Here are some issues I came across recently; most involve SSMS in some way, though Erland's assertion suggestion is a great one. And just to be clear, since I am seeing some accusations of distorting the fairness of Connect by "asking for votes," I am not asking anyone to vote blindly on these items (and it's clear from last week's results that people are NOT doing that).  I'm asking you to take a look at these issues and — if they affect you and you care enough to do so — vote on them.

====================

ASSERTIONS

Erland brought up a great suggestion to add true assertions to DML statements, which would have several benefits over triggers or rolling your own rollback mechanisms. 

#459383 : Add assertion clause to DML statements
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=459383
Current rating: 4.2 (6 votes)

====================

Object Explorer problem during attach operation

Last week I was attaching a largish database (~300GB) using CREATE DATABASE … FOR ATTACH.  Unlike when restoring a database, where you can see the "Restoring…" state next to the database name in Object Explorer (and can still access other online databases), during this time, I would receive an ugly error message if I tried to expand or refresh the database list.  I believe this is because the attach operation places an exclusive lock on the table(s) underlying the sys.databases catalog view, and the *ad hoc SQL* that SSMS issues to display the list does not use snapshot or lower isolation.  I'm not sure why it has to behave this way. 

#459208 : SSMS : Object Explorer fails to show database list during attach
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=459208
Current rating: N/A (1 vote)

====================

Various Activity Monitor issues

Many people have complained about the way the new Activity Monitor replaced the previous version.  While there are many new and helpful ways in which the new feature works, a crowd has gathered complaining about some of the things that are still missing (or were taken away). 

#423019 : SQL Server 2008 Activity Monitor Enhancements
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=423019
Current rating: 4.7 (13 votes)

#352596 : SSMS: Activity Monitor is no longer in Treeview
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=352596
Current rating: 4.7 (6 votes)

#361102 : [SSMS 2008 RTM] Restore 2000 Activity Monitor
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=361102
Current rating: 3.8 (6 votes)

#350734 : SSMS : Activity Monitor column headers are too fragile
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=350734
Current rating: 4.3 (3 votes)

#350736 : SSMS : Activity Monitor queries replace white space with ugly boxes
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=350736
Current rating: 3.9 (2 votes)

#350726 : SSMS : Activity Monitor "Kill Process" more dangerous than it sounds
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=350726
Current rating: N/A (1 vote)

#350729 : SSMS : Activity Monitor process details dialog hard to use
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=350729
Current rating: N/A (1 vote)

============================================================

And here are the changes I've observed over the past 7 days for the entries in my post from last week:

#127219 : CREATE OR REPLACE
Rating last week: 4.7 (84 votes)
Current rating: 4.7 (103 votes) +17

#273938 : sp_helptext : option for generating ALTER
Rating last week: N/A (1 vote) 
Current rating: 4.5 (3 votes) +2

#291300 : Option for sp_helptext to add 'GO'
Rating last week: N/A (1 vote)
Current rating: N/A (1 vote) no change

#362453 : SSMS RTM Table Limit
Rating last week: 4.7 (13 votes)
Current rating: 4.7 (17 votes) +4

#453982 : Bizarre XML Performance
Rating last week: 4.7 (3 votes)
Current rating: 4.7 (7 votes) +4