Using SQL Query Analyzer

SQL Query Analyzer is a Microsoft® Win32® application that is an excellent tool for the ad hoc, interactive execution of Transact-SQL statements and scripts. To use SQL Query Analyzer, users must understand Transact-SQL.

In SQL Query Analyzer, users enter Transact-SQL statements in a full-text window, execute the statements, and view the results in a results window. Users also can open a text file containing Transact-SQL statements, execute the statements, and view the results in the results window.

SQL Query Analyzer also provides tools for determining how Microsoft SQL Server is interpreting and working with a Transact-SQL statement. A user can:

• Display a graphical representation of the execution plan generated for the statement.
  
  
• Start the Index Tuning Wizard to determine which indexes can be defined for the underlying tables to optimize the performance of the statement.
  
  
• Display statistics about the performance of the statement.