Keyboard shortcut to automatically wrap selected text in IsNull([text], 0) in SSMS

Question

Is there some way to have a shortcut in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) that when text is selected, it wraps that text in an IsNull() statement?

For example, I highl

Answer 1

You can get this done using snippets. It's not exactly a simple shortcut, but a few keystrokes will get you there.

First you need to create a snippet like this:

    
        

            
            
            Inserts ISNULL function
            Luis Cazares
            
                SurroundsWith
            
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
    

Save this as a .snippet file and save it on a folder destined for snippets. You could use the one set as default. To know which folder is your default or to add a different folder, go to the Code Snippets Manager in the Tools menu for SSMS.

Once your snippet is on a registered location, select the code, press Ctrl+K,Ctrl+S and the snippets context menu will appear. You can traverse it by starting typing the folder and snippet name and pressing Enter or Right when getting there.

It's probably not worth it for short snippets, but for larger ones it's amazing. I wrote a more detailed explanation in here.