InstantForum.NET v2.9.0SQLServerCentralhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/notifications@sqlservercentral.comThu, 24 May 2012 12:43:59 GMT20http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1151195-2824-1.aspxShort walkthrough to import an Excel spreadsheet to SQL Server from the Import Wizard.Needs lots of screenshots, explain import to a new table, or an existing table and show mapping of columns.Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:31:30 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1153131-2824-1.aspxCan someone write a basic article that explains how the Execute Package is used to run a child package or string together multiple packages in SSIS. Please include screen shots of the configuration and explain the options that are possible.Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:30:43 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1288568-2824-1.aspxLooking for an article on how to import a file automatically into a database using SSIS and the File Watcher Task. Assume some business person drops an Excel file in a folder and then SSIS handles the import.Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:51:27 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1107244-2824-1.aspxLooking for a short article on setting up an alert in SQL Agent that pings someone when a data file reaches 80% full (or a log file). Short example, walk them through in SSMS and/or T-SQLWed, 11 May 2011 11:42:16 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1130721-2824-1.aspxCan someone build a short tutorial on how to send a file to an FTP site?Maybe show an export of a text file into SQL Server as the first step in a package, or dynamically picking a file, perhaps a .bak or .trn file?Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:00:24 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1257942-2824-1.aspxAnyone fancy writing an article comparing the different ways of handling long parameter lists for stored procedures?Possible ways I can think of (I'm sure there's others)CSVXML (including schema bound)table valued parameters (SQL Server 2008 and later)multiple parametersBy long lists I mean at least hundreds. It would be interesting to see how these compare in terms of performance, maintenance etc.ThanksSun, 26 Feb 2012 07:56:17 GMTMark-101232http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1012014-2824-1.aspxCan someone write an article that shows how to read a backup file, get the logical file names/locations, and then perform a restore?Custom config to change the dbname, the folder paths would be nice.Wed, 27 Oct 2010 21:24:03 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1130720-2824-1.aspxCan someone build a short tutorial on how to read a file from an FTP site and transfer it to the local server for load? Maybe show a load of a text file into SQL Server as the next step in a package?Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:59:32 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1079835-2824-1.aspxShow in SSMS and T-SQL, how to add a default to a column at design time (CREATE) and later (ALTER).Be nice to add these defaultsspace for char field0 for numericcurrent date for date fieldThu, 17 Mar 2011 10:15:05 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1077815-2824-1.aspxFind what port SQL Server is using. Check error log, any other ways. This is probably a one-pager + a few screenshots.Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:53:52 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1148541-2824-1.aspxI believe it would be a great article or stairway to understanding how to read the syntax presented in say MCTS database developement exam book.example:Insert Statement SyntaxThe insert Syntax is as follows:[WITH <common_table_expression> [,.....n]]INSERT [ TOP (expression) [ PERCENT]] [ INTO ] { <object> | rowset_function_limitedSo what is "rowset_function_limit", what are the "[" for and for understanding sake what "|" is, which I know means "or", but that is my point. I think it would benefit me as well as other developers to understand everything in the syntax of the SQL syntax.If there is an article or link to one that would be great as well. Thank you,:cool:Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:48:51 GMTjwbart06http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1137643-2824-1.aspxI was wondering there is a article in SSC which talks about troubleshooting server failures/slowness or shutdowns. What i mean is different server issue scenarios and troubleshooting paths. For a problem X there could be 3 reasons a, b and c Check with a, if not go to b then it should be solved, if it is not C might need to changed. I know there could be hundreds of such scenarios, but I am talking about some high level issues. Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:11:26 GMTMinnesota - Viking http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1076359-2824-1.aspxSHort simple article that shows how to open a package from any store (SQL Server, File system, etc.) in BIDSThu, 10 Mar 2011 09:37:26 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1101373-2824-1.aspxAnyone want to write an article on detecting memory pressure? Looking for advice in checking perfmon counters, DMVs, perhaps disk activity, etc. with guidelines and queries on how to tell if you are experiencing memory pressure.Don't see many good references out there, but would like one for SSC.It might need to be a 2005 one and a 2008 one since DMVs changed. If anyone wants to go back to 2000, I'll publish one.Sun, 01 May 2011 14:00:44 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1012166-2824-1.aspxHow to build a string concatenating values from multiple rows.Example:[code]RowId Name----- -------- 1 Articles 2 Forums 3 Scripts 4 SurveysRequested output:Articles, Forums, Scripts, Surveys[/code]There's a good article at [b][url=http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/t-sql-programming/concatenating-row-values-in-transact-sql/]Simple Talk[/url][/b], haven't found one here on SSC.I see this asked over and over on the forums.Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:57:47 GMTGianluca Sartorihttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1012006-2824-1.aspxThis forum is for articles requested/needed on the site. Only articles that are for specific topics are acceptable. Posts that ask for a "how do I set up clustering" or "what is new in SQL Server" will be deleted.Acceptable posts are things like:- How do I order a query by month, but display the name of the month- Can I get an article about restores that reads the backup file and restores the database automatically to the proper locations with the correct number of files.If you would like to write an article, leave a post in that thread. The editor will assign you the article and close the topic.Wed, 27 Oct 2010 21:14:36 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1114146-2824-1.aspxI know it's not really SQL related, but lots of people have questions like this: [url]http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1108390-1292-1.aspx?Update=1[/url]Can someone show an article with a simple web page to read an image from the database and one to read a PDF and display it?Tue, 24 May 2011 09:30:40 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1050111-2824-1.aspxAnyone want to tackle building a cluster on virtual servers? I could use two tutorials here, one for VMWare, one for VPC, and if someone wants, one on VirtualBox.This would probably be a 2-3 part article. 1 for cluster setup, 1 for SQL clustering, maybe one for failover, add drives, something else.Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:34:06 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1101382-2824-1.aspxArticle on how best to approach a client project, building a business intelligence platform. Selecting your team, project approach and building/testing/signing off.Having completed several now and a relative sql newbie I think it might be good for an article less about the technical more about the governance of s successful deployment.Please exvuse typos im still getting used to this xoom.Sun, 01 May 2011 14:53:50 GMTProKellyhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1076379-2824-1.aspxIf I have a series of data recorded over time, let's call it widgets sold. If I want to know how many items were sold per hour, that's easy. However a simple SUM, GROUP BY hour, doesn't give me 0 sales.Can someone write a short article that shows how to join with some calendar or tally table (or both) and show sales across hours like:[code="plain"]Hour (time) Sales-------------- ---------9 1210 811 012 31 152 14[/code]Here's some DDL CREATE TABLE Sales ( SalesID INT IDENTITY(1,1) , SaleTime DATETIME , SaleQty INT ) GOinsert sales select 'Mar 8 2011 4:21PM', 38insert sales select 'Mar 8 2011 12:40AM', 15insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 1:14PM', 28insert sales select 'Mar 9 2011 7:43PM', 41insert sales select 'Mar 9 2011 11:16PM', 5insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 11:48AM', 35insert sales select 'Mar 8 2011 2:34AM', 24insert sales select 'Mar 8 2011 5:12PM', 37insert sales select 'Mar 8 2011 10:04PM', 21insert sales select 'Mar 9 2011 10:07AM', 42insert sales select 'Mar 9 2011 4:46PM', 15insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 4:16PM', 34insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 6:00PM', 30insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 5:55AM', 13insert sales select 'Mar 8 2011 7:49PM', 49insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 6:05PM', 27insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 10:53AM', 12insert sales select 'Mar 8 2011 4:59PM', 43insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 2:22PM', 45insert sales select 'Mar 9 2011 10:05PM', 1insert sales select 'Mar 9 2011 8:11PM', 38insert sales select 'Mar 9 2011 3:52AM', 32insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 2:49PM', 2insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 11:32AM', 8insert sales select 'Mar 10 2011 10:52AM', 46Thu, 10 Mar 2011 09:58:08 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1100417-2824-1.aspxOK, I hesitate to ask this, but I would like to round this out.I am looking for a basic set of articles that explains first, second, third, maybe more, normal forms. Not like the argument going on in the Relational Theory, not from a high academic, this is correct, Date v Codd.I am looking for a basic explanation of what the normal forms mean from a practical perspective. Take a couple of simple tables and break them down to be normalized. Something like this, perhaps by working backwards in AdventureWorks or building a simple Order/Sales set of tables.[url]http://dev.mysql.com/tech-resources/articles/intro-to-normalization.html[/url]Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:05:29 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1020855-2824-1.aspxA short discussion and screen shots to show how to delete old full backup files. Discuss what the values in the dialogs mean, show how this handles sub folders, talk about timing with this happening only after the next full works. Include notes about how to make this work and keep 2 or 3 full backups.If you want to make this a series, I'd extend this to a couple more articles- discuss differentials, how to remove old ones, how to keep 1 full a week, 2 most recent diffs, then remove old diffs with the next full- remove old log backups. Issues with full backups, timing, can you keep 2 sets of logs (since last 2 fulls).Mon, 15 Nov 2010 09:06:36 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1080839-2824-1.aspxFor those DR situations where the TempDB drives are missing/failed and won't be replaced soon. How to start SQL without TempDB and how to move the files to a new location.I'll take this one also, again not in the next couple months.Sat, 19 Mar 2011 07:05:35 GMTGilaMonsterhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1077813-2824-1.aspxSHow how to change the port, Configuration Manager and any other way, for a default and named instance so that a client can connect on xx port.Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:52:48 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1076973-2824-1.aspxMuch misunderstanding persists. I'll do this one, just not in next couple months.Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:08:42 GMTGilaMonsterhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1076357-2824-1.aspxShow a simple package that imports a series of flat files. This can be simple 2 column flat files going to a table, but the article should focus on and show - log the time the import started in a log table for the whole process- log the time the import stopped in for each file- log the time the import stopped for each file- move the imported flat files to an Archive folder- log the import stop time for the entire processThu, 10 Mar 2011 09:36:40 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1050993-2824-1.aspxShort piece on how to connect to a cloud database from SSMS and SQLCMDThu, 20 Jan 2011 10:39:38 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1076360-2824-1.aspxShow how to save packages back to the file system, or a remote SQL Server store.Thu, 10 Mar 2011 09:37:59 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1050990-2824-1.aspxA basic article on how to setup SQL Azure, sign up, pricing for development, getting a database built, etc.Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:39:07 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1050996-2824-1.aspxHow can I build locally and then upsize my database.Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:41:06 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1051001-2824-1.aspxThis can be tricky, but can someone explain how the SQL Server service account actually is used for processes like backups, attaching dbs, etc and how to check it's permissions? Maybe show an example of where you have rights from your account to a folder for backup, or moving an MDF, but the service account does not and how to fix this.Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:43:39 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1048826-2824-1.aspxIn SSMS, you can use SQLCMD mode and edit/execute SQLCMD commands. I am looking for a basic article that shows how to enable this (for a session or as the default) and show some SQLCMD commands.Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:36:30 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1045584-2824-1.aspxLooking for a short article that explains what a user-defined security role is in a database, how to create one and assign rights to it and then users.Can cover schemas if you would like.Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:15:27 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1041185-2824-1.aspxSearch appears to be broken, but I'm looking for an article that clearly and concisely explains why you should not shrink data files. I know Paul Randal has a blog, but I am looking for one for this site, that can reference his, but is written in a cleaner, and shorter style.Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:32:22 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1012015-2824-1.aspxI need a basic article that explains how distinct works with multiple columns. A few examples to explain to a beginning T-SQL programmer how to use DISTINCTWed, 27 Oct 2010 21:25:02 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1012010-2824-1.aspxI had a request for a basic article on how to schedule a trace. This article should assume someone knows how to create a custom server side trace. Show one that you've created and then go over how to schedule with T-SQL and/or SSMSWed, 27 Oct 2010 21:19:27 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1013514-2824-1.aspxI hope folks don't mind me adding some problems to this forum and then solving them with an article. This one is asked over and over and over... I've got this one and have just submitted an "SQL Spackle" article on it.Sat, 30 Oct 2010 14:30:06 GMTJeff Modenhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1014104-2824-1.aspxSomething basic, but beyond the marketing stuff from Microsoft. A short example of what powershell is, why it's useful, maybe even a collection of links from blogs/articles where people talk about how PS is used.Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:02:55 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1041187-2824-1.aspxThere are a few reasons why a log continues to grow, in any recovery mode. Does anyone want to write a short checklist that gives people a reminder to look for mirroring, replication, etc? Might be 3 lists of a few items and a reference or quick note on what to check.Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:33:27 GMTSteve Jones - SSC Editorhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1013295-2824-1.aspxCan someone post an article that details on monitoring of a mirrored databasewhat are the wait types that i should look at with some details which tells me that system is waiting due to mirroring?is this possible to do a trace or perfmon to peek inside mirroring activity?Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:28:57 GMTps.