Include Graphical Execution Plans in SQL Notebooks

[AlejoSQL]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
It is a feature request (@chlafreniere @vickyharp )

Describe the solution or feature you'd like
Current support for SQL Notebooks include results from the execution. However, for many operational guidance docs, it is common to add either a screenshot of the execution plan or attach the .sqlplan files.
So it would be great to have an extension to the current cells/maybe a new one , that actually stores the Actual execution plan inside the notebook.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Well, continue sending the bunch of sqlplans, lol

Additional context
None

[BrentOzar]

Is it closed as never being done, or is there a related issue, or...

[corivera]

Reopening this Enhancement for future planning.

[amtwo]

We are in process of moving all our incident response / troubleshooting KBs to Notebooks. As we build out notebooks, most of our performance-related KBs include checking for a query plan. Even in cases where the troubleshooting begins with checking in our performance monitoring software and getting a plan there, troubleshooting these performance related issues eventually comes around to getting an actual execution plan.

For these performance-related use cases, because we cannot gather an actual execution plan in a SQL Notebook, we've not yet been able to migrate those KBs to be notebooks--and because of that, Notebooks may add friction to those troubleshooting scenarios.

Ideally the workflow for performance related issues would be something along the lines of:

1. Open the Notebook that corresponds to the symptom/complaint/alert. (For example, "server CPU is high")
2. Notebook contains a link to point user to performance monitoring software to help identify problematic query(ies).
3. User returns to Notebook with additional info, and logic/branching pushes them to possible next Notebooks (For example, tuning the query, etc)
4. As part of query tuning, the first step is nearly always to attempt to capture an actual execution plan. Other methods may be to pull a plan from cache--and be able to open the xml query result from the Notebook results grid & view it as a graphic execution plan (similar to SSMS).

   SELECT cp.plan_handle, qp.query_plan
   FROM sys.dm_exec_cached_plans AS cp
   CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_query_plan(cp.plan_handle) AS qp
   WHERE <my query>

[BrentOzar]

If it helps, here's my use case: I do a lot of public & private training classes that focus on performance tuning, and the first step in query tuning is query plans.

Notebook support for query plans is the one thing holding me back from using Azure Data Studio in all of my training classes, all of 'em, full stop. If I had query plans - even just the current html-query-plan implementation is fine - then I would migrate every class I have over to Azure Data Studio notebooks, and use it in all my blog posts where I discuss query plans.

I'm completely sold that ADS notebooks are a much better training experience for both teachers & students because:

• Students who DO have the demo database can follow along, running the queries, seeing the plans, and seeing my notes, and take their own notes in there
• Students who DON'T have the demo database can still follow along, seeing the query plans from my machine from when I ran 'em and upload them
• ADS is cross-platform, empowering those of us on Macs and Linux
• I can abandon PowerPoint completely, putting all supporting materials directly into the notebook

[MsSQLGirl]

Linking comment: #15095 (comment)
Linking related issue: #15095

[way0utwest]

+1 for this. Having the execution plan stored would be useful for regression and testing. Getting a notebook from someone with a previous results of a query and comparing that to the current plan I see in SSMS/ADS is helpful to determine if my efforts are improving or worsening performance.

[jimmylin829]

This would such a useful feature to unlock SQL notebook for educational and training purposes