As a .Net Developer, I always install SSMS on my development machine and use it quite often when I’m integrating my code with the database.

However, recently I’ve noticed I’m wasting a lot of time – first waiting for SSMS to load and second to observer what Foreign Keys are involved in a relationship.

A Dozen More Clicks

To view the details of a foreign key relationship in SSMS, you need to execute at least 4 actions and the more relationships you need to observe the worse it gets.

Superior Solution

Recently, I’ve “discovered” the Sql Server Object Explorer in Visual Studio 2012. Simply put the design view in VS2012 is superior.

You can observer Primary Keys, Alternate Keys, Indexes, Constraints, Foreign Keys and Triggers all in one click. You can update the database using the design view or changing the sql code from this view as well.

Who know staying in Visual Studio 2012 would actually increase your productivity.

Oh and of course, it helps greatly if you have multiple monitors (who doesn’t these days) and drag the design tab to your second monitor.