I demoed this small, simple and free tool to the team today.  SQL Search from redgate

This is an add on for SQL Server Management Studio.  It supports/works with SQL Server 2005 & 2008 instances.  I won’t index or search databases under a SQL Server 2000 instance.  We migrated a SQL Server 2000 database and ran it under a 2008 instance in compatibility mode and SQL Search worked on it ok.

Once the install is complete, you’ll notice a new toolbar button:

Select your database within your object explorer and the click on the button and SQL Search will open up in a tab with the database selected on the left as the default selected database.  Of course you can select a different database to search within using the SQL Search interface.

Within the search box, type the name of the object (table, column, constraint, variable… whatever) you want to search for, and SQL Search does an immediate search on matches to partial names displaying the results in the grid below the search & selection criteria section.

Once you find what you are looking for you can “double-click” on it and it will find and select the object within the object explorer for you (mine is on the left).

An even more productive feature is that within the results grid itself there is a preview, read-only pane that displays the body of stored procedures as you select them on the grid above.  Want to mess around with it?  Double click it and navigate directly to the object from where you can proceed as you would within SSMS to “Modify” it.

Instant sensation with my team of developers & DBA.

Did I mention it is free?

Get it here.  And while you are there, watch the 3min video on where and how they went about building this tool.  Pretty neat.  “Coded by the sea”.