The Wild Developers of SQL Server like Wildcards
Phil Factor explains the enduring attachment of database developers to wildcards, despite their current deficiencies.
2025-03-17 (first published: 2018-12-17)
478 reads
Phil Factor
- Interests: Motorbikes, Beer, gardening, conservation, Local history.
On Looking and Acting the Part
Phil Factor's offers tips for longevity in the world of IT consultancy: listen well, humiliate no-one and convince others that it was their expertise that solved the problem.
2024-12-27 (first published: 2020-01-18)
427 reads
Idempotent DDL Scripts That Always Achieve The Same Result - Making Changes Only Once: Stairway to Exploring Database Metadata Level 6
Idempotence is the property of certain operations in mathematics and computer science, that can be applied multiple times without changing the result beyond the first time they are run. When you are making changes to a database to deploy a new version, you need to be sure that certain changes aren’t made twice, or in the wrong order.
2023-10-04 (first published: 2016-12-21)
19,630 reads
Potholes in the Road of Progress
Phil Factor looks at some technologists more famous for thwarting progress than for their own creations.
2022-09-02 (first published: 2017-07-17)
311 reads
Reading and Writing your Database's Documentation using JSON
One of the problems to which I keep returning is finding the best way to read and apply documentation for databases. As part of a series of articles I'm doing for Redgate's Product Learning, I've been demonstrating how to maintain a single source of database documentation, in JSON, and then add and update the object […]
2021-06-28 (first published: 2021-05-28)
3,596 reads
Malleable Source Control
Git has proved to be a better fit to the needs and workflow of a database development team than anything that came before. Git is valuable because it encourages branching and merging, giving more choice in the way that your team can work. Due to the ease with which you can adapt Git, there is […]
2021-04-03
153 reads
Exploring Facts About SQL Server Tables: Stairway to Exploring Database Metadata Level 5
Now that we've explored, in preceding levels, some of the information that is available about indexes, triggers, keys and distribution statistics, we can concentrate on the tables themselves and their columns.
2021-01-13 (first published: 2016-12-07)
6,255 reads
Spoofing Data Convincingly: Text Data
Learn how to generate some convincing data for your development databases.
2021-01-05
2,900 reads
2020-12-12
317 reads
Presenting the Facts about Data Breaches
If you're faced by an investigation team, after a data breach, it is no use putting on your 'Mr. Sincerity' face and making vague statements. They want documented facts.
2020-11-14
158 reads
Blogs
Github Copilot in SSMS can include data in its memory, simple prompt injections ahead
By Ed Elliott
SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) has recently added support for Github Copilot. This is...
Advice I Like: Failure
By Steve Jones
If it fails where you thought it would fail that is not a failure....
Logged in as a member of an Azure AD Group Error while Deploying DACPAC
Quite a long title for a short blog post ??While deploying a DACPAC (from...
Forums
Don't Create Workslop
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Don't Create Workslop
What is the original database name?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item What is the original database...
The DBScan algorithm tutorial
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The DBScan algorithm tutorial
Question of the Day
What is the original database name?
What is returned when this code is run?
SELECT ORIGINAL_DB_NAME()See possible answers