't see mention of any and saying 'it's nearly compatible they are quickly fixes bugs' doesn't sound like a great sell to me.

    Paul.

  • What I've observed about SSMS 2016, since it was ported to VS framework, is that it takes longer to load and will occasionally freeze up. I'm guessing it has more junk in it's trunk than the previous versions. There have been occasions where I will have to start Task Manager, kill it, and then fire up SSMS 2014 just to take complete a quick task.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • So, Eric et al, can  you have more than 1 version of SSMS installed at a time?

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • Rod at work - Thursday, July 20, 2017 10:36 AM

    So, Eric et al, can  you have more than 1 version of SSMS installed at a time?

    Yes.  I have 3 installed on my machine right now - 2008, 2012 and 2016.

    The above is all just my opinion on what you should do. 
    As with all advice you find on a random internet forum - you shouldn't blindly follow it.  Always test on a test server to see if there is negative side effects before making changes to live!
    I recommend you NEVER run "random code" you found online on any system you care about UNLESS you understand and can verify the code OR you don't care if the code trashes your system.

  • pw-1010645 - Thursday, July 20, 2017 9:50 AM

    So besides being 'free' are there any real feature/usability advantages to this over previous versions? I don't see mention of any and saying 'it's nearly compatible they are quickly fixes bugs' doesn't sound like a great sell to me.

    Paul.

    There are bug fixes for some things that didn't work well. Might not be an issue for you, but all future enhancements are here. XE is better here than in previous versions, so if you're R2+, I'd move.

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