You can connect to your databases, type T-SQL code, execute it, view results, save them as JSON or CSV files, and get rich language features like IntelliSense (code completion), syntax highlighting, linting, code navigation, and snippets. It’s pretty sweet!

For example, let’s say you want to connect to your SQL Server database running on-premises. First, make sure VS Code is installed on your computer (Linux, macOS or Windows). Then, open the Extensions view from the Side Bar and search for “mssql”. Click Install and reload when prompted.

Once you’ve got that set up, you can easily connect to SQL databases using VS Code by clicking on the Connect button in the toolbar or pressing Ctrl+Shift+P (Command+Shift+P on macOS) and typing “mssql:connect”. You’ll be prompted for your server name, authentication type, username, password, and database.

After you connect to a database, you can start writing T-SQL code in the editor. As you type, VS Code will provide intelligent code completion suggestions for schema object names (tables, columns, views), parameter help for functions and procedures when connected to a database, linting for potential syntax errors, Peek Definition or Go to Definition to browse the definition of schema objects, and T-SQL snippets for commonly used statements.

For example, let’s say you want to write a query that selects all rows from a table named “Customers”. You can type “SELECT * FROM” followed by Ctrl+Space (Command+Space on macOS) to get code completion suggestions for schema object names in the current database. Then, choose “Customers” and press Enter. VS Code will automatically complete the statement with the correct syntax and highlight any errors or warnings as you type.

Overall, using Transact-SQL in Visual Studio Code can save you time and make your coding experience more enjoyable by providing rich language features and easy connectivity to SQL databases running on-premises or in any cloud. Give it a try!