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Technical Article

Webinar - Redgate DLM Demo (with TFS, TFS Build & Microsoft Release Management)

Redgate’s Arneh Eskandari and Microsoft SQL Server MVP, Steve Jones, will show you how Redgate’s DLM (Database Lifecycle Management) solution works to improve your database development and deployment processes. Today 12noon EDT

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2016-03-29

5,329 reads

External Article

SQL Server Metadata Functions: The Basics

To be able to make full use of the system catalog to find out more about a database, you need to be familiar with the metadata functions. They save a great deal of time and typing when querying the metadata. Once you get the hang of these functions, the system catalog suddenly seems simple to use, as Robert Sheldon demonstrates in this article.

2016-03-28

6,652 reads

External Article

When AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS Doesn't Happen

When your SQL Server database is set to have its statistics automatically updated, you will probably conclude that, whenever the distribution statistics are out-of-date, they will be updated before the next query is executed against that index or table. Curiously, this isn't always the case. What actually happens is that the statistics only gets updated if needed by the query optimiser to determine an effective query plan.

2016-03-25

4,726 reads

External Article

Better Ways to Build a Database

The purpose of a database build is simple: prove that what you have in version control can successfully create a working database, and yet many teams struggle with unreliable and untested database build processes that slow down deployments and prevent the delivery of new functionality. Grant Fritchey explains how to achieve an automated and reliable database build that is only as complex as the database system it needs to create.

2016-03-22

5,439 reads

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Question of the Day

Creating a JSON Document III

I have this data in a table called dbo.NFLTeams

TeamID  TeamName       City             YearEstablished
------  --------       ----             ---------------
1       Cowboys        Dallas           1960
2       Eagles         Philadelphia     1933
3       Packers        Green Bay        1919
4       Chiefs         Kansas City      1960
5       49ers          San Francisco    1946
6       Broncos        Denver           1960
7       Seahawks       Seattle          1976
8       Patriots       New England      1960
If I run this code, how many rows are returned?
SELECT TOP 2 
  json_objectagg('Team' : TeamName)
FROM dbo.NFLTeams;

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