In this article, we are going to see some shortcuts that may be useful to you when you work with SQL Server Management Studio. You can always use some custom queries too as query shortcuts in SSMS. Here, I am going to show some queries shortcuts that are widely used. I hope you will like this.

Background

If you are a .NET developer or if you are working with any Microsoft technologies, you must have some experience in working with SQL and SQL Server Management Studio. But as a developer, we always try to achieve the things in a simple manner. Isn’t it? This is where we are going for keyboard shortcuts. We do have an option to set and use the keyboard shortcuts in SSMS too. I will explain those.

Keyboard Query Shortcuts In SSMS

First of all, let me tell you an example of where we can use the keyboard shortcuts. We know how to create stored procedures right? There procedures are created in a folder called ‘Stored Procedures’ under Programmability. Now, let us assume that I have a stored procedure with name as usp_Get_SalesOrderDetail. Now if you need to see the queries we have written in that stored procedure, what will you do? You have two options:

Right click on the stored procedure and click on modify
Use the sp_helptext as sp_helptext usp_Get_SalesOrderDetail

Now my question is, in this scenario, whenever you need to see the stored procedure, you need to type sp_helptext right? How can we overcome this situation? Here, we can set the keyboard shortcuts.

Setting the Keyboard Shortcuts

Go to Tools -> Options.

Tools_Options

Go to Environment -> Keyboard -> Query Shortcuts

Environment_Keyboard_Query_Shortcuts_

On the right side, you can see some shortcuts which are by default in SSMS. Now if you need to add a new one, just click on any column under Stored Procedure column.

Adding_a_new_keyboard_shortcut

Click OK. Now please go to a query window and select the stored procedure, then press CTRL+3, it will show the stored procedure.

sp_helptext_Results

Now if you need to select all the records from a table when you select the table and press CTRL+5 (You can select any key), you can make the shortcut as follows:

Selct_Query_As_Keyboard_Shortcut

Now please go ahead and select the table name from the query window and press CTRL+4 (the key we selected). I hope you got the result as expected.

Happy coding!

Conclusion

Did I miss anything that you may think is needed? Could you find this post useful? I hope you liked this article. Please share your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Your Turn. What Do You Think?

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Keyboard Query Shortcuts In SQL Server Management Studio