Yeah, it was 2 weeks ago, but I'm finally blogging about something!
I presented Revenge: The SQL! at SQL Saturday #77 in Pensacola on June 4. The session abstract is here, and you can download the slides from that page too.
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For Part 2 of the Handy SQL Server Function Series I decided to tackle parsing useful information from the @@VERSION function, because I am an idiot. It turns out I was confused about CHARINDEX() vs.
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Just a quick post I should've done yesterday but I was recovering from SQL Saturday #48 in Columbia, SC, where I went to some really excellent sessions by some very smart experts.
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In Part 1 of the series I wrote about 2 lesser-known and somewhat undocumented functions. In this part, I'm going to cover some familiar string functions like Substring(), Parsename(), Patindex(), and Charindex() and delve into their strengths and weaknesses.
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I've been preparing to give a presentation on SQL Server for a while now, and a topic that was recommended was SQL Server functions. More specifically, the lesser-known functions (like @@OPTIONS), and maybe some interesting ways to use well-known functions (like using PARSENAME to split IP addresses) I think this is a veritable goldmine of useful information, and researching for the presentation has confirmed that beyond my initial expectations.
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Have you ever scripted a stored procedure? Or dealt with indexed views? Or wondered why Management Studio says you can't index or alter a table column? Then you've been bitten by one or more of the the ANSI_NULLS, ANSI_PADDING, or QUOTED_IDENTIFIER settings!
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Here's a handy link that shows all the query operator icons used in graphical SQL Server execution plans.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to write a query or batch that displays all of them.
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Microsoft makes a pretty good OLE DB Provider for DB2 that you can use for SSIS, DTS, and linked servers under SQL Server. It's sometimes difficult to configure but you can get some good starter settings here.
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I added the parenthetical title because no one really cares if they can make their databases better. :) Based on some recent tweets (one and two) and blogs I've been reading/writing, I thought I'd create an example of some excellent but underutilized features in SQL Server: defaults and user-defined types.
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I recently had to modify tables to add some auditing columns and triggers. Being a good fair to middling crazed, insane DBA and wanting to ensure data integrity and good design, I made the columns not nullable, and therefore also had to add defaults for these new columns: ALTER TABLE [dbo].
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I'm sure most of you use DBCC commands and have experience with the WITH TABLERESULTS option to put their output into a table. Did you know that most of the DBCC CHECK commands also accept WITH TABLERESULTS:
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Robocopy is one of, if not the, best life-saving/greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread command line utilities ever to come from Microsoft. If you're not using it already, what are you waiting for?
Of course, being a Microsoft product, it's not exactly perfect.
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DBA'S BABY!!!
Legacy Comments
Brett
2006-11-17
re: According to Steve Ballmer... Care to elaborate?
Christy
2006-11-22
SQL Server DBA Help Needed We are in need of someone who can provide overall Database Architecture, Design, Support and Maintenance for WEB based and Client/Server Enterprise Applications in the Intranet & Internet settings on a Microsoft, IBM and CISCO Infrastructure Platform utilizing RAID, SAN, and Cluster technology.
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Yet another fair and balanced Slashdot discussion about XML databases.
Legacy Comments
Brett
2005-03-15
Not anymore Holy crap..the company just blocked slashdot...
ClaesW(rockmoose)
2005-03-16
re: Sometimes it's just too easy.
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Bored with SQL Server? Looking for something new, and/or cheaper? Got a bunch of interesting alternative databases:
I've mentioned REL and VistaDB previously. VistaDB has made some significant improvements since then (including a 60% reduction in engine size, to 400KB!
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Article text moved here.
Legacy Comments
rr
2006-02-15
re: The For Command: Part 2 - Multiple Tokens, AutoGenerate Files ok
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Article text moved here.
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I've set up a new category on my blog where I plan to post some articles about using command-line utilities to perform various tasks for, or in support of, SQL Server.
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Dare Obasanjo has an article called the XML Litmus Test to determine if XML is appropriate for certain applications. It seems to be an elaboration on a response he made to my earlier rant, although I doubt that was the entire motivation.
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OK, the review is kinda lame, but the comments on this Slashdot book review are pretty good, many of them really funny…but oh so true. I won't go into my opinions of MySQL…ooops, too late.
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