feat: add ASCII table query output format

[0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF]

This pull request adds a new ASCII table output format to sqlcmd, making it easier to read query results. It introduces the --ascii command-line option and updates the relevant code paths to support this feature. README.md has also been updated to reflect this option.

If --ascii is not used, sqlcmd behaves exactly the same as before.

The new output format looks like this:

[shueybubbles]

thx for opening a PR!

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This pull request adds a new ASCII table output format to sqlcmd, providing a more visually structured alternative to the default horizontal format. The feature is activated via the --ascii command-line flag or by setting the SQLCMDFORMAT variable to "ascii".

• Introduces ASCII table formatter with automatic column wrapping for wide result sets
• Updates the formatter initialization pattern across the codebase to support format selection
• Adds comprehensive test coverage for the new formatter

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
pkg/sqlcmd/variables.go	Adds "ascii" case handling in Format() method and initializes SQLCMDFORMAT variable
pkg/sqlcmd/format.go	Updates NewSQLCmdDefaultFormatter to accept Variables parameter and delegate to ASCII formatter when appropriate
pkg/sqlcmd/format_ascii.go	Implements new asciiFormatter with table rendering, column wrapping, and numeric alignment
pkg/sqlcmd/format_ascii_test.go	Provides test coverage for ASCII formatter including basic output and column wrapping scenarios
pkg/sqlcmd/sqlcmd_test.go	Updates test helper functions to pass Variables to formatter constructor
pkg/sqlcmd/commands_test.go	Updates TestListColorPrintsStyleSamples to pass Variables to formatter constructor
cmd/sqlcmd/sqlcmd.go	Adds --ascii flag definition and implements format variable setting logic
internal/sql/mssql.go	Updates formatter initialization to pass Variables parameter
build/buildfast.cmd	Adds Windows build script for faster development builds
README.md	Documents the new --ascii option and ASCII table format feature

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[shueybubbles]

func (a *SQLCmdArguments) Validate(c *cobra.Command) (err error) {

--vertical and --ascii should be marked as mutually exclusive

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Refers to: cmd/sqlcmd/sqlcmd.go:132 in dcdaa09. [](commit_id = dcdaa09, deletion_comment = False)

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 9 out of 9 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

pkg/sqlcmd/format.go:101

• The vars field is not initialized in the sqlCmdFormatterType struct. This will cause a nil pointer dereference when methods like ScreenWidth() or ColumnSeparator() are called on f.vars in the horizontal/vertical formatter. Add vars: vars, to fix this issue.

	return &sqlCmdFormatterType{
		removeTrailingSpaces: removeTrailingSpaces,
		format:               "horizontal",
		colorizer:            color.New(false),
		ccb:                  ccb,
	}

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[shueybubbles]

please resolve the comments that have been addressed

[0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF]

please resolve the comments that have been addressed

All resolved.

[0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF]

@shueybubbles There's still an issue: if a cell's content exceeds the terminal width, the output doesn't display well.

I can submit a new commit to limit the maximum column width to the terminal width and truncate any excess content. Any ideas?

[dlevy-msft-sql]

@shueybubbles There's still an issue: if a cell's content exceeds the terminal width, the output doesn't display well.

I can submit a new commit to limit the maximum column width to the terminal width and truncate any excess content. Any ideas?

That sounds good. Truncate 3 columns short of the limit and add ... to indicate truncation sounds like the best plan.

[0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF]

@shueybubbles There's still an issue: if a cell's content exceeds the terminal width, the output doesn't display well.

I can submit a new commit to limit the maximum column width to the terminal width and truncate any excess content. Any ideas?

That sounds good. Truncate 3 columns short of the limit and add ... to indicate truncation sounds like the best plan.

Implemented.

[dlevy-msft-sql]

Re-reviewed at head 6bb154d7. Three concrete fixes still needed before merge; the rest are acknowledgements / merge-coordination notes.

1. Missing copyright header on new files

Both pkg/sqlcmd/format_ascii.go and pkg/sqlcmd/format_ascii_test.go start at package sqlcmd with no header. Per the repo convention, every Go file needs:

// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
// Licensed under the MIT license.

package sqlcmd

2. asciiFormatter.AddRow does not increment rowcount

The default formatter increments f.rowcount on each row so downstream consumers (e.g. row-count reporting) stay correct. The ASCII path skips it:

func (f *asciiFormatter) AddRow(row *sql.Rows) string {
    values, err := f.scanRow(row)
    if err != nil { ... }
    f.rows = append(f.rows, values)
    // ... colWidths update ...
    // missing: f.rowcount++
}

Please add f.rowcount++ after a successful scan to match sqlCmdFormatterType's default behavior.

3. Test helper weakened in pkg/sqlcmd/sqlcmd_test.go

setupSqlCmdWithMemoryOutput now logs but does not fail on connect errors:

err := s.ConnectDb(nil, true)
if err != nil {
    t.Logf("ConnectDb failed: %v", err)
}
return s, buf

This silently swallows connection failures. Every test using this helper will continue running against an unconnected Sqlcmd, producing misleading green results in a broken environment. Please restore assert.NoError(t, err) (or t.Fatalf) so a broken test environment fails loudly.

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Acknowledged / non-blocking

• NewSQLCmdDefaultFormatter signature change is a public API break; worth a changelog note at release time.
• Signature conflict with feat: implement -R and -f flags for regional settings and codepage #628 (also touches NewSQLCmdDefaultFormatter); whoever merges second resolves the trivial conflict.
• Unbounded row buffering is inherent to ASCII table layout (need all rows to compute column widths).
• term.GetSize(os.Stdout.Fd()) falling back to maxWidth = 1000000 for redirected output is reasonable.

[0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF]

Code modified based on the feedback.

[dlevy-msft-sql]

Verified at head 9cc0e839. All three findings from my earlier comment are addressed:

• format_ascii.go / format_ascii_test.go — Microsoft copyright headers added.
• asciiFormatter.AddRow — f.rowcount++ added after successful scan.
• setupSqlCmdWithMemoryOutput — restored to assert.NoError(t, err, "s.ConnectDB").

Bonus: the Refactor buffer closure commit also asserts on buf.Close() in TestAsciiFormatterWrapping instead of swallowing the error. Nice.

Thanks for the fast turnaround. LGTM.

[shueybubbles]

Do you have any screenshots of colorized output? I bet for some color schemes it looks very nice compared to ODBC format.