Oftentimes I am stuck wondering if a database query has completed,
or a certain amount of progress on a multi-step query has been made. I can always backtrack after the query has
completed by adding print statements to my lengthy batch files to see how each
section performs:
print 'Step 1 complete... ' +
convert(varchar(255),getdate())
… however, the downside is that the messages don’t appear
until the query has fully completed, which doesn’t help that much.
I have found two workable options for getting notification
of a SQL Server Process Status, both during a process and upon completion.
Growl for Windows
From the Growl site:
Put
simply, Growl lets you know when things happen. Files finished downloading, friends
came online, new email has arrived - Growl can let you know when any event
occurs with a subtle notification.
The version for Mac appears to be much more complete in terms of hooks to COTS software, but
with some simple configuration work I can get what I want.
After installing the main software package, download the
command line program as well:
Now, all we have to do is create a command line string and
execute it (just as easily with command prompt, shell in VB etc.). The query below contains the full syntax for
wrapping a Growl notify command for use in xp_cmdshell, which is a great way to
run command line statements from SQL Server Management Studio.
Once xp_cmdshell is enabled, simply copy and
paste the code below into a query window:
declare @myalert varchar(max)
set @myalert = 'D:\workspace\code_checkouts\growl\growlnotify
/t:Hey_There /s:true /host:localhost /p:2 "Query Complete\n ' + convert(varchar(255),getdate())
declare @mysql varchar(max)
set @mysql = 'EXEC xp_cmdshell '''
+@myalert + ''''
exec (@mysql)
And you will get a notification window popup:
This is useful when I am at my workstation, but I also want
to receive an email if I am away to save me the energy of logging in every
couple hours to check progress.
Configuring Growl to use email is fairly easy once you know
the settings. For Gmail account settings:
Then enable the email notification for growlnotify:
Now, in addition to a popup, I get an email in my inbox:
SQL Server Database
Mail
Another, probably better, option is using the built in SQL
Server 2008 functionality called Database Mail.
This excellent walkthrough explains the whole concept:
I used this query to enable the functionality in SSMS:
GO
RECONFIGURE with OVERRIDE
GO
sp_CONFIGURE 'Database Mail XPs', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE with OVERRIDE
GO
These are the Gmail settings for Database Mail:
Once the settings are configured, you need to know how to
construct the command - this is detailed syntax page from MSDN:
Finally, I used this to send the email:
EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail
@profile_name
= 'RoyJackson',
@recipients = 'roy.jackson@gdr.com',
@body = 'The stored procedure
finished successfully.',
@subject = 'Automated Success Message'
;
And this to see if it worked – if the message failed you will
see an error row and some details as to the status:
select * from msdb.dbo.sysmail_allitems
Next stop is using Growl within some
other programs such as ArcGIS / python…
Hope this is useful!
