Plan guides

Plan guides let you improve query performance without changing the original query or application code. You can use plan guides to apply query hints or associate a fixed execution plan with a query at run time.

In Database Explorer, you can manage plan guides by using the shortcut menu. Right-click a plan guide to access options such as generating a script or viewing its properties.

Plan guides in Database Explorer

Create a plan guide

You can create a plan guide in the SQL Editor by using one of these features:

Code completion to write a script.
SQL snippets to insert predefined or custom code.

Generate a script for a plan guide

1. In Database Explorer, right-click a required plan guide and select Generate Script As, then select the statement type.

2. Select an output option:

To New SQL Window – Opens the script in a new SQL document.
To File – Saves the script to a .sql file.
To Clipboard – Copies the script to the clipboard.

View plan guide properties

In Database Explorer, right-click the plan guide or Plan Guides node and select Show Details.

Object Viewer opens and provides detailed information about the plan guide.

Refresh the plan guide

In Database Explorer, right-click the plan guide or Plan Guides node and select Refresh, or press F5.

Open the Properties window

In Database Explorer, right-click the plan guide and select Properties, or press F4.

Filter plan guides

1. In Database Explorer, right-click the Plan Guides node and select Filter.

2. In the Filter Settings dialog, configure the filter parameters.

3. Click OK to apply the filter.

Note

When you expand the Plan Guides node, the number of objects it contains appears in parentheses next to the node name. This number changes depending on the applied filter settings.

Delete a plan guide

1. In Database Explorer, right-click the plan guide you want to delete and select Delete, or press Delete.

2. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Note

You cannot undo the drop operation, as this action permanently deletes the plan guide. To avoid data loss, back up the database before deleting the plan guide.

The following table describes the shortcut menu commands available for a plan guide in Database Explorer.

Name	Description
Generate Script As	Generates a script for the selected object using the `CREATE`, `DROP`, and `DROP and CREATE` statements. The script can be generated to a new SQL document or to a file, or copied to the clipboard.
Show Details	Opens Object Viewer that displays object details.
Delete	Drops the selected object from the database. Shortcut: Delete
Refresh	Updates the object to reflect the latest changes. Shortcut: F5
Properties	Opens the Properties pane to view the object information. Shortcut: F4

The following table describes the shortcut menu commands available for the Plan Guides node in Database Explorer.

Name	Description
Filter	Opens the Filter Settings dialog to control which plan guides should appear in Database Explorer.
Show Details	Opens Object Viewer that displays object details.
Refresh	Updates the object to reflect the latest changes. Shortcut: F5

Bulk operations

In Database Explorer, hold down Ctrl and select multiple plan guides. Then right-click the selection and select the required option.

The following table describes the shortcut menu options available for multiple plan guides.

Name	Description
Generate Script As	Generates a script for the selected objects using the `CREATE`, `DROP`, and `DROP and CREATE` statements. The script can be generated to a new SQL document or to a file, or copied to the clipboard.
Delete	Drops the selected plan guides from the database. Shortcut: Delete

Bulk operations for multiple plan guides