Development Refreshing Intellisense in SSMS

I’m somewhat new to SQL and BI development, but I do really enjoy using Microsoft’s SSXS 2008 development studio (SQL Server Management Studio and Business Intelligence Development Studio). I will be posting some tips and tricks I’ve learned while using SQL Server Integration Services (or workarounds to a few of its limitations) in the future, but first, SQL Server Management Studio and Intellisense.

SSMS is a really handy administration tool for SQL Server and I always have it open while I’m creating packages in SSIS. There is one quirk that really irritates me though. I find that when I’m creating/deleting columns and tables, the Intellisense falls out of date far too often (or maybe I’m just really impatient). If I had databases with lots and lots of tables, I wouldn’t be that bothered, but this happens to me with even 2 or 3 tables and a handful of columns.

One solution that I would love to get my hands on is Red Gate’s SQL Prompt tool, as I’ve used JetBrains ReSharper in the past and it’s just fantastic (note: they’re not from the same company, but I consider them similar in that they are both productivity extensions by solid companies). I actually just discovered how much I miss it this past weekend when I was doing a little HTML5/C# remote desktop-type project, which I will definitely talk about at another time.

Also, I’ve played around with Red Gate’s ANTS Memory and Performance Profilers and I’m impressed with their combination of functionality and usability. Red Gate is definitely a user-centric company (I might be a bit of a fanboy). But, as usual, I digress…

To get to the point at hand, refreshing the Intellisense in SSMS is very simple and is accomplished by 3 simple key presses:

Ctrl + Shift + R

I find myself using this key combination a few times a day (I’m extremely impatient with computers). The other option is to go to the Edit toolbar, enter the Intellisense section and choose ‘Refresh Local Cache’, but for me that takes too long.

Feature Photo credit: Thomas Hawk / Foter / CC BY-NC