SoftTree SQL Assistant 2.x to 4.x - What's New

New in Version 4.8 - October 14, 2009
  • Redesigned SQL Intellisense for manually activated prompts Ctrl+Space hotkey. Manually activated Intellisense prompts are now much smarter and in most cases match or exceed functionality of automatic while-you-type context prompts.
  • Support for old and new versions of MySQL client software up to version v5.4. MySQL clients 4.x can now be used for connections to MySQL 5.x servers.
  • Column-name based JOIN suggestions support Oracle synonyms.
  • Column-level in JOIN suggestions is now automatically expanded for greater coding efficiency.
  • New "Never" option added for Always Add Delimiters options.
  • Functions for scripting table data now support breaking long scripts into batches and printing progress of work messages.
  • Performance optimizations of data-previews. SQL Assistant now generates query syntax allowing the database server to choose best execution plan. Performance gains for data-preview typically exceed 400% in SQL Server and Oracle, when data-preview is used with large tables and complex views.
  • Enhanced integration with different types and versions of SQL Server Management Studio and Management Studio Express.
  • Compatibility changes for latest versions of ApexSQL Editor.
  • Other minor enhancements and usability changes.

New in Version 4.7 - August 31, 2009
  • Scripting table data in multi-database formats.
  • Ability to cancel running queries without closing SQL Editor/IDE.
  • New macros for supporting table key columns in code snippets.
  • Smart use of Home and End keys and highlighting of trailing spaces.
  • Intellisense support for SQL Server 2008 MERGE statement.
  • Compatibility changes for supporting latest versions of UltraEdit and PL/SQL Developer.
  • New pre-configured target settings for Notepad++ editor.
  • Support for team development and sharing of settings, macros, formatting rules, etc – new Options Import/Export graphical and command line interfaces.
  • Other minor enhancements and usability changes.

New in Version 4.6 - March 12, 2009
  • New Visual Bookmarks feature revolutionizes usage of code bookmarks, transforming this obscure and rarely used function available in many code editors into one that you will love and use often.
  • Code Structure View and Code Bird's View are now sticky and can be set to open automatically in every editor window of chosen targets.
  • Mouse-over hints for procedure and function parameters, for table and view columns for objects whose names contain spaces and special symbols.
  • Search capabilities added to SQL Reference.
  • Smart handling of Home/End keys for improved coding productivity.
  • Support for global variables and built-in functions in Sybase ASE and Sybase ASA.
  • Automatic end-of-line text conversion from Unix to Windows conventions when copying database code from the Procedural Code View.
  • Support for executing very large SQL files.
  • Scrollable mouse-over hints for tables with lots of columns and procedures with lots of parameters.
  • Support for SQLCMD scripts in SQL Server 2008.
  • Other minor enhancements and usability changes.

New in Version 4.5 - January 24, 2009
  • One-click comparison for code in the editor against database, files, other editors.
  • Added optional display of table constraints and indexed columns in column popups and mouse-over hints.
  • Mouse-over hints for procedure and function parameters and for table and view columns.
  • Added auto-connect feature for non-shared connections. Now you can set the connection and forget about it, no need to use the Connect dialog.
  • Support added for DB2 aliases, sequences, and types.
  • Support added for pass-through queries in MS Access.
  • Auto-completed INSERT and UPDATE statements now automatically check for and skip identity columns.
  • Support added for SQL Scrapbook window in Eclipse and Eclipse based products.
  • Oracle procedural code compilation errors are recognized reported as code execution errors.
  • All popups now remember user-selected size.
  • All dialogs are now resizable.
  • Other minor enhancements and usability changes.

New in Version 4.1 - December 1, 2008
  • Code highlighting for matching object, variable, column names
  • One-click sorting in data preview.
  • Code Snippets added to menus with shortcuts
  • Variable data-type hints on mouse-over
  • Enhanced data-types alignment in formatted table and variable declarations, multi-line procedure parameters, etc...
  • Support added for package and type scope variables in Oracle procedural objects.
  • Updated SQL References for Oracle and MySQL - added description, syntax, interactive building of regular expressions.
  • "Smart Undo" feature.
  • Optional tab characters replacement with spaces.
  • SQL code copying to the clipboard as a "string" in a specific programming language format, as a dynamic SQL script, or a batch file (formats include C#, Java, VB, PHP, Perl, and many others)
  • Automatic expansion of uniquely identified schema names in popups.
  • Other minor enhancements and usability changes.

New in Version 4.0 - October 21, 2008
  • Enhanced 4th-generation SQL IntelliSense+ functionality, now supporting intelligent keyword suggestions, package variables, and more.
  • New real-time syntax checker automatically highlights syntax errors, incorrect object and column names, undeclared variables etc...
  • Rebuild SQL Formatter – industry's most advanced SQL, T-SQL, PL/SQL, MySQL, … code formatter and beautifier supports multiple code layout and formatting styles, provides great extensibility, and code layout customization features.
  • Multi-server SQL script execution function allows one-click code execution on multiple servers.
  • Support for Postgre SQL.
  • Support for DB2 for iSeries.
  • Updated SQL References for Oracle 11g and DB2 9.5
  • New manual and self-check for updates feature with automatic downloading and installation of new versions, by default set to weekly schedule.
  • New _WOW_ code snippets for SQL Server and MySQL. Do not miss them, try them as soon as you get this upgrade!
  • New preconfigured targets for pgAdmin III.
  • New preconfigured targets for PowerBuilder.
  • New preconfigured targets for "Express" versions of Visual Studio 2008.
  • Targets for Visual Studio 2005/2008 enhanced to activate SQL Assistant only in files with .SQL and .DDL extensions and in the SQL query builder window.
  • Updated "Objects (MSSQL)" query now supports INFORMATION_SCHEMA in SQL Server 2005/2008 systems.
  • Filters tightened for Toad based targets to eliminate popups in inappropriate places.
  • SQL Assistant's configuration files moved to user's Application Data folder to simplify installation and use via Remote Desktop and on Windows Vista systems..
  • Numerous other minor enhancements and usability changes.

New in Version 3.5 - April 25, 2008
  • Use of coding history cache has been turbo-charged. Code suggestions based on historical coding patterns are available in many places.
  • Eclipse plug-in. That's right, SQL Assistant can be now used with Eclipse and derivate products, including Eclipse Data Tools Platform
  • Multiple column selection lists are supported in UPDATE and INSERT statement. Checkboxes have been added to these column list allowing to choose multiple columns at once.
  • Multiple-column foreign keys are supported in JOIN clauses. The entire JOIN with all columns can be now added with a single mouse click or a single key-press.
  • New Code Bird's View feature helps to navigate long files and scripts, supporting jumps between code fragments without scrolling and reading the actual code.
  • New coding statistics and productivity gain display. Some of our internal tests achieved as much as 1200% productivity gain from using SQL Assistant! Try it for yourself.
  • Additional code-wrapping options have been added to formatting rules.
  • Support for batch delimiters available for all environments, including parsing and support for MySQL's DELIMITER keyword and DB2's SET TERMINATOR.
  • Expanded support for Oracle objects and packages - added code IntelliSense for types, type and package constants, exception handlers and declarations, package and type scope records.
  • New code block commenting/uncommenting function can be used with non-SQL editors such Notepad, UltraEdit and other not supporting such commonly used function. Numerous other minor enhancements and usability changes..
  • New graphical menus for enhanced user experience.
  • Numerous other minor enhancements and usability changes.

New in Version 3.1 - February 16, 2008
  • Direct code execution – Notepad and all other simple editors can now fully compete with specialized SQL editors and development environments.
  • Table data mini-preview (single-click on a table, view, or synonym shows first 100 records)
  • Support for MS Access as a back-end database, via direct integration with Access IDE and via ODBC database connection from other SQL editors (for example, you can now run MS Access queries and make data changes from Notepad).
  • Data export to Excel and text files.
  • SQL Code Structure support for CALL statements and other enhancements in the Structure view.
  • DB2 and MySQL – support for FOR NOT FOUND and CURSOR..FOR constructs.
  • Connection interception for SSMS in SQL Server 2008 (Katmai).
  • Add-on registration for SSMS in SQL Server 2008 (Katmai).
  • Branch expansion in popups and enhanced multi-level item filtering in expanded branches.
  • Full support for synonyms in SQL 2005/2008
  • New options to fully or partially qualify object names.
  • Formatting code enhancements – added support for code structures beginning with the same keyword, for example, BEGIN and BEGIN TRY.
  • Logical join completion for subqueries - joins between tables referenced in the main query and tables referenced in subqueries.
  • Support for join candidates using matching column names.
  • Introduced 2 new macro-variables in code snippets for generating vertical column and parameter lists.
  • Improved code auto-indent handling.
  • Reworked and expanded database connection handling. Starting with this version ADO.NET-based and ODBC-based connections can be used with all supported database systems. For ODBC-based connections both DSN and DSN-less connections are now supported.
  • Client-side authentication is now supported for DB2 and Sybase database connections using ADO.NET interfaces.
  • Numerous other minor enhancements and usability changes.

New in Version 3.0 - December 6, 2007
  • Context SQL suggestions based on the typing history.
  • Matching brackets and code block delimiters (BEGIN..END, IF..END IF, LOOP..END LOOP, etc...) highlighting and one-click navigation
  • One-step complete SELECT statement generation after selecting columns in SELECT prompt.
  • Support for multiple-column selection using check boxes in SELECT  and other prompts.
  • Advanced Auto-indent features.
  • Support for procedure parameters in MySQL.
  • Support for subqueries and derived tables with variable parameters in SQL Server.
  • Code syntax validation for DB2 and MySQL.
  • Support for objects and columns declared in temp tables and table variables.
  • Code expansion for * and other elements in DML statements.
  • Advanced code completion in DML statements and statement generation based on selection of a JOIN or WHERE clause.
  • Context suggestions for code expansion in DDL statements. Context sensitive help with DDL commands.
  • Support for multiple formatting styles.
  • Advanced code snippets for auto-generating object-specific code fragments.
  • Advanced selection and code generation of variables in DECLARE statements.
  • Improved popup activation after dot or bracket.
  • Auto-generation of table aliases.
  • Support for MySQL native client connections.
  • MySQL Query Browser Connect Interception.
  • IntelliSense list content filtering control added to Options.
  • Improved code formatting - control of bracket positioning.
  • Built-in add-ons for SSMS, VS, VS for Database Team Professionals (former Data Dude).
  • Support for Toad for MySQL/DB2/SQL Server.
  • Expiremental support for Sybase databases.

New in Version 2.5 - August 21, 2007
  • New one-click Procedural Code View - with a single click you can lookup and browse code of referenced procedures, functions, packages or just type the name and click it
  • New integrated spell checker for SQL code comments and hard-coded string
  • Improvements in Code Formatter and Beautifier
  • Smarter IntelliSense in the code auto-completion features
  • Enhancements in the Code Structure View - added support for loops and conditional statements, support for more types of SQL commands
  • Added support for more SQL editors and IDEs
  • Significant improvements made in the Options making it easier then ever to customize SQL Assistant behavior.
  • other minor improvements over version 2.0

New in Version 2.0 - May 4, 2007
  • Support for MySQL and DB2 databases and editors
  • Support for more editors and IDEs for SQL Server and Oracle with more flexible customization options
  • Code Structure View for quick code navigation - anyone who deals with large SQL files would much appreciate this new feature
  • Advanced code IntelliSense and auto-completion for extended set of SQL commands, including many DML and DDL commands
  • New code auto-expansion options
  • Smart code auto-indent feature
  • Code Formatter and Beautifier
  • Code syntax validation for all Oracle and SQL Server editors, can be used even with Notepad
  • other minor improvements over version 1.0