Jeff Moden (8/28/2015)
Mike Dougherty-384281 (8/28/2015)
Why are we still emailing tables of data?Can't we have whatever triggering event send a link for a full-featured data explorer to our preferred communication provider (email/sms/tweet/etc)?
I mean... it's 2015 already. 🙂
I can't speak for anyone else but formatting a table for output is just an example in most cases. I don't send or receive data by email. Typically, we use FTP, SFTP, or some other vehicle for the transfer of data.
It IS, however, a very useful technique for me as a DBA. I create an output (results of overnight jobs, for example) that I have the server send to me that 1) flags if there's a problem in the title so that I know whether it urgently needs to be opened or not 2) provides all the troubleshooting information that I need if there is a problem and 3) provides a log that auditors are very happy with because it's not living on the server where I could modify it.
It is a tremendously useful technique. I have a number of jobs that trap errors, continue on and then send me a list of problems that have occurred during the run. If, for example, one of the DBAs create a database and don't take a full backup, the log backup will fail. Instead of bombing and not continuing, the procedure checks for the problem up front and builds a list for me, which it sends me when the work is done. A TRY...CATCH block catches anything I haven't anticipated. The email it sends me includes a table of what's wrong. It saves me time every morning and I don't think I'd want to be without this technique.
Another example is a major web site I wrote. Our employees administer some portions of the site through administration pages. They can change the configuration for clients. They have made mistakes from time to time, so I wrote a procedure to check for problems. I'm not talking about invalid data here, as that is prevented by design. I mean that they create a situation where some specific situation isn't covered any more. When a problem is found, it sends them an email so they know to login and fix something.