Awesome SQL Code Review Tools for Developers

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Introduction

In the world of software development, SQL (Structured Query Language) is a fundamental tool for managing and manipulating data within relational databases. Writing good SQL code helps you better query the database. For this, we definitely have to review the code at regular intervals.

We have discussed a lot about code review in the previous article. You can look at those articles here. In those articles, we have discussed code review in general with programming. But in this article, we are going to look into a particular language that is SQL.

So, today we are going to look into some of the tools that can help you in reviewing SQL code. These tools will assist in a variety of domain that is related to SQL such as code analysis, formatting, refactoring, and code documentation.

What is SQL and the importance of Code Review?

SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It is a standard programming language used for managing and manipulating relational databases. It has various syntaxes and commands for performing different tasks in the database. It can include creating, quering, modifying, and administrating the database.

In short, it interacts with the database by executing specific queries. With its widespread adoption and versatility, SQL has become a crucial tool for developers, database administrators, data analysts, and other professionals working with relational databases.

Importance of Code Review

Code review is without a doubt one of the crucial parts of software development. Let’s look from the perspective of SQL in terms of code review. With code review, you can improve the SQL code. It can help in the following:

• Performance Optimizing: Removing inefficient query structure, and data retrieval can lead to improved query execution time. Optimized SQL queries result in faster data retrieval and processing, minimizing application latency and enhancing user experience.
• Security and Vulnerability Mitigation: Code Review will also help in identifying security vulnerabilities. It also leads to the implementation of best practices for securing data. Reviewers can detect potential SQL injection points, inadequate authentication mechanisms, or data exposure risks
• Data Integrity: By carefully examining SQL queries, reviewers can identify potential data inconsistencies, constraint violations, or erroneous data modifications.
• Compliance with Standards and Regulations: With code review, we can check whether the standards and regulations have been implemented properly. There

SQL Prompt

Write, format, analyze, and refactor your SQL effortlessly

SQL Prompt is a tool that will enhance your productivity for SQL server management. It can help you to write, format, analyze, and refactor SQL code wit more efficiently. It can work with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and Visual Studio.

It provides a number of features that can help you in writing better code. This feature includes:

• Code Completion
• Intellisense
• Formatting
• Refactoring
• Analysis

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SQL Enlight

DETECT DEFECTS, FORMAT, AND REFACTOR T-SQL CODE

SQL Enlight is a static code analysis and refactoring tool for SQL Server. It helps developers improve their SQL code quality by detecting potential problems, such as design flaws, performance bottlenecks, and security vulnerabilities.

SQL Enlight can be used to analyze both individual queries and entire databases. It can also be integrated with popular development environments, such as Visual Studio and SQL Server Management Studio.

Here are some features of the tool that you look forward to using it.

• Code formatting
• Refactoring
• Code Analysis
• Continuous Integration

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SonarLint

Clean code begins in your IDE with the tool

SonarLint is an open-source tool that helps in code analysis. It has support for various programming languages that also includes SQL. It can provide real-time feedback on your code. It can check for your code quality, issues, and potential security negligence in your code. It can easily be integrated with IDEs like Visual Studio and IntelliJ IDEA>

SonarLint for SQL can help you find the following types of issues:

• Technical debt
• Security vulnerabilities
• Performance bottlenecks
• Bugs

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dbForge SQL Complete

Advanced Autocompletion, Pretty SQL Formatting, Smart Code Refactoring

dbForge SQL Complete is another tool to help you in writing better code. It is a commercial tool that offers code completion, code formatting, and code refactoring for SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, and other databases.

It can help you in writing faster, better, and more reliable SQL code.

Here are the features that you

• IntelliSense
• Code formatting
• Code refactoring
• SQL code analysis

Conclusion

It is important to refactor your code. As a developer, we might not see some errors in your code. With tools that are available, we can do this with more ease. We can automate the refactoring code with these tools. By automating the process of finding and fixing errors, these tools can help to improve the quality of code, reduce the risk of data corruption, and improve the overall performance of database applications.

The above list of tools is kind of similar and unique in each way. They perform identical tasks of code formatting and refactoring, especially for SQL tools. But how are they integrated into your workspace is different. I will recommend you use each to find what suits you the best.

I hope this article has provided you with a valuable list of tools for SQL code review. Thanks for reading the article.

Comments

[Silas Meyer]

explainmysql.com is a good one

[Suraj Vishwakarma]

Which is your favorite tool for refactoring code?

[Okoro chimezie bright]

nice work thanks for sharing

[Rufai5]

I love this, it's really a great work

[Vipul Gupta]

There are several SQL code review tools available that can help developers improve the quality, performance, and maintainability of their SQL code. Here are some popular SQL code review tools:

1. SQLLint: SQLLint is a command-line tool that analyzes SQL code for syntax errors, potential performance issues, and coding best practices. It provides suggestions and recommendations to improve code quality and follows widely accepted SQL coding standards.
2. SQL Enlight: SQL Enlight is a commercial tool that offers code analysis, formatting, and refactoring capabilities for SQL Server databases. It helps identify code smells, potential performance bottlenecks, and coding violations. It also provides customizable rules and integrates with popular development environments.
3. SQL Code Guard: SQL Code Guard is a Visual Studio extension that provides real-time code analysis and quality checks for SQL Server databases. It detects common coding issues, unused objects, and potential performance problems. It integrates seamlessly with the Visual Studio IDE.
4. SonarQube: SonarQube is a widely used code analysis platform that supports multiple programming languages, including SQL. It offers static code analysis, detects code smells, and enforces coding standards. It provides detailed reports and integrates with popular development environments.
5. Redgate SQL Prompt: Redgate SQL Prompt is a SQL code completion and formatting tool that can also help with code review. It provides intelligent suggestions, enforces coding standards, and helps identify potential issues in SQL code.
6. dbForge SQL Complete: dbForge SQL Complete is a SQL code completion and productivity tool that offers code analysis and review features. It checks SQL code against best practices, highlights potential errors, and offers suggestions for code improvement.

These tools can assist developers in identifying and rectifying common mistakes, improving code quality, and adhering to best practices. It's important to choose a tool that aligns with your specific database platform and development environment.