Guest Columnist: Gregory Larsen

The final level of this stairway looks at the MERGE statement in detail, focusing on how to perform insert, update and delete logic using the MERGE statement.  Read more...

You may have data in a database that was inserted into a table by mistake, or you may have data in your tables that is no longer of value. In either case, when you have unwanted data in a table you need a way to remove it. The DELETE statement can be used to eliminate data in a table that is no longer needed. In this article you will see the different ways to use the DELETE statement to identify and remove unwanted data from your SQL Server tables.  Read more...

Unless you are working on a reporting-only application you will probably need to update tables in your SQL Server database. To update rows in a table you use the UPDATE statement. In this level we will be discussing how to find and update records in your database, and discuss the pitfalls you might run into when using the UPDATE statement.   Read more...

In this article I will be expanding on my discussion of the GROUP BY clause by exploring the ROLLUP, CUBE and GROUPING SETS operators. These additional GROUP BY operators make it is easy to have SQL Server create subtotals, grand totals, a superset of subtotals, as well as multiple aggregate groupings in a single SELECT statement.  Read more...

Not all applications are limited to only retrieving data from a database. Your application might need to insert, update or delete data as well. In this article, I will be discussing various ways to insert data into a table using an INSERT statement.  Read more...

In this article you will be see how to group data using the simple GROUP BY clause, in order to summarize more complex data.  Read more...

In this Level you will see how to use the ORDER BY clause to return your data in a sorted order.  Read more...

Joining tables is a crucial concept to understanding data relationships in a relational database. When you are working with your SQL Server data, you will often need to join tables to produce the results your application requires. Having a good understanding of set theory, and the mathematical operators available and how they are used to join tables will make it easier for you to retrieve the data you need from SQL Server.  Read more...

A relational database contains tables that relate to each other by key values. When querying data from these related tables you may choose to select data from a single table or many tables. If you select data from many tables, you normally join those tables together using specified join criteria. The concepts of selecting data from tables and joining tables together is all about managing and manipulating sets of data. In Level 4 of this Stairway we will explore the concepts of set theory and mathematical operators to join, merge, and return data from multiple SQL Server tables.  Read more...

This level of the stairway details the creation of a relational database, as well as filling in some of the history of the relational database model.  Read more...

Let’s step back in time and discuss the history of Structured Query Language, or what most SQL Server professionals just shorten to SQL. Fasten your seatbelts, crank up the time machine and travel back in time to follow the history of SQL and Microsoft SQL Server from its early years to where they are today.  Read more...

There are lots of different aspects of managing data in a SQL Server database. Before you can get into the complex management issues associated with managing application data you need to start with the basic of retrieving data from a table. To return data from a SQL Server table you use a SELECT statement. In this level I will be cover the components of the basic SELECT statement and how you can use it to retrieve data from a single SQL Server table.  Read more...

SQL Server has a great build in messaging system with SQLMail. Unfortunately it requires Outlook and Exchange to work properly. Some people don't like this or do not run Exchange and have issues getting it to work. Gregory Larsen takes a look at how you can use SMTP to send email from SQL Server.   Read more...

Needing to number rows with a sequential id is a pretty common request. Sometimes it's because the user hasn't made the transition to 'set based' thinking, sometimes it really is a valid request (more or less!). Greg provides several different techniques to help you achieve sequential numbering.   Read more...

Migrating your logins can be done the easy way or the hard way. Greg shows you one way - care to guess which way?!   Read more...

Greg returns with an article based on some practical experience using QA templates to save time and work. Good examples, good work through, good idea!   Read more...

With SQL Server 2000 you are able to create databases or columns with a different collating setting than the server. This article will explain a couple of methods Greg has used to successfully change collation settings.   Read more...

A few months ago Greg Larsen ran across a big problem with SQL Server collation when querying. He shares his bruises in this quick article.   Read more...

In this article by Greg Larsen, he shows you how to remove those pesky orphaned users that can be a security risk after restoring to a new server.   Read more...

Are you tired of manually restoring each database on a new server when the original server has a melt down? Does the manual process seem slow, and prone to keystoke and mouse click errors? Would you like to have those restore scripts automatically built, so you only have to fire them off? Well this article will show you one possible method for speeding up and reducing errors will trying to perform a restore of all databases on a server.   Read more...