GPX distance and time analysis in SQL Server
In this article we do a comparative analysis of the distance covered by two athletes during a race using the data of their GPX files.
2026-02-09
1,582 reads
Articles
Common Misconceptions About Microsoft Certification Exams
An experienced exam writer explains common misconceptions about Microsoft certification exams, question design, preparation, and real-world expectations.
2026-02-09
How Database Professionals Sent a Million Emails a Day from SQL Server
This is part of a look back at the history of SQL Server Central as a part of our 25-year celebration in Feb 2026. "They want how much?" That was a question I got from Andy one afternoon as we discussed how we were going to manage the growth of SQL Server Central. I had […]
2026-02-06
2,125 reads
How Filters and Sorting can Derail SQL Pagination Performance
In my previous tip, Pagination Performance in SQL Server, I showed how to make SQL pagination more predictable – turning O(n) into O(1). I materialized and cached row numbers to page through instead of calculating them on every request. It wasn’t the whole story, though; real pagination queries rarely get to sort without filtering. Users always want more control, and filtering can threaten that predictability.
2026-02-06
Tame Those Strings Part 6 - Bending Results
Continuing with Steve Jones series on string manipulation, this article looks at an interesting facet of the SELECT operator.
2026-02-05 (first published: 2001-07-04)
8,932 reads
Tame Those Strings Part 8 - Quoting
Continuing Steve Jones' series on string manipulation in T-SQL, this article examines how quotations are handled in T-SQL.
2026-02-05 (first published: 2004-03-25)
9,086 reads
Tame Those Strings Part 9 - Dynamic SQL
Steve Jones continues his series on string manipulation. This articles examines the issues of quotes when implementing dynamic SQL.
2026-02-05 (first published: 2002-04-04)
7,695 reads
2026-02-04 (first published: 2026-02-03)
87 reads
Tame Those Strings Part 1 - Using SUBSTRING
In this article by Steve Jones, he shows you how to manipulate strings.
2026-02-04 (first published: 2004-04-05)
17,794 reads
Tame Those Strings! Part 10 - Finding Carriage Returns
Expanding on his series of string manipulation in T-SQL, Steve Jones takes a look at how you go about removing those unseen characters from your strings.
2026-02-04 (first published: 2007-02-13)
12,907 reads
Blogs
A bespoke reporting solution doesn’t have to cost the earth
By ChrisJenkins
You could be tolerating limited reporting because there isn’t an off the shelf solution...
Presenting with Visual Studio Code
A while back I wrote a quick post on setting up key mappings in...
Advice I Like: In 100 Years
By Steve Jones
In 100 years a lot of what we take to be true now will...
Forums
AllocationType as ROW_OVERFLOW_DATA
Hello, I inherited a number of tables with like 20-30 column using nvarchar(256) in...
is it true we cant debug c# scripts in ssis anymore under vs
Hi, i'm running vs2022. I'm trying out a c# script that i'd like to...
Question of the Day
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:
SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.What is wrong? See possible answers