Connect Digest : 2009-05-23 : please vote!

Here are the items from this week that I feel deserve some attention.  I'm also adding a little bit of analysis to this.  I am always curious if my vote-pimping has any effect, so I am going to start taking a note of the ratings at the time I publish the post, and then compare them when I publish the next post.  This will give me some idea about whether my efforts here are worth it.

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CREATE OR REPLACE syntax

We've been asking for this syntax for several versions now, and it finally looks like they're seriously considering it.  To the point that they are narrowing down which DDL commands to support in the first round (since they don't pretend to be able to support all of them in one go).  This item already has a lot of votes, so if you have already voted, you could add comments indicating which items you would prefer be supported initially. 

#127219 : CREATE OR REPLACE
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=127219
Current rating: 4.7 (84 votes)

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sp_helptext improvements

Because of the missing syntax for create or replace, I filed two items in 2007 that would allow for improved usability with the system procedure sp_helptext.  One is to allow an option that would append 'GO' to the end of the script, and the other is to allow an option to script ALTER instead of CREATE.  While arguably these options are much less useful if they implement CREATE OR REPLACE functionality, that is still not guaranteed, so some other extensions might be helpful.  So far, I am the only person who has voted for either of these items.

#273938 : sp_helptext : option for generating ALTER
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=273938
Current rating: N/A (1 vote) 

#291300 : Option for sp_helptext to add 'GO'
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=291300
Current rating: N/A (1 vote) 

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Object Explorer tree limits

Object Explorer has a known limitation where, if you have too many objects in a single database, expanding a relevant node will yield the error message: "See Object Explorer Details for objects in this folder."  Using Object Explorer Details instead of the Object Explorer tree adds some functionality (like sorting and viewing additional properties); however, at the same time, it takes some important functionality away (like expanding multiple items at the same level and dragging column name lists onto query windows).  Now it seems that fixing this issue means they will also have to fix the underlying OS, but I say by all means do it.  If I want to wait 15 minutes for my crappy desktop PC to display a tree, I should be able to make that choice myself.

#362453 : SSMS RTM Table Limit
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=362453
Current rating: 4.7 (13 votes)

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Bizarre XML Performance

Fellow MVP and sqlblog.com blogger Adam Machanic discovered some illogical performance when constructing and slightly changing queries involving XML and TVFs.

#453982 : Bizarre XML Performance
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=453982
Current rating: 4.7 (3 votes) 

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Aaron Bertrand

I am a passionate technologist with industry experience dating back to Classic ASP and SQL Server 6.5. I am a long-time Microsoft MVP, write at SQLPerformance and MSSQLTips, and have had the honor of speaking at more conferences than I can remember. In non-tech life, I am a father of two, a huge hockey and football fan, and my pronouns are he/him. If I've helped you out, consider thanking me with a coffee. :-)