A Better SQL Stylist — VS Code Formatter for T‑SQL

An opinionated formatter that gets your .sql and .txt (Yardi) files to look clean: UPPERCASE keywords, clean indentation, optional AS alignment, and block‑style comments.

Powered by Poor Man's T-SQL Formatter with custom house-style post-processing for the perfect balance of readability and consistency.

1. Install from Marketplace 👉 A Better SQL Stylist on Visual Studio Marketplace

Or, if you prefer, clone and build locally:

git clone https://github.com/MessiDaGod/SqlFormatterExtension.git
cd SqlFormatterExtension
npm i
npm run compile

2. Run in VS Code

• Open this folder in VS Code.
• Press F5 (Run → Start Debugging) to launch an Extension Development Host.
• Open any .sql or .txt file and run Format Document (or select text and run Format Selection).

3. Make it your default SQL formatter

• In the Extension Host window: Command Palette → Preferences: Open Settings (JSON) and add:

{
  "[sql]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "shakely-consulting.better-sql-stylist",
    "editor.formatOnSave": true
  },
  "sqlStylist.convertLineCommentsToBlock": true,
  "sqlStylist.alignAs": false
}

4. Package to VSIX (optional)

npm run package
# then install the .vsix in VS Code (Extensions → … → Install from VSIX)

• Poor Man's T-SQL Formatter engine — Battle-tested T-SQL formatting with extensive dialect support
• UPPERCASE SQL keywords — Makes SQL more readable
• Optional AS alignment — Align AS keywords in SELECT lists
• Block‑style comment conversion — Convert -- to /* ... */
• JOIN alignment and indentation — Clean, consistent JOIN formatting
• WHERE / HAVING first predicate inline — Compact, readable predicates
• Selection formatting — Format only selected text or entire document
• Yardi .txt file support — Special handling for Yardi SQL files
• Dual engine support — Choose between Poor Man's T-SQL (default) or built-in house formatter

When working with Yardi .txt files, the formatter intelligently preserves special Yardi syntax:

• Ignores lines starting with // — Lines like //Select, //Detail, //End Select are preserved exactly as-is
• Ignores //FILTER blocks — Everything between //FILTER and //END FILTER is preserved (case-insensitive)
• Ignores //FORMAT blocks — Everything between //FORMAT and //END FORMAT is preserved (case-insensitive)
• Formats the SQL between special markers — Only the actual SQL code gets formatted

Example Yardi file:

//Select
SELECT * FROM Users
//FORMAT
    badly  formatted   SQL   that   stays   this   way
//END FORMAT
SELECT
    FirstName,
    LastName
FROM Employees
//FILTER
  preserve this exactly
//END FILTER
WHERE Active = 1
//End Select

After formatting, the //FORMAT and //FILTER blocks remain untouched, while the rest gets formatted cleanly.

• sqlStylist.engine — pmtsql | house — choose formatter engine (default: pmtsql)
  • pmtsql (default) — Uses Poor Man's T-SQL Formatter for robust T-SQL formatting
  • house — Uses sql-formatter library with custom rules
• sqlStylist.postProcessHouse — Apply house-style cleanup after pmtsql formatting (default: true)
• sqlStylist.keywordCase — upper | lower | preserve (default: upper)
• sqlStylist.tabWidth — spaces per indent (default: 4)
• sqlStylist.linesBetweenQueries — blank lines between queries (default: 2)
• sqlStylist.convertLineCommentsToBlock — turn -- comment-only lines into /* ... */ (default: true)
• sqlStylist.alignAs — pad spaces to align AS in SELECT lists (default: false)
• sqlStylist.commaBeforeColumn — use leading commas in SELECT lists (default: false)
• sqlStylist.oneLineFunctionArgs — collapse common function args to single line (default: true)

• Open a .sql or .txt file
• Right-click → Format Document
• Or use the keyboard shortcut (usually Shift+Alt+F on Windows/Linux, Shift+Option+F on Mac)

• Select the SQL code you want to format
• Right-click → Format Selection
• Or use Format Document while text is selected

• Uses Poor Man's T-SQL Formatter by default for battle-tested T-SQL formatting.
• Alternative house engine uses sql-formatter with the transactsql dialect.
• alignAs is a simple text pass that works best when the formatter has put one select item per line.
• Comment conversion only targets comment-only lines. Inline -- after code are left as-is.
• Yardi special blocks (//FILTER, //FORMAT) are case-insensitive.

To publish a new version to the marketplace:

# Update version in package.json, then:
npm run publish
# or
node install.js publish

AGPL-3.0-only © Shakely Consulting

• See logs in View → Output → Better SQL Stylist.
• Use npm run watch during development for auto-compilation
• Run npm run ext:reinstall to test changes locally