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Intellisense On Tap For Next SQL Server 2008 CTP

The long wait is about to come to an end. The Intellisense with the Transact-SQL language service in SQL Server will indeed be available in the next Community Test Preview (CTP) of 'Katmai,' the code-name for Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008. That indeed was one of the most widely sought after features among SQL Server developers after it was removed from a beta of SQL Server 2005 several years ago and hasn’t been seen since.

Indeed, there was some rumbling when Intellisense didn’t show up in the most recent Katmai CTPs. Microsoft is so committed to getting it into the next test version, that perhaps that’s why the CTP has been delayed by a few weeks. Microsoft is only saying that it wants the next CTP to have several key features.

Skeptical that Intellisense will make the cut? Dan Jones, lead program manager for Microsoft’s SQL Server management team promised attendees of last week’s VSLive! regional conference in New York that you can take to the bank the fact that Intellisense will be in the next CTP.

"This thing is going to be in there," he told attendees. "You can hunt me down if it gets out." Indeed the news drew applause both at VSLive (an event produced by Redmond Media Group, which publishes this newsletter) and the annual Professional Association for SQL Server user conference in Denver, which also took place last week. Kevin Kline, president of PASS and SQL Server technical strategy manager at Quest Software, says developers were thrilled to hear the news.

"Everyone is excited about is Intellisense," Kline says. Developers who use the new feature and want (or need) to program or use a T-SQL command, can do so "without having to live with the syntax manual in hand," he adds. It could cut tons of time off development, he adds. "This means hours and hours and hours every week that will be saved by having this feature."

Other features that will appear in the next CTP include the declarative management framework, which will let organizations set policies against multiple SQL Server databases and support for geospatial data.

Are you testing Katmai? Let me know what you think. Also, for the many who are still on SQL Server 2000, let us know if you’re thinking of jumping up to Katmai, or if you’re going to move to SQL Server 2005. I can be reached at jschwartz@reddevnews.com.

Calling on Oracle 11g Developers

A choose-your-own-ending type of migration story.

Meanwhile Microsoft is courting Oracle users offering 50 percent discounts to those who migrate off Oracle databases onto SQL Server. The timing comes as Oracle is readying the Windows version of its 11g database for release by year’s end.

One .NET database developer who sent me an e-mail this week may be a good candidate to take Microsoft up on its offer. The customer, who runs applications on Oracle 10g running on Windows, decided to migrate to Oracle 11g, which last month was released for Linux servers. He exported a schema that is used for a Web site he manages. While all looked well (the data was there and the account was accessible), when it came to the Web server login, the user names and passwords were invalid, though he could login using SQL*Plus (Oracle’s command-line SQL and PL/SQL interface and reporting tools that ships with Oracle databases). He believes the new password security is causing the problem.

"Because of the sensitive downtime of the Web site, I had to start the old 10g database to allow the account to log in," he writes. He does want to get to the 11g database, but needs to solve this problem. When I asked if he tried Oracle’s technical support, he said, yes but to no avail. Anyone out there have any suggestions? Add your comment to this blog or e-mail me at jschwartz@reddevnews.com.

Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on 09/26/2007


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