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We’re rolling towards conference season and the Azure Data Studio engineers have been working hard on two things:
As always, new features land in preview first. In order to try out anything that is listed as preview, you need to enable the Workbench: Enable Preview Features setting (access Settings using Ctrl/CMD + , ).
I’ll remind folks again: we want to hear your feedback, whether it’s positive, constructive, or you simply have a question! Feel free to comment below, but if you encounter any problems, please log an issue (after you have searched to see if already exists). You can go directly to the repo, or within Azure Data Studio select Help -> Report Issue. You do need a GitHub account to create issues. Bonus: you can drop the link in a comment here for additional visibility.
New features in Azure Data Studio 1.46
Database Management
In Azure Data Studio 1.45 we introduced the ability to create and drop a database from Object Explorer. In this release, we’ve added attach and detach for databases to the list. The right-click menus in Object Explorer look a bit different these days:
Screenshot of database properties menu
Screenshot of properties menu for the Databases node
Not only are we providing more options in the UI to create, drop, attach, and detach databases, we are thrilled to introduce the Database Properties option! Right-click on any database, and you’ll now see Properties (Preview) at the bottom, which opens a new properties pane:
Screenshot of database properties pane
There’s a few things to note here. First, don’t miss the scroll bar at the top to see additional panes (Query Store is not visible in this screenshot). Second, this does not have all of the same fields that you see in the database properties window in SSMS. That’s by design. If you find there is something essential that’s missing, please open an issue. Third…if you look closely you’ll notice that we have Database Scoped Configuration as a tab. You no longer need to use T-SQL to change database scoped options – you can use the UI! The options are listed in alphabetical order, select the one you want to change to display editing options below.
The properties pane supports scripting changes out to a query editor window (always recommended to help you learn T-SQL and for source control), and the Help button at the bottom of the dialog will take you to the appropriate documentation.
Server Management
We couldn’t really implement database properties without also adding server properties…so you’ll now see Properties (Preview) at the bottom of the list when you right-click on a server (on-prem, SQL in Azure VM, and Azure SQL Managed Instance).
Screenshot of server properties pane
Again, don’t miss the scroll bar at the top to see additional panes (Advanced is not visible in this screenshot), and not every field from the server properties window in SSMS exists. As with database properties, that’s by design. Scripting changes out to a query editor window is also supported here and you can use the Help button at the bottom of the dialog to review documentation.
On the topic of SSMS...for those of you that love SSMS and are trying out Azure Data Studio, welcome! If you're looking for similarity in shortcuts, we recommend installing the SSMS Keymap extension. This extension will remap existing keyboard shortcuts in Azure Data Studio to be the same as those in SSMS, where applicable.
Stability in Azure Data Studio 1.46
There are multiple low-level changes in the 1.46 release that continue to move the needle on Azure Data Studio performance. We know that having an application you can rely on is paramount, and while we recognize there are still areas where we can improve, we are confident this is the most stable release yet. We encourage all users to upgrade to this release…those of you who are still running older versions (all the way back to 1.37?!) we would love to know why.
In Azure Data Studio 1.46, we enabled connection pooling, which is controlled by the Mssql: Enable Connection Pooling setting:
Screenshot of connection pooling setting
We also added a new command, SQL Server: Clear pooled connections. This command is not something you’ll need to use frequently. But if you find that you do need clear pooled connections, open up the Command Palette ( Ctrl/CMD + Shift + P ) and start typing to find the command:
Screenshot of command to clear connection pools
With connection pooling, we create fewer new connections to the database and physical connections are re-used as much as possible. This reduces the time for subsequent tasks to establish connection and provides a performance benefit.
There have been several outstanding issues related to the Query Editor where queries hang or don’t immediately cancel, Intellisense causes issues with query execution, and queries don’t execute against Synapse Dedicated Pools. We modified background tasks so they are not blocking (e.g., Intellisense) and also made changes at the driver level. We have seen positive comments from users on the Insider build noting immediate performance improvements. If you upgrade to the 1.46 release and find you still have problems, please create an issue and let us know. Those of you that have engaged on those query issues and provided logs: we see you and appreciate you.
This release also introduces support for custom cloud endpoints. Configuration for the endpoint(s) is added to the settings.json file and the endpoint is then available after reloading Azure Data Studio. More details can be found in the Azure connectivity page.
Additional Changes
There are a few other changes we want to bring to your attention. We added a notification around copying results to the clipboard in Azure Data Studio 1.45, which generated feedback from folks that copy frequently and therefore had a lot of messages appear. We changed the behavior in this release so that the notification automatically closes after three (3) seconds, and we added an option to disable the notification entirely (Query Editor > Results: Show Copy Completed Notification) within Settings.
For those of you that save results to Excel files (a favorite task among users), a notification now appears after saving that provides the option to open the file, or go to the file location:
Screenshot of notification after saving results to Excel
For those who do either, this will save a few steps in your workflow.
Folks that use Query Plans reported that the missing index recommendation could display incorrect columns, and we fixed that problem and addressed an issue with the plan XML having the incorrect format. XML columns in a result set also had the incorrect format when opened, and that issue has been resolved.
On the extension front, version 1.3.1 of the SQL Database Projects is now available and introduces support for Azure Synapse Serverless SQL Pool and Synapse Data Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric. The extension now uses Microsoft.Build.Sql SDK version 0.1.12-preview. In addition, multiple issues were fixed in both the SQL Projects and the Schema Compare extensions.
Finally, this release picks up version 1.2.1 of the MongoDB for Atlas extension (upgrading from 0.9.3). The new version of the extension has a richer tree-view context menu, including the ability to insert, copy, delete, and clone documents. There is added support for creating Time-Series collections, and an enhanced playground experience to prototype MongoDB queries which includes better syntax support. If you have version 0.9.3 of the extension installed, you need to disable the extension and then refresh the extension library to see the updated version.
Summary
When you have a minute today, please update to Azure Data Studio 1.46. Within the application, simply select Help -> Check for Updates… or if you’re new to Azure Data Studio and want to try it out, visit the download page. A complete list of improvements and fixes for 1.46 can be found in the release notes. Lastly, let us know what you think of the new features. It’s easier for us to make changes while a feature is in preview, versus once it has gone GA, and we want to hear your feedback!
Continue reading...
- adding new functionality
- improving stability and performance within the application
As always, new features land in preview first. In order to try out anything that is listed as preview, you need to enable the Workbench: Enable Preview Features setting (access Settings using Ctrl/CMD + , ).
I’ll remind folks again: we want to hear your feedback, whether it’s positive, constructive, or you simply have a question! Feel free to comment below, but if you encounter any problems, please log an issue (after you have searched to see if already exists). You can go directly to the repo, or within Azure Data Studio select Help -> Report Issue. You do need a GitHub account to create issues. Bonus: you can drop the link in a comment here for additional visibility.
New features in Azure Data Studio 1.46
Database Management
In Azure Data Studio 1.45 we introduced the ability to create and drop a database from Object Explorer. In this release, we’ve added attach and detach for databases to the list. The right-click menus in Object Explorer look a bit different these days:
Screenshot of database properties menuScreenshot of properties menu for the Databases nodeNot only are we providing more options in the UI to create, drop, attach, and detach databases, we are thrilled to introduce the Database Properties option! Right-click on any database, and you’ll now see Properties (Preview) at the bottom, which opens a new properties pane:
Screenshot of database properties paneThere’s a few things to note here. First, don’t miss the scroll bar at the top to see additional panes (Query Store is not visible in this screenshot). Second, this does not have all of the same fields that you see in the database properties window in SSMS. That’s by design. If you find there is something essential that’s missing, please open an issue. Third…if you look closely you’ll notice that we have Database Scoped Configuration as a tab. You no longer need to use T-SQL to change database scoped options – you can use the UI! The options are listed in alphabetical order, select the one you want to change to display editing options below.
The properties pane supports scripting changes out to a query editor window (always recommended to help you learn T-SQL and for source control), and the Help button at the bottom of the dialog will take you to the appropriate documentation.
Server Management
We couldn’t really implement database properties without also adding server properties…so you’ll now see Properties (Preview) at the bottom of the list when you right-click on a server (on-prem, SQL in Azure VM, and Azure SQL Managed Instance).
Screenshot of server properties paneAgain, don’t miss the scroll bar at the top to see additional panes (Advanced is not visible in this screenshot), and not every field from the server properties window in SSMS exists. As with database properties, that’s by design. Scripting changes out to a query editor window is also supported here and you can use the Help button at the bottom of the dialog to review documentation.
On the topic of SSMS...for those of you that love SSMS and are trying out Azure Data Studio, welcome! If you're looking for similarity in shortcuts, we recommend installing the SSMS Keymap extension. This extension will remap existing keyboard shortcuts in Azure Data Studio to be the same as those in SSMS, where applicable.
Stability in Azure Data Studio 1.46
There are multiple low-level changes in the 1.46 release that continue to move the needle on Azure Data Studio performance. We know that having an application you can rely on is paramount, and while we recognize there are still areas where we can improve, we are confident this is the most stable release yet. We encourage all users to upgrade to this release…those of you who are still running older versions (all the way back to 1.37?!) we would love to know why.
In Azure Data Studio 1.46, we enabled connection pooling, which is controlled by the Mssql: Enable Connection Pooling setting:
Screenshot of connection pooling settingWe also added a new command, SQL Server: Clear pooled connections. This command is not something you’ll need to use frequently. But if you find that you do need clear pooled connections, open up the Command Palette ( Ctrl/CMD + Shift + P ) and start typing to find the command:
Screenshot of command to clear connection poolsWith connection pooling, we create fewer new connections to the database and physical connections are re-used as much as possible. This reduces the time for subsequent tasks to establish connection and provides a performance benefit.
There have been several outstanding issues related to the Query Editor where queries hang or don’t immediately cancel, Intellisense causes issues with query execution, and queries don’t execute against Synapse Dedicated Pools. We modified background tasks so they are not blocking (e.g., Intellisense) and also made changes at the driver level. We have seen positive comments from users on the Insider build noting immediate performance improvements. If you upgrade to the 1.46 release and find you still have problems, please create an issue and let us know. Those of you that have engaged on those query issues and provided logs: we see you and appreciate you.
This release also introduces support for custom cloud endpoints. Configuration for the endpoint(s) is added to the settings.json file and the endpoint is then available after reloading Azure Data Studio. More details can be found in the Azure connectivity page.
Additional Changes
There are a few other changes we want to bring to your attention. We added a notification around copying results to the clipboard in Azure Data Studio 1.45, which generated feedback from folks that copy frequently and therefore had a lot of messages appear. We changed the behavior in this release so that the notification automatically closes after three (3) seconds, and we added an option to disable the notification entirely (Query Editor > Results: Show Copy Completed Notification) within Settings.
For those of you that save results to Excel files (a favorite task among users), a notification now appears after saving that provides the option to open the file, or go to the file location:
Screenshot of notification after saving results to ExcelFor those who do either, this will save a few steps in your workflow.
Folks that use Query Plans reported that the missing index recommendation could display incorrect columns, and we fixed that problem and addressed an issue with the plan XML having the incorrect format. XML columns in a result set also had the incorrect format when opened, and that issue has been resolved.
On the extension front, version 1.3.1 of the SQL Database Projects is now available and introduces support for Azure Synapse Serverless SQL Pool and Synapse Data Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric. The extension now uses Microsoft.Build.Sql SDK version 0.1.12-preview. In addition, multiple issues were fixed in both the SQL Projects and the Schema Compare extensions.
Finally, this release picks up version 1.2.1 of the MongoDB for Atlas extension (upgrading from 0.9.3). The new version of the extension has a richer tree-view context menu, including the ability to insert, copy, delete, and clone documents. There is added support for creating Time-Series collections, and an enhanced playground experience to prototype MongoDB queries which includes better syntax support. If you have version 0.9.3 of the extension installed, you need to disable the extension and then refresh the extension library to see the updated version.
Summary
When you have a minute today, please update to Azure Data Studio 1.46. Within the application, simply select Help -> Check for Updates… or if you’re new to Azure Data Studio and want to try it out, visit the download page. A complete list of improvements and fixes for 1.46 can be found in the release notes. Lastly, let us know what you think of the new features. It’s easier for us to make changes while a feature is in preview, versus once it has gone GA, and we want to hear your feedback!
Continue reading...