BIDS Helper

A Visual Studio.Net add-in with features that extend and enhance the functionality of the SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 BI Development Studio (BIDS).

Features

• Analysis Services
  • Aggregation Manager
  • Calculation Helpers
  • Column Usage Reports
  • Delete Unused Aggregations
  • Deploy Aggregation Designs
  • Deploy MDX Script
  • Dimension Data Type Discrepancy Check
  • Dimension Health Check
  • Dimension Optimization Report
  • Measure Group Health Check
  • Non-Default Properties Report
  • Parent-Child Dimension Naturalizer
  • Printer Friendly Aggregations
  • Printer Friendly Dimension Usage
  • Test Aggregation Performance
  • Tri-State Perspectives
  • Similar Aggregations
  • Smart Diff
  • Show Extra Properties
  • Sync Descriptions
  • Update Estimated Counts
  • Validate Aggregations
  • Visualize Attribute Lattice
• Integration Services
  • Create Fixed Width Columns
  • Deploy SSIS Packages
  • Design Warnings
  • dtsConfig File Formatter
  • Expression and Configuration Highlighter
  • Expression List
  • Fix Relative Paths
  • Non-Default Properties Report
  • Pipeline Component Performance Breakdown
  • Reset GUIDs
  • Smart Diff
  • Sort Project Files
  • Sortable Package Properties Report
  • SSIS Performance Visualization
  • Variables Window Extensions
• Reporting Services
  • Dataset Usage Reports
  • Delete Dataset Cache Files
  • Smart Diff
• General
  • Enable/Disable features
  • Version Notification

Installation

To install BIDS Helper, download the installer from the Releases tab.
If for some reason you cannot use the installer the latest release includes an xcopy deploy option.

News

BIDS Helper won the SQL Heroes 2008 contest with a perfect score. Thank you for voting for it!

Suggestions

We are currently in the process of brainstorming other potential features, and have been adding them as work items. If you have a feature you would like to see added, drop us a line on the forums.

Future Releases

The next release date has not yet been scheduled. The features for the next release have not yet been decided.

The following features are complete and will be in the next release. For now you must download the source code and compile it yourself if you want these features:

• Analysis Services
  • Roles Report

For information about compiling the latest source code yourself, please see this discussion