I saw your recent tip on Calculating Mathematical Values in SQL Server and have some related issues as I try to round values in my application. My users and me have a difference of opinion on some of the calculations in our reporting applications. All of the code is in T-SQL, but I think the reporting issues are related to data types and rounding down or rounding up rules. Do you have any insight into these issues? I would like to see some examples with a variety of coding options.  Read more...

In this level, Rob Sheldon explains what XML is, and describes the components of an XML document, Elements and Attributes. He explains the basics of tags, entity references, enclosed text, comments and declarations  Read more...

Arshad Ali examines the different concepts of partitioning in SQL Server 2012 and provides a step-by-step guide on creating a partition table/index.  Read more...

In their third live 'Oracle vs. SQL Server' discussion, Jonathan Lewis (Oracle Ace Director, OakTable Network) and Grant Fritchey (Microsoft SQL Server MVP) will look at statistics in Oracle and SQL Server. Expect a lively debate on Oracle vs. SQL Server from two leading RDBMS experts on Jan 23, 2013.  Read more...

Learn how you can process data files with SSIS as soon as they arrive using the Script Task.  Read more...

Make the ad-hoc analysis of identifying potentially double-counted or sign-reversed Accounting transactions simple and painless.  Read more...

It is frustrating when you hit 'submit' and you get the hourglass big-time. Is it the database to blame? It could be, but there are other suspects that should be considered. Feodor Georgiev describes where, in the long route, to and fro', that a data request makes before returning, that things can get snarled up.  Read more...

Learn the basics of data flow in SSIS with the data pump in this second installment of our series designed to teach you about Integration Services.  Read more...

It should be easy to model a game of poker in SQL. The problem is, however, that you need to model a permutation from a set of elements. Joe Celko argues that using a group of columns to do this isn't necessarily a violation of 1NF, since a permutation is atomic. Then comes the second problem: how would you sort such a column-base permutation in order? Sorting columns in SQL?  Read more...

This free ebook from Red Gate Software will take you from the fundamentals of Statistics, Cost Estimation, Index Selection, and the Execution Engine, and guide you through the inner workings of the Query Optimization process, and throws in a pragmatic look at Parameterization and Hints along the way.  Read more...

One of the common problems is dealing with apostrophes in T-SQL. This article examines the challenges of single quotation marks and ends with a short quiz.  Read more...

Partitioning has improved with each new version of SQL Server. From partitioned views in SQL Server 7.0 through partition table parallelism in SQL Server 2008. With SQL Server 2012, we are now allowed to even create up to a 15K partition on a single table.  Read more...

Often times we are tasked with having to programmatically come with a list of durations per SQL Server Agent Job to trend the run times and order the results by date. Unfortunately it's not always easy in the way the data is stored in the system tables in the MSDB database. This tip explains how to use the system tables to get the data into the correct format for dates and job durations.  Read more...

SQL Server Agent is a Microsoft Windows service that allows a DBA to automate administrative tasks. SQL Server Agent can run jobs, monitor SQL Server, and process alerts. The SQL Server Agent service must be running before any jobs scheduled to execute automatically can be run  Read more...