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Setting Different Colors for Connections in SSMS

  • September 16, 2013 at 11:20 pm

    #278013

    Comments posted to this topic are about the item Setting Different Colors for Connections in SSMS

  • September 17, 2013 at 2:39 am

    #1650698

    Nice and interesting article. I didn't know it.

    Thanks

    IgorMi

    Igor Micev,My blog: www.igormicev.com

  • September 17, 2013 at 5:39 am

    #1650747

    Thanks for sharing this , this is really interesting feature . 🙂

  • September 17, 2013 at 6:30 am

    #1650760

    Hi Peter, What a nice tip!

    Paul Hernández

  • September 17, 2013 at 6:45 am

    #1650765

    Thanks Peter. I have always wanted to do something like this. BTW: If you have never registered a server (like me until moments ago) your list will be empty. Here are the instructions on how to register servers: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188231.aspx

    <><
    Livin' down on the cube farm. Left, left, then a right.

  • September 17, 2013 at 6:47 am

    #1650767

    Thanks. That is a helpful little trick and although just a small thing it is the sort of thin that can help without you realizing. Cheers:-)

  • September 17, 2013 at 7:06 am

    #1650776

    Thanks for the tip. Learned two items today. Registration of servers and how to set colors.

    Has anyone tried the SSMS Tools pack add-in? Any stability issues with the add-in? The ability to search in the grid is alone worth the install. It would save the copy/paste into Word, Excel or notepad to do a search

    Anton

  • September 17, 2013 at 7:07 am

    #1650779

    Great article. One observation though, SQL Prompt Tab coloring is only offered for SSMS 2012.

  • September 17, 2013 at 8:20 am

    #1650808

    Green for dev.

    Yellow for test.

    Red for prod.

    And moved the status bar to the top of the query window so I could easily see what environment I'm in.

    It's saved me a lot of "oh geez" moments.

  • September 17, 2013 at 8:37 am

    #1650813

    richard.leatherman (9/17/2013)

    Great article. One observation though, SQL Prompt Tab coloring is only offered for SSMS 2012.

    Thanks, Richard. I've only been using SSMS 2012 since shortly after the 2012 release so wasn't aware of that. I wish it offered a little better customization, but it works well for a general idea of which tab is which at a glance.

  • September 17, 2013 at 8:40 am

    #1650815

    Tobar (9/17/2013)

    Thanks Peter. I have always wanted to do something like this. BTW: If you have never registered a server (like me until moments ago) your list will be empty. Here are the instructions on how to register servers: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188231.aspx%5B/quote%5D

    Good point, Tobar. I started with the assumption that people had SQL Servers registered or knew how to do so. One of the first things I do on a new machine or new install of SQL Server is ensure that I have the "Registered Servers" and "Object Explorer" panels visible. I then classify and register every server with which I'll be working. As I start using them, I set the colors - especially for production servers.

  • September 17, 2013 at 8:43 am

    #1650819

    aochss (9/17/2013)

    Thanks for the tip. Learned two items today. Registration of servers and how to set colors.

    Has anyone tried the SSMS Tools pack add-in? Any stability issues with the add-in? The ability to search in the grid is alone worth the install. It would save the copy/paste into Word, Excel or notepad to do a search

    Anton

    I started using the SSMS Tools Pack shortly after it was released. Connection coloring was spotty with prior versions of SSMS and didn't always change properly if I changed a connection for the current query window. The connection color ability in SSMS Tools Pack as well as the Query History functionality was well worth the price of registration. (Registration only needed for SSMS 2012 and higher.)

    I've had no issues with the add-in except for the one time my machine name changed and I was logging to my local SQL Server. I had to change the Query History options to avoid regular warnings about the server not existing.

  • September 17, 2013 at 8:48 am

    #1650821

    I'm not sure what's going on but I'm using SQL Server 2005 Developer's Edition (SP3) and the "Use Custom Color" checkbox is not present. Are you sure that this feature is available in 2005?

    --Jeff Moden

    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • September 17, 2013 at 8:52 am

    #1650823

    Jeff Moden (9/17/2013)

    I'm not sure what's going on but I'm using SQL Server 2005 Developer's Edition (SP3) and the "Use Custom Color" checkbox is not present. Are you sure that this feature is available in 2005?

    Jeff, I am not sure about this. I used SSMS 2012 when I wrote this article. It's very possible that we could not use a custom color in SSMS 2005. I actually stopped trying to use the native functionality in 2005 and 2008 because I do a lot of Connection Changes for my current windows and SSMS colors don't follow those changes reliably. I switched to the SSMS Tools Pack for connection coloring and never really looked back after that. 🙂

  • September 17, 2013 at 8:53 am

    #1650824

    One thing to note is that the color doesn't show up when doing an action that doesn't have a status bar (Edit Top 200 Rows, Design, Add Table).

    Too bad, since this is where I am most likely to lose track of which database I am making changes to.

    However, still worth when editing scripts.

    Anton

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