How to automatically refresh the SQL Server Management Studio intellisense cache?

Question

In SQL Server Management Studio if the user creates new table columns, tables, etc. the user needs to refresh the IntelliSense cache using CTRL+Shift+R.

Is there a setting or some way to automate this so it can automatically be refreshed right after inserting a new table, etc?

Solution

I don't know that there is a way to automatically refresh the cache without manually pressing Ctrl+Shift+R (or equivalent, e.g. the menu). The reason is that when the app talks to the database too much, people complain that it is too chatty (perhaps someone could write a simple add-in that does this - using something like query notifications to indicate something has changed in the metadata views?). You may also want to consider an add-on like SSMS Boost (though with a quick keyword search I see no mention of this functionality on its feature page) or SQL Prompt (but also I don't see any evidence of this functionality in their documentation, only a mention here of an experimental feature).

I believe SQL Server Data Tools does this, but I don't know if you can control the frequency of the refresh. And using that tool may also require a significant shift in how you think about database development.

Comments

[David Brabant]

Almost duplicate with:stackoverflow.com/questions/9020440/…

[Adir D]

Just FYI the other answer talks about a CodePlex add-in called "SSMS Boost" but I can't locate this add-in on CodePlex anymore.

[Emad-ud-deen]

I also couldn't find it on CodePlex but did find a commercial version of it but I couldn't tell from the web site if it did the auto refreshing of the cache though. Hopefully someone will do a free version for the whole community. That will be very useful for everyone. :-)

[Andrei Rantsevich]

SSMSBoost is not hosted on codeplex, it is currently free and you can find on it's website (.com). As creator of this add-in i could add functionality that you need. It has good chances to be possible to implement. But what do you expect? Timer - based refresh? Or monitoring executed sql statements? UI- based changes will not be detected. Please, provide more info.

[Emad-ud-deen]

I think that a timer that the user can set would be perfect. :-)

[Robert Synoradzki]

@AndreiRantsevich, sorry to bother you asking for it here after four years, but what has happened with the plans of this feature?

[Emad-ud-deen]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, it would be nice to see if someone will create that add-in. I will look for SSMS Boost as Aaron suggested to see if I can find that one.