CODEWITHSUNDEEP
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Sarah
Sarah

Reputation:

Learning SQL in Microsoft Visual Studio

Firstly, apologies if this question is in the wrong place.

I'm a student who has literally just started learning SQL yesterday, using the SQL*Plus command-line interface. This is fine so far - I've created and populated tables, run simple queries and can spool to files etc. But I'd like a more 'visual' approach to help with my understanding (i.e. I'd like to be able to see the 'objects' as I work on them (much like BlueJ for when I started learning Java). Is this possible with any free software?

I have Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2012 (which I'm new to) - is it possible in this? I can create a new SQL file but without a 'real world database' can I actually run commands in a similar way to the command-line SQL that I've been doing?

Any help at all would be absolutely amazing. Apologies if I'm misunderstanding anything or being simple - I've literally been using SQL*Plus etc for a few hours.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 431

Answers (2)

darethas
darethas

Reputation: 7657

I was just in your boat a few months ago. I had to teach myself the .NET side of SQL with SQL Server, LINQ, and C# and wanted to share my experience with you.

The fact of the matter is, SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is built on top of Visual Studio. I have both SQL Server 2012, and Visual Studio 2010/2012 installed on my computer, and in my experience. Look for an extension called "SQL Connect" in Visual Studio. It supports GUI building of tables.

As far as free software, if you are a student like me, you should be eligible for the Dreamspark program. Microsoft graciously allows academic licenses for virtually all their development software (including some freebies like free copies of Windows 7 Professional, OneNote, and Lync).

Also a book I highly, highly recommend to supplement your learning is "SQL Visual Quickstart Guide (3rd Edition)" It's only ~15 dollars for the eBook. Also, the Pluralsight videos on SQL Server help a lot, which you will get a three free month trial through Dreamspark. There is also a wealth of examples on the MSDN website that teach you with the Adventureworks database, which should be on Microsoft CodePlex.

Happy learning!

Upvotes: 2

Kendall Frey
Kendall Frey

Reputation: 44326

Visual Studio does support designing SQL databases. However, I think the best option for managing a database is SQL Server Management Studio.

SSMS comes with most installations of SQL Server, but if it's not installed, you will have to re-run the installer to install it.

SSMS supports running arbitrary SQL queries, as you may be used to. It also supports a powerful GUI interface (based on the VS interface) for working with all kinds of database objects. You can completely design and populate a database without manually writing any SQL. If you want, you can even make a change, and view the SQL generated to change the database.

Give it a try, and good luck learning SQL.

Upvotes: 2

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