SoftTree SQL Assistant v12.4 (maintenance release) - What's New

October 5, 2023 (v12.4.474)

Short introduction

SQL Assistant v12.4 contains multiple new features and enhancements, among them are two major additions - conditional formatting in data grids and actual query execution plans. The changes are described with more details in the sections below.

New major features and significant enhancements

  1. Advanced spreadsheet class conditional formatting in data grids allows data visualizations in colors with a few mouse clicks. This is a game changer for all who spent much time working with data.
  2. Actual query execution plans for most of the supported database systems with capturing actual run-time metrics for internal query operations. New enhancements make analyzing query plans and tuning queries easier than ever. Various techniques are used depending on the database system type to monitor its internal operations and gather performance metrics.
  3. SQL Assistant add-on for 64-bit version of Visual Studio 2022.
  4. Improved and more intuitive UI for setting up Context SQL Search. New graphical Code Repository browser.
  5. Code entry automation - new parameters for $CURRENT(word)$ macro support more use cases.

Database management enhancements and new features

  1. SQL Server - SQL Intellisense enhancements supporting features introduced in SQL Server 2022.
  2. PostgreSQL - SQL Intellisense enhancements supporting features introduced in PostgreSQL 14.x and 15.x.
  3. PostgreSQL - Graphical management of constraints ON DELETE features introduced in PostgreSQL 15.x.
  4. Oracle - Table and index management tools now support graphical management of subpartitons.
  5. DB2 - Table and index defragger.
  6. Amazon Redshift - Graphical management of users, groups, and roles.
  7. Amazon Redshift - Graphical management of external schemas and external tables.
  8. Amazon Redshift - Graphical management of dynamic data masking policies.
  9. Amazon Redshift - Graphical management of row-level security policies.
  10. MariaDB - support for new UUID data type.
  11. MariaDB - query execution plans for MariaDB versions 10.4 and later enriched with additional data from optimizer traces.
  12. MySQL - query execution plans for MySQL versions 8.0 and later enriched with additional data from optimizer traces; table nameless aliases replaced with actual table names and more.
  13. Snowflake - Improved data transfer UI allows copying data from multiple databases.
  14. Snowflake - SQL Intellisense enhancements supporting many more Snowflake features.

Miscellaneous

  1. UI enhancements - DB Explorer and other database navigation controls support fixed columns to keep the important context visible on screen while scrolling.
  2. MySQL - better handling of expired connections for all supported connectivity drivers; automatic reconnects are more reliable.
  3. Test data generator - much faster generation of sequence values when inserting data into non-empty tables; optimized checks for unique values.
  4. All Performance Dashboards - now support sorting columns in data grids on column header click.
  5. A number of other minor improvements and bug fixes.

 

SoftTree SQL Assistant v12.3 (maintenance release) - What's New

May 2, 2023 (v12.3.427)

Short introduction

There are multiple new exciting features in version 12.3. The query execution plans have been significantly modernized. They are now available in multiple formats including graphical plan diagrams with customizable layouts in addition to tree based and raw plan versions in JSON, XML, tabular, and text formats. Additional plan statistics and database engine warnings have been added to plans where they are supported by database engines. The new Query Store Explorer for SQL Server, ASH and AWR Explorers for Oracle enable you to browse explore historical database performance, compare and analyze changes over time, identify applications and queries with steadily deteriorating performance. Below are more details on what's new in this maintenance release.

New major features and significant enhancements

  1. Query execution plan diagrams with customizable layouts.
  2. New Connection Organizer - if you deal with many databases, this is for you, to help you group and organize your database connections and to find them faster.
  3. New Bookmarks pane for bookmark lovers, so you can see all visual bookmarks with text previews at a glance.
  4. Document manager metadata is now stored in SQLite database instead of XML files. Searches for historical documents are now faster, and a longer document change history can be supported. Saving documents is faster too, reliving you from a need to periodically purge the documents repository folder to speed up file access.
  5. Code Visualizer enhancement - Upsert operation is represented as a compound DML operation with conditional IF blocks and multiple logical operations instead of a single statement.
  6. Database Modeling enhancement - multiple model diagrams for the same database can be created and stored in the same project file.
  7. Application Data Lineage enhancements - syntax highlighting for all supported file types.
  8. Multiple enhancements in SQL Assistant SQL Editor (Pro Edition), including new multi-row tabbed interface, sticky tabs, and more.
  9. SQL Intellisense enhancements - better handling of keywords that are not reserved keywords.
  10. Updated Object Explorer add-on for the latest SQL Server Management Studio version 19.0.2.

Database management enhancements and new features

  1. SQL Server - Query Store Explorer, and historical query performance reports with graphical query plan comparison and more.
  2. Oracle - Active Session History Explorer with historical resource usage reports by application and users.
  3. Oracle - Automatic Workload Repository Explorer, and historical query performance reports with graphical query plan comparison and more.
  4. Oracle - Enhancements in the graphical Table Properties dialogs, supporting management of partitioned indexes.
  5. SQLite - Improved graphical explain plan.
  6. Snowflake - Compare Jobs feature can be used with Snowflake and compare Snowflake tasks and their properties across databases.
  7. Snowflake - Support for latest Snowflake features, added graphical management of Database Roles and Alerts, improved Password Policy, Account management.
  8. PostgreSQL - Client tools updated to the latest version 15, to support latest PostgreSQL features.
  9. PostgreSQL - Performance dashboard can be now used for monitoring PostgreSQL logical replication.
  10. Amazon Redshift - Graphical management of materialized views.
  11. MariaDB and MySQL - Much improved query plan presentations, and yet there is more coming soon in the next release.

Miscellaneous

  1. A number of other minor improvements and bug fixes.

 

SoftTree SQL Assistant v12.2 (maintenance release) - What's New

December 4, 2022 (v12.2.383), February 11, 2023 (v12.2.387)

Short introduction

The new Application Data Lineage analyzer can change the way you handle application and database upgrades and migrations. From your application logs and source files it can identify the origin of data, observe the data flows in and out of the databases, and auto-generate data lineage diagrams documenting where your data comes from, where it is used, and where it goes. The Application Data Lineage analyzer is an experimental tool. We would greatly appreciate your feedback and suggestions for further improvements.

New major features and significant enhancements

  1. The Application Data Lineage Analyzer.
  2. New add-on for the latest SQL Server Management Studio version 19 (a.k.a SSMS 2022), updated in 12.2.387 for SSMS 19.0.1 release version.
  3. Updated add-ons for Visual Studio 2017/2019 and 2022 supporting their latest releases.
  4. An overhauled Table Info panel now featuring links to table and index statistics and usage reports.
  5. And of course a bunch of new table and index scope statistics and usage reports that is now available to you.
  6. Significant changes in SQL Assistant's system tray menu. Many available tools now can be launched directly and quickly right from the menu. And just a hint, if you make SQL Assistant's icon in the system tray always visible, you can access all the tools with just two clicks.
  7. Multiple enhancements in SQL Assistant SQL Editor, including multiple new features for tab management, such as cloning open tabs, closing tabs to the right and left of the active tab, and more.
  8. A number of SQL Intellisense enhancements for various databases including but not limited to supporting MySQL INSERT...SET... syntax, MariaDB Oracle compatibility mode, better column suggestions after SELECT DISTINCT..., and others.
  9. Graphical Explain Plan for SQLite.

Database management enhancements and new features

  1. Snowflake - complete graphical database and schema management interface.
  2. DB2 - support for updating table statistics and table reorgs right from the menus, no longer need to run command line tools manually on the server.
  3. MariaDB - support for MariaDB packages.
  4. SQLite - new Session Monitor for monitoring SQLite connections.

Miscellaneous

  1. 64-bit version of SQL Assistant Plugin Development IDE (included with v12.2.387).
  2. Further enhancements for supporting SQL Assistant automatic recovery after Windows unattended updates and shutdowns.
  3. A number of other minor improvements and bug fixes.

 

SoftTree SQL Assistant v12.1 (maintenance release) - What's New

March 21, 2022

Short introduction

We believe the new personal workspace database feature introduced in 12.1 delivers great productivity boost. This feature supports super simple methods for saving the data you work with, and quickly retrieving it later without needing to rerun long running queries again; and then comparing historical results saved over a period of time. It also enables advanced data analysis and data enrichment, across data sources data aggregations, and so on. As a teaser, imagine clicking a data grid populated with results of a long running query, selecting "Save to Workspace", and then using SQL queries or other built-in tools to join saved grid results with data from another database, another data grid, or with data from an external CSV file.

New database systems and interfaces

  1. Support for Apache Cassandra and DataStax Enterprise databases, with full CQL/SQL intellisense, full graphical schema management. Most SQL Assistant tools and features available for relational SQL databases can be used with Cassandra too, including direct data migration to and from other databases.
  2. Support for Snowflake databases and warehouses, most SQL Assistant tools and features available for relational databases can be used with Snowflake, including advanced SQL Intellisense, schema compare, data export and import, and so on...
  3. Enhanced support for SQLite with new built-in native driver connections enabling use of regular expressions in SQL queries, table and index space usage stats, JSON data handling, attaching external data files as tables, supported by Visual Database Documenter, Schema Compare, and other SQL Assistant tools now enabled for SQLite.

New major features and significant enhancements

  1. Personal workspace database, simply put this is the new productivity enhancement that can change how you work with your databases. With a couple of clicks you can now save data grids and results of queries to your personal workspace and then return to them later, query them like other tables, join/enrich with other data, and of course update their data too! We believe this new feature redefines the meaning of productive database development and analytical use. Easily much and mix data from different database, catalog and save query results and more, its your personal database that you can share with others too.
  2. Many enhancements in the SQL History. The entire feature has been completely redesigned and now supports storing history for long time, not limited to the current session time; It now supports fuzzy searches and code filtering, enables reusing historical SQL statements across databases, provides more efficient UI with important details shown at the top of the queries and not important details compressed or hidden by default.
  3. New and enhanced functions for working with CSV files. You can use the new Data File Query utility to query and update data in CSV files as if they were tables in a relational database using full power of SQL language, regular expressions, transactions, and so on...
  4. The new Data File Transformation utility further extends advanced support for CSV files, enabling you to add, remove, modify, and rearrange columns, remove duplicate data, pivot columns and rows, filter using regular expressions, and make other transformational file changes, all that without needing a desktop spreadsheet program.
  5. Many small and not so small SQL Intellisense enhancements including but not limited to advanced intellisense for index specific DDL operations, triggers, smarter Intellisense for schema context, suggestions for arguments for built-in database functions, improved JOINs suggestions display differentiating referenced and referencing tables, and more.
  6. Improvements in Database Messages pane including new searching and filtering capabilities, integration with SQL History, and so on...
  7. Significant changes in how SQL Assistant's Reports handle their queries. You can now use SQL scripts with multiple statements to retrieve the report data.
  8. Now supporting data exports to Parquet files.

Database management enhancements

  1. All supported databases - the Update Statistics utility is now run in the background, you can continue working while it's updating table statistics in the database.
  2. PostgreSQL - Graphical dashboard and session monitors for PostgreSQL now show progress of work of long operations (PostgreSQL 11.x and later).
  3. PostgreSQL - enhanced handling of partitioned tables, including but not limited to better SQL Intellisense, scripting DDL for the common table and all its partitions in one atomic operation.
  4. PostgreSQL - Top Functions graphical monitor.
  5. SQLite - Table and index space usage statistics.
  6. Oracle - Graphical partition and subpartition manager.

Miscellaneous

  1. Updated add-ons for Visual Studio 17 and previous versions which now enable using SQL Assistant immediately after the installation and don't require installing additional database specific extensions, like Visual Studio Database Tools or T-SQL Query Editor.
  2. SQL Assistant's SQL Editor now preserves BOM in Unicode script files saved with BOM, as well as it can add BOM if such file encoding is selected.
  3. SQL Assistant can better support automatic Windows updates and can automatically recover its environment after updates and restarts.
  4. A number of other minor improvements.

 

SoftTree SQL Assistant v12.0 (major release) - What's New

November 2, 2021

New database systems

  1. Now supporting MongoDB with MongoDB Connector for BI.

New major features

  1. Full featured reporting with integrated report designer, templates and wizards, and numerous predefined administrative reports.
  2. New ETL Orchestrator for automating ETL and ELT tasks, and other repetitive database processes.
  3. Completely reworked Load Generator, upgraded to Database Benchmarking with ready-to-run templates for simulating real life applications and for application and database performance benchmarking.
  4. New multifunctional task-oriented SQL Profiler for PostgreSQL.
  5. New multifunctional task-oriented SQL Profiler for Oracle.
  6. Data import and export from/to Parquet files.
  7. New Oracle Table and Index Defragger.
  8. New plugins for Eclipse 4.x platform, and for DBeaver 20.x.
  9. New Oracle Tablespace Manager with graphical space allocation maps.
  10. New universal Go To menu for quickly jumping to specific lines, bookmarks, regions, etc...

Significant enhancements

  1. Greatly improved intellisense for DDL commands including in place suggestions for specific objects and options, graphically selected changes, and more.
  2. Support for high resolution monitors with high DPI.
  3. Bootstrap queries for new database connections.
  4. Many enhancements in the source code control interfaces, supporting now all recognized object types, code branching, ignore lists and filtering for insignificant and unwanted objects, new and improved advanced wizard for source control project and repository setup, and so on...
  5. Source code control for TFS now supports non-English based environments. Source code control for Perforce now supports different file encodings.
  6. Code Structure View is enhanced with code regions.
  7. New SQLite databases can be now created directly from the Connection dialog.
  8. Unit testing framework now supports all SQL Assistant recognizable object types.
  9. Unit testing framework can now save unit test execution results in an unified XML format supporting multiple result sets and types of unit test outputs; enabling reading results from upstream test cases and feeding them to downstream test cases.
  10. Unit testing framework now supports advanced validation of test case results using multiple new methods including custom SQL queries, Visual Basic scripting, Pascal scripting, etc...
  11. Schema Compare and visual schema management tools for SQL Server and Azure now support XML indexes and Spatial indexes.
  12. Asynchronous execution of Data Transfer and XML Import/Export tasks.
  13. Enhanced data scripting functions with support for multi-row inserts and several other new options.
  14. Enhancements for interactive code snippets, the $OBJECT$ code automation macro now supports many new types of schema objects.
  15. Improved integration with MS Access providing full featured popup SQL editor with code highlighting, SQL Intellisense, DB Explorer, Code Structure, and all other functions supported by SQL Assistant.
  16. Improved integration with Visual Studio 2017 and 2019, now supporting scripts opened from the Server Explorer.

Other enhancements

  1. Compatibility changes with latest database versions.
  2. Tons of other minor and not so minor improvements, too many to fit here.

 

 

Changes in Other Versions

See What's New 11.x page for details on new features added in SQL Assistant version 11.x releases.

See What's New 10.x page for details on new features added in SQL Assistant version 10.x releases.

See What's New 9.x page for details on new features added in SQL Assistant version 9.x releases.

See What's New 7.x page for details on new features added in SQL Assistant version 7.x releases.

See What's New 6.x page for details on new features added in SQL Assistant version 6.x releases.

See What's New 5.x page for details on new features added in SQL Assistant version 5.x releases.

See What's New page for details on new features added in SQL Assistant versions 2.x - 4.x.