[Feature Request]: Color-Code Result Grid Columns by Source Table in JOIN Queries

[rsrchmurthi-gmail-com]

Feature Description

Feature Request: Color-Code Result Grid Columns by Source Table in JOIN Queries

Repository: microsoft/vscode-mssql

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Problem Statement

When executing a SQL query that JOINs multiple tables, the results grid displays all columns in a uniform style with no visual distinction between which columns belong to which source table. This makes it difficult to quickly scan and interpret results, especially when:

• Multiple tables share similar column names
• The result set contains 10+ columns from 3+ tables
• Columns are not aliased with table prefixes

Proposed Solution

Automatically color-code (highlight) columns in the results grid based on their source table when a JOIN query is executed.

Example behavior:

• Columns from Employees → light blue header
• Columns from Departments → light green header
• Columns from Salaries → light orange header

The color assignment could be:

1. Automatic — assigned from a preset accessible palette, cycling through tables in JOIN order
2. Theme-aware — respects VS Code light/dark/high-contrast themes
3. Optional — togglable via a setting like mssql.resultGrid.colorizeByTable: true/false

Expected Behavior

SELECT e.EmployeeID, e.Name, d.DepartmentName, s.Salary
FROM Employees e
JOIN Departments d ON e.DepartmentID = d.DepartmentID
JOIN Salaries s ON e.EmployeeID = s.EmployeeID

Result grid columns EmployeeID, Name → colored with palette color #1
Result grid columns DepartmentName → colored with palette color #2
Result grid columns Salary → colored with palette color #3

Additional Ideas

• Show a legend below/above the grid mapping color → table name
• On hover of a column header, show a tooltip like Source: Employees (e)
• Allow users to customize colors per table in settings

Why This Is Valuable

This is a common pain point when doing exploratory data analysis or debugging JOIN queries. Tools like Excel and some BI tools offer column grouping/coloring — bringing this to the mssql results grid would significantly improve readability and productivity for SQL developers.

Environment

• Extension: ms-mssql.mssql
• VS Code Version: -
• OS: -

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👍 If you agree this would be useful, please upvote this issue!

Problem and Motivation

When a JOIN returns 20–30+ columns, your eyes have to hunt to find which column belongs to which table. Color coding lets you instantly group them visually without reading every header name.

Related Area

• Connection dialog (SQL Server | Azure browse/Fabric browse)
• Query editor
• Query results panel
• Object Explorer
• GitHub Copilot integration
• Preview/Edit data
• Table Designer
• Schema Designer
• Schema Compare
• Local SQL Server Container provisioning
• SQL database in Fabric provisioning
• DACPAC/BACPAC export/import
• SQL Database projects
• Query Plan Visualizer
• Other (please describe below)

If you selected "Other", please describe the area

No response

Confirmation

• I have searched existing feature requests and couldn't find a match
• I want to help implement this feature