How often do you need to keep a total of all previous rows values when you run a query? This article shows you how you can achieve this.  Read more...

Dealing with NULL data is something that often confuses new SQL Server developers, but even experienced DBAs might not understand all the intricacies of NULL operations. In a follow up to his highly acclaimed Four Rules of Null article, Michael Coles brings us a few new tricks with NULLs.   Read more...

When reading rating information, how do you you knew how many points each separate voter gave if you only know the average rating and the number of votes? Well, you might be surprised to learn that you can figure it out using SQL  Read more...

T-SQL is a powerful language, enabling you to handle many different types of set based operations. But having flexible WHERE clauses isn't something that many DBAs deal with on a daily basis. New Author Sotiris Filippidis brings us an article on how you can structure a WHERE clause to handle all types of strange business logic without using dynamic SQL. Read on to learn more about his technique.   Read more...

When a function is wrapped around an indexed column in the WHERE clause it will usually prevent the proper usage of that index. This article gives an example and discusses what other options are available.  Read more...

Datetime data in SQL Server can be a little confusing to work with, especially as many front end languages do not combine the date and time into a single datatype. As a result, T-SQL is sometimes used to manipulate and convert datetime data into more useable formats. Author Leo Peysakhovich has written about some tricks that he uses to reformat and work with datetime data.   Read more...

We have a first look at one of the features in SQL Server 2008 that was cut from SQL Server 2005, but which has been highly anticipated. How many times have you written an "insert new, update match" routine? Jacob Sebastion shows us easy this becomes with the new MERGE keyword in SQL Server 2008.   Read more...

How many times have you wished that there was a parameter for DATEPART to allow you to check for workdays? While many of us may get stuck working 6 or 7 days a week, most of the world revolves on a 5 day work week. Monday through Friday. New author Jeff Moden brings us a method of easily calculating the number of workdays between any two dates.   Read more...

One of the more common requests of an application working with SQL Server is to deal with pages, or sections, or data rather than an entire result set. Often an application retreives the entire result set and then only shows the user a few records, repeating the process with the next page. Regular columnist Jacob Sebastian brings us a more efficient method of implementing paging in SQL Server 2005.   Read more...

One common need that DBAs run into is building a report that returns data in some random order. Especially if you're doing some type of contest, like giving something away at your User Group meeting. Andy Warren brings us a short article on this with a look at the performance impact of randomly ordering results.   Read more...

Describes how you can link SQL Server with many different data sources like a directory as Active Directory Application Mode, a Microsoft Indexing Server catalog, a Microsoft Access database and a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Also explains how to query linked servers using the OPENQUERY command.  Read more...

Remi Gregoire describes one of the Support nightmares, the vice of RBAR Database Programming, 'Row By Agonising Row', and illustrates how the effect of RBAR can sometimes be felt only years after an application is released, when the database supporting the application grows.   Read more...

There is often a need to work with time data representing various events and then reporting on them in SQL Server applications. However T-SQL doesn't necessarily make this easy. However new author Joe Lynds brings us an article on some advanced T-SQL to do just that.   Read more...

In a previous article I showed how to look at what query plans are in SQL Server's memory. In this article I'll look at how they got there and how and when they get reused. This is commonly called compiling a query plan. More specifically I'll look at how and when SQL Server can parameterize dynamic SQL   Read more...

Summarizing data in a SELECT statement using a GROUP BY clause is a very common area of difficulty for beginning SQL programmers. In Part I of this two part series, we'll use a simple schema and a typical report request to cover the effect of JOINS on grouping and aggregate calculations, and how to use COUNT(Distinct) to overcome this.   Read more...

Robyn and Phil decide to build an RSS newsfeed in TSQL, using the power of SQL Server's XML.   Read more...

Be sure you don't end up with arithmatic errors in your identity columns from a SQL Server MVP.   Read more...

After introducing us to a comprehensive encryption toolkit in part I, Michael Coles delves into Regular Expressions and the functions included in the toolkit for use on SQL Server 2000.   Read more...

In systems that require, for auditing purposes, advanced logging and reproducibility of reports between runs, a straightforward update, insert, or delete may be counter-productive. In such circumstances, a bitemporal model is necessary  Read more...

One of the very common questions posted about T-SQL is how to traverse a hierarchy in a set based manner. New author Craig Hatley brings us his techniques for handling the common scenario of employees and managers.   Read more...