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.   Read more...

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.   Read more...

This article will quickly dive head first right into XML.   Read more...

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.  Read more...

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

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.  Read more...

Jon shows you several ways you can parse XML.   Read more...

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

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.   Read more...

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.   Read more...

The fourth and final installment in this series, this week Andy discusses how using XML can reduce the load you put on your network and on your server. This is a high level article that discusses concepts. We think you'll find a good idea or two in this one!   Read more...

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!   Read more...

This article will quickly dive head first right into XML.   Read more...

Disk space is getting cheaper everyday. Why should you worry about the amount of space your data is consuming? This article by Neil Boyle presents some great reasons why you should be concerned.   Read more...

Most databases designs nowadays seem to have at least a few if not many lookup or reference tables. This article helps you define a strategy in how to design, approve, and deploy them.   Read more...

For most DBAs, normalization is an understood concept, a bread and butter bit of knowledge. However, it is not at all unusual to review a database design by a development group for an OLTP (OnLine Transaction Processing) environment and find that the schema chosen is anything but properly normalized. This article by Brian Kelley will give you the core knowledge to data model.   Read more...

A few months ago Greg Larsen ran across a big problem with SQL Server collation when querying. He shares his bruises in this quick article.   Read more...

In this short article by Jamie Voss, he shows you the data model behind much of his task tracking system and the reasoning behind it.   Read more...

One of the many useful features gained by SQL Server 2000 is the ability to handle XML documents. This means that any computer language capable of opening an XML files and calling SQL Server stored procedures can make use of this new ability. This article by David Poole shows you how!   Read more...

This article shows you how to take a shaped recordset and convert the results into XML all while preserving the shaped recordset hierarchy.   Read more...