How to: Connect to Multiple Target Databases
[This is prerelease documentation and is subject to change in future releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]
Connecting to more than one SQL Server database is a key feature of Microsoft code name “Quadrant”.
About sessions
In “Quadrant” a connection to a database is contained in a database sessions table. To connect to multiple databases, you therefore attempt to create a new session for each database. But not every attempt succeeds.
Note
The sessions table contains all sessions that have been created, even if the attempt to connect failed, or if the session is a duplicate. To open the table, on the View menu, click Sessions.
To connect to multiple databases
On the Home menu, click New Session.
Fill in the following property values as appropriate:
Property Description Database
The name of the database that you want to connect to.
Instance
The name of the instance to connect to. If connecting to the default instance, leave this field blank.
Server
The name of the computer that is hosting the SQL Server instance. The default (.) signals that the current computer hosts the database.
Display Name
An arbitrary name that is displayed by the explorer that shows the connection. If no name is specified, “Quadrant” displays the name of the database.
Color
A drop-down list of colors. The chosen color is used to outline the explorer and all workpads that are used to view data from the database. By default, “Quadrant” sets the color to either the next unused color (when multiple connections have already been made), or to the least-used color.
Repeat the previous step for every database you want to connect to.
To view all database sessions
On the View menu, click Sessions.
The DatabaseSessions-Collection workpad displays all sessions including failed and duplicate sessions. The table shows the database name, server, display name, and color, as well as an identification number and connection time-out value.
Deleting Sessions
There are two methods for deleting a session.
To delete a session (1)
Open a workpad for the session you want to close.
With the workpad selected, on the Home menu click Delete Session. The session and all its workpads will be deleted.
To delete a session (2)
On the View menu, click Sessions.
Select the session to delete by clicking its icon in the far left. On the Edit menu, click Delete Item.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Connect to a SQL Server Database with "Quadrant"