SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is an integrated environment for managing any SQL infrastructure, from SQL Server to SQL Database. SSMS provides tools to configure, monitor, and administer instances of SQL. How To Open a SQL Server Database by Using the SQL Server.NET Data Provider with Visual Basic.NET. This article describes how you can use ADO.NET to open a SQL Server database by using the SQL Server.NET data provider. ADO.NET gathers all of the classes that are required for data handling. Start Visual Studio.NET,. Open SQL Server Object Explorer in Visual Studio, expand your instance and development database, right-click the Tables folder and choose Add New Table. This opens the Table Designer at the top and a code panel to enter TSQL, at the bottom. Turn Visual Studio Code into a powerful editor for Transact-SQL (T-SQL) development with the mssql extension available in the VS Code Marketplace. The mssql extension is optimized to work with SQL Server running on-premises, in any cloud, Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
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A very common task for database administrators and developers is to connect to a live database, design or browse its schema and query against its objects. The SQL Server Object Explorer in Visual Studio now contains a dedicated SQL Server node, under which all connected SQL Server instances and their databases are grouped in an SSMS-like hierarchy. The connected SQL Server instances can be an on-premise one, such as running SQL Server 2008 or an off-premise SQL Azure instance.
The following procedure assumes that you already have the AdventureWorks sample database installed. Use CodePlex to locate and install sample databases for different SQL Server versions. If you prefer, you can also follow the steps and use an existing database on your server.
Visual Studio On A Mac
To connect to a database instance
Visual Studio For Mac Os X
In Visual Studio, make sure that SQL Server Object Explorer is open. If it is not, click the View menu and select SQL Server Object Explorer.
Right-click the SQL Server node in SQL Server Object Explorer and select Add SQL Server.
In the Connect to Server dialog box, enter the Server name of the server instance you want to connect to, your credentials, and click Connect.
In SQL Server Object Explorer, expand the Databases node under your server instance. You will see all the databases residing in this server instance added under this Databases node.
Expand the AdventureWorks (or another database) node. You will notice that all the database entities are organized in a hierarchy similar to SQL Server Management Studio.