Prior to SQL Server 2008, IntelliSense was available from third-party products. Red-Gate has a pretty good IntelliSense product.

IntelliSense of SQL Server 2008 is ON by default, and can be turn it OFF by using Tools->Options from Management Studio.

The process involves in creating a table object like the following:

IF OBJECT_ID('SalesHistory')>0

DROP TABLE SalesHistory;

GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[SalesHistory]

(

[SaleID] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,

[Product] [char](150) NULL,

[SaleDate] [date] NULL,

[SalePrice] [money] NULL

)

GO

Only the table exists. Use DML statements like SELECT, INSERT against SalesHistory table. A dropdown list of the fields available would be chosen from the table. This helps in knowing the information about columns easier.

DML statements can also be used with IntelliSense. For example type UPDATE statement against the SalesHistory table. A list of available fields are available for UPDATE statement. Not only for UPDATE also other statements.