Using and Building Query Analyzer Templates - Page 3

This will place the template code in my QA window at the position of my mouse. Also, the code remains selected. Leaving the code selected can be useful, especially if my mouse happens to jump and the code gets inserted into the wrong position. By leaving it highlighted, a little pointer mistake can easily be undone with the delete button or by using the cut/paste functions.

Once I get the Create Table Basic Template located in my script in the appropriate spot, I click anywhere in the QA window to remove the highlight from the template code. Now my code should look something like this:

-- ============================================= -- Basic Create Database Template -- ============================================= IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM master..sysdatabases WHERE name = N'DEMO_DB') DROP DATABASE DEMO_DB GO CREATE DATABASE DEMO_DB GO -- ============================================= -- Create table basic template -- ============================================= IF EXISTS(SELECT name FROM sysobjects WHERE name = N'' AND type = 'U') DROP TABLE GO CREATE TABLE ( NULL, NOT NULL) GO

Note that this template has five different parameters: table_name, column_1, datatype_for_column_1, column_2, and datatype_for_column_2. Once again I will use the Replace Template Parameters menu to set the replacement values for these parameters. But first l need to determine what values I would like for each of the parameters. Here are the values I plan to use:

table_name = 'MyDemo'
column_1 = 'ID'
datatype_for_column_1 = 'int'
column_2 = 'Description'
date type_for_column_2 = 'varchar(50)'

Now that I know what I would like for each template value, I bring up the Replace Template Parameters menu, which should look like this:

Notice that there are five different parameters to enter this time, and the menu is positioning my cursor on the first parameter (table_name). I enter "MyDemo" for a table name and then hit the down arrow to go to the next parameter. For column_1, I enter ID and then hit the down arrow. Now at this point I am on the datatype_for_column_1 field. Since the template has a default value for this column of "int," I have two choices. I can either enter "int," or I can just take the default by using the down arrow. I'm lazy, so the down arrow works for me. Now for column_2, I want to enter "Description" and then use the down arrow. For the datatype_for_column_2 value, I notice it defaults to "int" and I want a "varchar(50)," so I replace the default "int" value with "varchar(50)."

My Replace Template Parameter menu looks like this after I have entered a value for each parameter:

At this point I can hit ENTER, or I can click on the "Replace All" button. After doing one of these, my code in QA will look like this:

-- ============================================= -- Basic Create Database Template -- ============================================= IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM master..sysdatabases WHERE name = N'Demo_DB') DROP DATABASE Demo_DB GO CREATE DATABASE Demo_DB GO -- ============================================= -- Create table basic template -- ============================================= IF EXISTS(SELECT name FROM sysobjects WHERE name = N'MyDemo' AND type = 'U') DROP TABLE MyDemo GO CREATE TABLE MyDemo ( ID int NULL, Description varchar(50) NOT NULL) GO

Page 4: Building Custom Templates