Collecting the contents of the TfsIntegration!tbl_subscription table for review

On occasion we here in TFS support are called upon to help a customer with their TFS subscriptions. The problems vary, but the one constant always seems to be that we (support) need to see their the TfsIntegration!tbl_subscription table. During a recent TFS subscription issue I worked, I noticed that the data in a to-text dump of the TfsIntegration!tbl_subscription table had truncation of the EXPRESSION column, which is probably the most important column for us to see. The resolution I used was to collect that table in this manner instead:

 

1. Run this query in SQL Server Management Studio while sending results to GRID (results to grid can be quickly enabled by pressing CTRL+D while focus is in a query window, or by selecting Query>Results To>Grid from the menu) :

SELECT * FROM [TfsIntegration].[dbo].[tbl_subscription]
FOR xml auto, elements, ROOT('TFS_Subscriptions')

2. When the results come back, click the hyperlink in the grid to open them in the XML editor.

3. Save the .XML file out to disk and then send it to us.

 

This provides a nicely formatted .XML file which can be opened and easily navigated in Internet Explorer, and most importantly… has no truncation of that all-important EXPRESSION column. :-)

--Trev