SQLServerCentral.com Articles tagged Basics

Worst Practices - Not Using Primary Keys and Clustered Indexes

Fri, 09 May 2008 06:00:00 UT

Two weeks ago Andy started his wildly successful series on Worst Practices. This week he continues that series discussing why failing to use primary keys and clustered indexes are worst practices. Agree or disagree, read the article and join the discussion. One thing you'll have to admit, reading an article by Andy is a lot more interesting than reading Books Online!

Views and Horizontal Partitioning

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:00:00 UT

Jambu Krishnamurthy brings us a look at the various options you have available with views and some of the techniques you can use to build a better database by incorporating them in your design.

XML IN 20 MINUTES!

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:00:00 UT

This article will quickly dive head first right into XML.

ASP.NET 2.0: Retrieving XML Data with XmlDataSource Control

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:00:00 UT

This article shows how to retrieve both remote and local XML data and display it in a data Web control.

XML Workshop V - Reading Values from XML Columns

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 06:00:00 UT

Continuing on with his series on XML in SQL Server 2005, Jacob Sebastian brings us more examples on how to delve into the values of XML data.

A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:00:00 UT

The classic paper from Dr. Codd.

Views and Horizontal Partitioning

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:00:00 UT

Jambu Krishnamurthy brings us a look at the various options you have available with views and some of the techniques you can use to build a better database by incorporating them in your design.

Retrieving Data as XML from SQL Server

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:00:00 UT

All the hype that once surrounded XML is finally starting to die down, and developers are really beginning to harness the power and flexibility of the language. XML is a data descriptive language that uses a set of user-defined tags to describe data in a hierarchically-structured format.

Some Usages for XML

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:00:00 UT

While SQL Server 2005 has greatly expanded the XML capabilities of the platform, many DBAs are still not familiar with or comfortable with using XML in their coding. Yousef Ekhtiari brings us a new article that looks at a basic use of XML in inserting data into a table.

Techniques for Uniquely Identifying Database Records

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 07:00:00 UT

When designing and creating a data model for a data-driven application, the records in tables must each be uniquely identifiable. By having a unique value associated with each record, individual records can be selected, updated, or deleted. Being able to uniquely identify records is so important and standard in a database system that databases allow those designing a database table to specify what column (or columns) make up the primary key.

Our Very Own SQL Server Data Compression

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 07:00:00 UT

Data space can be a concern in many situations as more and more data is being stored in your systems. Designing your schema to take this into account is important for a DBA and Steve Jones takes a look at how design decisions can be used to solve a business problem.

Designing relational tables with subtypes

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:00:00 UT

Relational tables often describe more than one type of real world entity. In this tip, Bob Watkins covers some things to think about when designing such tables.

SQL Server 2005 – DML Usage on an untyped XML column

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 06:00:00 UT

Learn how to use Data Manipulation Language, a set of statements used to store, retrieve, modify, and erase data from a database, for untyped XML columns.

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Making Sense of the XML DataType in SQL Server 2005

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 06:00:00 UT

n SQL Server 2005, XML becomes a first-class data type. Developers can make minor remote modifications to stored XML documents easily, taking advantage of new support for XML schema-based strong typing, and server-based XML data validation.

Using XQuery to Manage XML with SQL Server 2005

Thu, 18 May 2006 06:00:00 UT

XML is now becoming more widely used as wireless devices are becoming more secure, and new technologies such as XQuery for SQL Server 2005 are making it much easier to handle XML more efficiently at the server level. Jesse Smith gives you a crash course on XQuery methods and how you can use them in certain situations to retrieve and update XML data stored in your SQL Server 2005 database.

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Using XQuery, New Large DataTypes, and More

Mon, 08 May 2006 06:00:00 UT

SQL Server 2005 introduces a lot of new features, but it also enhances the popular and oft-used Transact-SQL (T-SQL) language. Changes include the introduction of new datatypes to store large values using the MAX indicator, the integration of enhanced XML querying and data modification with XQuery, and the new XML datatype.

Constructing XML Using FOR XML

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 06:00:00 UT

A SELECT query returns results as a rowset. You can optionally retrieve formal results of a SQL query as XML by specifying the FOR XML clause in the query.

A surrogate key architecture to perform powerful database operations

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 07:00:00 UT

The alternative to surrogate keys is natural data keys. In order to understand the many substantial benefits of surrogate keys it's necessary to discuss some background on the issues involved.

Database Design and Reference Tables

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 06:00:00 UT

Whether you are building SQL Server 2000 applications or getting ready for the new features in SQL Server 2005, there are many fundamental database design principals that should be followed. New author Ranga Narasimhan brings us a look at how he handles reference tables when designing a database..

Worst Practices - Not Using Primary Keys and Clustered Indexes

Fri, 09 May 2008 06:00:00 UT

Introduction to XQuery in SQL Server 2005

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 06:00:00 UT

This white paper provides an introduction to various features of XQuery implemented in SQL Server 2005 such as the FLWOR statement, operators in XQuery, if-then-else construct, XML constructors, built-in XQuery functions, type casting operators, and examples of how to use each of these features. Non-supported features of XQuery in SQL Server 2005 and workarounds are described in this article. It also presents three scenarios where XQuery is useful.

XML Simplified

Mon, 23 May 2005 06:00:00 UT

Everyone should be aware that XML is supported in SQL Server 2000 and plays an integral part of not only SQL Server 2005, but all of the Windows family. IIS metadata, web services, etc. all involve XML. But do you know what XML is and how to work with it? Author Raj Vasant brings us a basic article on what XML is and how the documents are structured.

XML IN 20 MINUTES!

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:00:00 UT

This article will quickly dive head first right into XML.

SQL Building Blocks and Server Settings

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 07:00:00 UT

This chapter covers the building blocks available to the database designer and database user to create and modify database objects and data. The SQL Data Types will be covered along with data representation as literals (constants) and expressions.

Data Dictionary from within SQL Server 2000

Fri, 04 Feb 2005 07:00:00 UT

Mindy explores the metadata stored in SQL 2000 to show you how to produce a simple and useful data dictionary!

Setting Matters Straight

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 07:00:00 UT

Fabian Pascal, famed database author and writer takes his shots at a recent thread on another SQL site. He makes some good points about normalization.

Methods for Parsing XML files

Fri, 01 Oct 2004 06:00:00 UT

Jon shows you several ways you can parse XML.

A Survey of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 XML Features

Thu, 23 Sep 2004 06:00:00 UT

An oldy, but good basic look at XML and how it fits into SQL Server 2000.

Handling Simple XML Using T-SQL

Mon, 20 Sep 2004 06:00:00 UT

SQL Server 2000 integrates a number of features to work with XML data and SQL Server 2005 should expand upon that. However the SQL Server 2000 extensions for working with XML data in T-SQL are not that mature. New author Eli Leiba looks at how he can traverse an XML file using T-SQL code.

Lookup Table Design

Tue, 27 Jul 2004 06:00:00 UT

Designing a SQL Server database is a challenging task. Making decisions about how to build tables, their relations, etc. can be a full time job for any DBA helping to build an application. Lookup tables are a part of just about every application that you work with or build a back end for. Leo Peysakhovich brings us an article on database design that deals specifically with lookup tables.