MySQL’s BLACKHOLE Storage Engine: The Odd Feature I Wish SQL Server Shipped With
Learn about a MySQL feature that could be useful in some scenarios for SQL Server.
2025-11-10
4,212 reads
Articles
Unlocking the Power of FULL OUTER JOIN in SQL: Performance, Use Cases & Examples
Discover how the FULL OUTER JOIN in SQL can simplify queries, improve performance, and solve real-world data problems
2025-11-10
T-SQL in SQL Server 2025: Substring Changes
This article takes a look at the changes in SQL Server 2025 to the SUBSTRING function.
2025-11-07
9,316 reads
SQL Server CROSS APPLY and OUTER APPLY Helpful Examples
Microsoft introduced the APPLY operator in SQL Server 2005. Similar to a JOIN, it allows correlation between two table expressions. The key difference between the JOIN and APPLY operators is when you have a table-valued expression on the right side and want to evaluate it for each row from the left table expression. Since they produce similar results, when do you choose an APPLY versus a JOIN?
2025-11-07
Create and Read the Analysis Services Flight Recorder
This article explains how to customize an extended events session in SQL Server Analysis Services for auditing and monitoring
2025-11-05
1,523 reads
Power BI TMDL View: Benefits, Security Risks & Best Practices
The Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) provides a simpler way of defining Power BI Semantic Models. Unlike the JSON-based Tabular Model Scripting Language (TMSL), TMDL uses a more accessible tab-based format for specifying DAX measures, relationships, and Power Query code.
2025-11-05
Create an HTML Report on the Status of SQL Server Agent Jobs
Learn how to query your jobs to produce a report that is formatted to make consuming the data easy for DBAs.
2025-11-03 (first published: 2023-05-03)
4,182 reads
Which Should You Use: VARCHAR or NVARCHAR?
You’re building a new table or adding a column, and you wanna know which datatype to use: VARCHAR or NVARCHAR?
2025-11-03
Regular Expressions in SQL Server 2025
This article examines the new regular expression functions added to T-SQL in SQL Server 2025.
2025-10-31
15,787 reads
Static Versus Dynamic Bulk Insert Imports of Multi-File Datasets
There are numerous use cases for multi-file imports of CSV files into a SQL Server table:
2025-10-31
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UNISTR Escape
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Celebrating Tomorrow
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Question of the Day
UNISTR Escape
In SQL Server 2025, I run this command:
SELECT UNISTR('*3041*308A*304C\3068 and good night', '*') as "A Classic";
What is returned? (assume the database has an appropriate collation)
A: 
B: 
C: 
See possible answers