SSMS Results Grid data Visualizers
This feature allows you to export and view files or some big amounts of text or XML data from tables (like files from document storage of sharepoint services).
Required data should be output to Results Grid. You can save the data to a file with a predefined name and open it with custom or default application by right-clicking the cell with required value and selecting
"Visualize As->". Despite the fact that SSMS truncates long data from VARBINARY/VARCHAR fields when displaying
them in Results Grid,
SSMSBoost extracts complete cell value as it works with internal SSMS storage. You can see how a picture from
[ThumbNailPhoto] field is visualized below:
In
SSMSBoost->Settings->Grid Visualizers dialog you can configure the list of Visualizers:
You can define Visualizer name, file extension for saving data and also a default application to open saved files. If you leave
Command/Program to execute path empty SSMSBoost will perform "Shell.Open" - forcing windows to open file using associated application.
Here's a trick for using this feature: if your field contains images of different types like ".bmp", ".png", ".jpg" and others you do not have to define a separate visualizer for each type.
Just define a visualizer (e.g. "Picture") and extension to save (e.g.".dat"). Then associate this extension with the MS Paint in Windows OS. MS Paint will analyze the contents of ".dat" file and display the image correctly, no matter if it is ".jpg" or ".bmp". This trick might also work with other picture viewers.