SQL Prompt recently reached Version 6. An add-in for SQL Server Management Studio and Visual Studio, it is designed to "strip away the repetition of coding". What exactly does it offer the SQL Developer?

The big problem with SQL is that few take it seriously as a programming language. Why shouldn't SQL programmers get the same sort of tools and coding environments that improve productivity in other languages?

SQL Prompt is aimed at professional SQL developers, providing them with a range of features to make coding easier and more interactive.

It provides IntelliSense-style code completion, customizable code formatting and useful shortcuts such as letting you expand database objects (e.g. table structures) at the click of a mouse. It also lets you save code snippets in its Snippet Manager.

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It also lets you refactor SQL code by allowing you to rename objects without breaking dependencies and encapsulate SQL codes as a stored procedure.

The new feature in the latest version, SQL Prompt 6 is that it lets you save and recover tabs in SSMS. It remembers the tabs you had open in SSMS so you can restore them when you return. You can also preview and rename tabs.

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This short promo video indicates how these features contribute to improved productivity:

SQL Prompt costs from $369 but you can download a 14-day free trial. As it's a useful tool that it is easy to become reliant on it Redgate presumably hopes that after using it for 14 days for free you won't want to give it up.

Redgate also has a free eBook offer on at the moment. The eBook, which as a pdf of 21 pages is better described as an eBooklet, provides fairly general advice, presented in an entertaining fashion in big print with lots of graphics. The tips are by the authors of some of Redgate books which are listed on its final pages. These full books have free PDF downloads and well worth looking into further. If you are not convinced see our reviews of Defensive Database Programming with SQL Server and SQL Server Concurrency: Locking, Blocking and Row Versioning they were both recommended reading.