I need to create an SQL formatter in C#. Could anyone point me to some resources on the net? Do I need to implement a full-fledged parser, or is there an easier way to do it?
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Is there an easier way to do it? Can't I format it without parsing?BlueSilver– BlueSilver2009-12-22 08:18:19 +00:00Commented Dec 22, 2009 at 8:18
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Hmm, another question I'm stumbling across much later, but in case this is useful to anyone else down the line, I've implemented an open-source (AGPL) T-SQL formatter: http://www.architectshack.com/PoorMansTSqlFormatter.ashx
My approach definitely does not involve full SQL parsing (T-SQL is a very complex language, I don't rate my chances of developing and maintaining a complete parser on my own) but rather tokenizing and then identifying major structures in the SQL, by keyword. The result is a partial parse tree with all the formatting-relevant parts broken out.
As noted in answers to the question @astander linked to, there are commercial options for comprehensive SQL parsing, and lots of parser builders out there - but no complete open-source T-SQL parsers than I know of.
Making a parser for simple selects, updates, deletes is straightforward - handling derived tables and subqueries gets a little harder; then OUTPUT clauses, MERGE statements, multi-statement scripts, CTEs, the dozens of DDL statements T-SQL contains, etc: it gets messy.
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David McClelland
This library worked really well for me, and there's a Nuget packed for it now too: nuget.org/packages/PoorMansTSQLFormatter
Valamas
I went to git hub, downloaded the master and used the winform app.
StriplingWarrior
Be aware that it's licensed under AGPL, so if you use it you have to open-source your own code.
When I am in a crunch and need to make something at least look "formatted", I jump to
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There is also the SQLinForm SQL beautifier which has a C# API at www.sqlinform.com
