Frequently, we work remotely on our clients’ network, doing development work with one of their workstations and/or servers. As a consequence, it’s not always desirable or practical to install our favorite utilities. We therefore make good use of online utilities that can help make development easier when working remotely.

5 Great Online Tools

Instant SQL Formatter — great for transforming large chunk of SQL into something easy on the eyes; supports all major SQL dialect including both T-SQL and Access SQL.

Online Clipboard Online Clipboard #2 — great for general pasting and copying between computers, especially when you can’t use or depend on RDC’s flaky clipboard.

EDIT: Updated the link as the original site has closed down. The original owner was kind enough to list the alternatives and we’ve chosen wepaste.com as our online clipboard because we also get to specify a password to manage the access.

Quick Diff — compare the difference between two versions; useful for comparing VBA procedures or T-SQL scripts.

CanYouSeeMe — handy way to check if your SQL server is accessible to the world for where we want to allow connections across WAN. Can be also used for other ports.

Online Code Library – Google Docs allows us securely store code snippets online, allowing us to share code with all staff members and quickly find code with Google’s awesome search features.

Those online tools have helped us many times and we hope it will help you as well. Do you have a favorite online or zero-installation utility? Share with us!