I'm using SQL Server Management Studio at work, and now when I'm doing
little open source project at home, I miss a few features.
1. Key shortcut that shows/hides "Output pane". In the other program its
Ctrl-R.
2. In the other program, if "Output pane" is hidden and I run a query,
"Output pane" shows up.
3. Keyboard macros. In the other program they can do marvels. Here is
how they work.
In MS SQL, Stored Procedures, if there is SELECT query with no INTO
clause inside routine, its results are shown in "Output Pane"'s "Data
Output" tab. User can bind routine name to key-combo (Ctrl-F1, Ctrl-0 to
Ctrl-9). When key-combo is hit. Routine is called, if there is selection
in editor, its passed to routine as an argument. Results of that
routine, are shown in "Data Output" of current QueryTool. A few well
crafted routines makes development lot easier for example:
One shows all routine, view and table names that matches to pattern
(passed as argument).
One scripts routine or view, and wraps its code with three procedures
that do revision management.
One shows all columns of table or view, with "v." prefixes and ", "
suffixes, so that writing views takes less time.
Other shows first 15 rows of selected table.
Possibilities are endless.
PostgreSQL procedures are little different than T-SQL equivalent,
therefore I propose different approach.
There should be place (in Options Dialogue) to write whole SQL query
that will be bound to the key. When I hit key combo, if there is a place
holder in the query, its filled with current selection, and then query
is passed to server. Query results are passed to Output Pane, just like
after normal "F5" query execution.
There should be no quoting of arguments, we assume that this
functionality would be used by advanced users. If they want to create
macro that drops table passed as "selection argument" we should not
interfere.
I can write all needed SQL functions, but I've never done any serious
GUI programming.