Demystifying the use of CASE in an ORDER BY statement
Chuck Hoffman exposes the mysteries of getting CASE statements to work in dynamic ORDER BY statements.
2015-06-05 (first published: 2012-04-26)
26,583 reads
Articles
System Stored Procedures for SQL Azure Linked Servers
Microsoft released the preview version of Azure SQL Database V12 in December of 2014. As a database administrator, you might wonder about the schema and security of these new data marts. Microsoft has supplied system stored procedures for the database developer to query the Linked Servers for this type of meta data, as John Miner explains.
2015-06-05
2,288 reads
The Importance of Database Indexing
In this article, James Munro demonstrates an example of a simple query without an index and then that same query again with the index. A simple introduction to database indexing.
2015-06-04
7,210 reads
Query Folding in Power Query to Improve Performance
In this tip Koen Verbeeck discusses query folding, how you can take advantage from it and how to make sure query folding takes place.
2015-06-03
3,661 reads
Cybercrime - the Dark Edges of the Internet
Criminal activity is a growing menace on the internet: This inevitably means more diligence is required by legitimate users in the face of an increasingly sophisticated criminal threat. Robert Sheldon describes some of the emerging threats and risks.
2015-06-02
4,544 reads
Take our SQLServerCentral Users Survey
Each year SQLServerCentral runs a survey to get some insight into what who our readers are, what they like about the site, and what can be improved. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey by June 12 and get the opportunity to win one of three $50 Amazon vouchers.
2015-06-02 (first published: 2015-05-26)
13,214 reads
The MidnightDBAs release Minion Backup
The MidnightDBA team is announcing the release of a new, free backup solution for SQL Server: Minion Backup. We created Minion Backup (or MB, for short) to be the most flexible, feature-rich backup solution possible.
2015-06-01
1,610 reads
Converting Comma Separated Value to Rows and Vice Versa in SQL Server
Often while reporting you will encounter a situation where you will have comma separated values in a single column but you want to report them in rows. In other cases you might have values in multiple rows and want them to be a single value separated by comma or some other character. Arshad Ali demonstrates how to write queries in SQL Server to handle these scenarios quickly.
2015-06-01
5,990 reads
A Plethora of PowerShell Pitfalls: Part 2
There are some pitfalls in PowerShell for the unwary. Many people who are learning PowerShell come across quirks that can cause frustration. Michael Sorens continues his series, warning abut four of the most common PowerShell pitfalls and explains how to avoid them.
2015-05-29
7,299 reads
Retrieving a Binary File from Your Database
In this second article I provide the means to restore a binary file to its original state.
2015-05-28
11,174 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
Lots of FKs
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Lots of FKs
Real-time On-prem SQL Server Data in Excel – Over the Internet
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Real-time On-prem SQL Server Data...
Can You Let Go of Determinism
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Can You Let Go of...
Question of the Day
Lots of FKs
In SQL Server 2025, what are the most outgoing and incoming FK references a table can have?
See possible answers