Visual Studio Hacks

Debug SQL Server #40

Chapter 5, Debugging

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157

HACK

Web applications are constantly trying to behave more like their Windows

client brethren, and this means more and more client-side scripting. The

ability to debug client-side script can save tremendous amounts of time

when trying to find bugs in it or when simply trying to understand the flow

of the application.

HACK

#40

Debug SQL Server Hack #40

Learn how to use Visual Studio to debug Transact SQL stored procedures or

functions.

SQL statements can be difficult to diagnose and debug. SQL Server does not

include any default way to debug and step through a stored procedure, but

Visual Studio does. Using the Server Explorer, you can step through the exe-

cution of a stored procedure or function right inside of Visual Studio. The

first step is to open the Server Explorer and create a data connection to your

database

[Hack #74].

You will then see the stored procedures and functions of your database

listed in the Server Explorer; these objects for the Northwind database are

shown in Figure 5-21.

From the Server Explorer, you can right-click on a stored procedure or func-

tion and you will see a menu item named Step Into Stored Procedure, as

shown in Figure 5-22.

When you select Step Into Stored Procedure, you will see the Run Stored

Procedure dialog that is shown in Figure 5-23.

Figure 5-20. Debugging client-side script

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Chapter 5, Debugging

#40 Debug SQL Server ...