T-SQL does some things wonderfully, but cursors are the bane of the language, often causing performance issues. Changing your queries around to remove cursors can be tricky and new author Kamran Ali brings us one technique he has used to dramatically improve performance.   Read more...

Enforcing your data's integrity is probably the single most important issue you face when designing a database. Validating user input is one way of keeping bad data from making its way into your analyses and reports.  Read more...

In this article Randy Dyness shows you how to avoid temp tables whenever to maximize the performance of your queries.   Read more...

This article illustrates different methods to insert data into a table, including the new Row Value Constructor, which simplifies the data insertion.  Read more...

One of the very common questions posted about T-SQL is how to traverse a hierarchy in a set based manner. New author Craig Hatley brings us his techniques for handling the common scenario of employees and managers.   Read more...

One developer's journey through PIVOTing incorrectly.  Read more...

Learn what a Dates table is and how to create one, and then try it out for yourself  Read more...

In the first article of a new series on T-SQL tips, Jacob Sebastian brings us a very useful technique. How to pass a table to a stored procedure so some set of rows can be operated on using some business logic.   Read more...

Longtime SQL Server DBA and author Grant Fritchey decided to quiz his developers on how to perform some simple functions in T-SQL. Read about his results and see how you might do in taking his quiz.   Read more...

This article describes and demonstrates the problem of using asterisk to select all fields from a table within a table function.  Read more...

In an interesting exercise in data conversion, Stephen Lasham brings us a nice article on basic manipulations.   Read more...

In which Phil takes a break from a tedious bit of routine coding to build a Spam Filter in SQL.  Read more...

This article illustrates the functionality of UPSERT via the MERGE command in SQL Server 2008.  Read more...

One of the issues I have is that the SQL Server Error Log is quite large and it is not always easy to view the contents with the Log File Viewer. In a previous tip "Simple way to find errors in SQL Server error log" you discussed a method of searching the error log using VBScript. Are there any other easy ways to search and find errors in the error log files?  Read more...

Robyn and Phil go back to basics and hammer out some basic String-handling User Functions in TSQL, based on Python examples. Plenty of sample code, and TSQL programming tricks.  Read more...

QL 2005 adds two new methods – signing with certificates and impersonation with EXECUTE AS – that can manage cases where the classic method of ownership chaining fails. I explain the two new methods, as well as the old one, and warns you about the pitfalls.  Read more...

One of the more obscure requirements that a developer may find themselves facing is the need to compare a row with its immediate sibling. One such case is when a list of values needs to be processed to produce a moving average or to smooth a sequence of statistical numbers where their order is important. For example, values lying along a time line. The solution is actually quite simple, but not immediately obvious.  Read more...

Different ways of passing sets of data between stored procedures.  Read more...

What is the fastest way to update a newly created column in a large table? New author Bimal Fernando brings us a look at a technique he uses for just this situation.   Read more...

Part I of this series illustrated how to use simple case functions in queries. This installment discusses how to use case functions in different types of scenarios.  Read more...

In the first article of a new series on T-SQL tips, Jacob Sebastian brings us a very useful technique. How to pass a table to a stored procedure so some set of rows can be operated on using some business logic.   Read more...

One common problem in querying is to reference the previous row in a data set as part of a calculation. David McKinney brings us an interesting solution using SQL Server 2005.  Read more...

Jacob Sebastian takes a look at some different ways to write your WHERE clauses. A good basic article for those starting to work with T-SQL.  Read more...