Since it seems like Microsoft is in an investing mood, given their recent addition of Actual Rows Read (see this post from Kendra Little for more details), I thought I would point out a few other enhancements I think would be great ideas for improving the lives of query tuners.
The first is one I posted just the other day, asking for the XML to reveal the interpreted data type of a parameter (whether it comes from a variable, input parameter, or literal):
Another is the following from Hugo Kornelis, who asks for more accurate row counts on loop join operators (background in Connect #491342). Paul White and Erland Sommarskog agree:
Speaking of Paul White, he recommends that unique filtered indexes should actually be recognized by the optimizer as unique; currently, suboptimal plans can be produced (but this was brushed away with no comment):
And Paul also recommends distinction in the plan when a GROUP BY has been simplified away (also closed as won't fix, without much further information at all):
(Paul also has four active bugs that you should read up on, IMHO.)
Finally, Adam Machanic complains about a pervasive issue where clicking on showplan XML in Management Studio yields raw XML instead of the graphical plan:
I'm sure you have other ideas for showplan improvements, including Connect items I missed here. But I hope you can find the time to read, understand, and vote and comment on these issues – while it may not feel like it, doing so is worthwhile, even if the item is currently closed.
