Additional Articles


External Article

Power BI Quick Reference Guide

I need a structured reference guide to help me get started or expand on Power BI knowledge. I want to be able to bookmark a resource and then use it daily when needed as I build my data sets, reports, and dashboards. Can you please enumerate some common and helpful resources as a Power BI Quick Reference guide?

2026-01-28

External Article

Sending messages to Slack from SQL Server 2025

In an earlier tip, A history of accessing REST APIs and web pages from SQL Server, I talked about reaching out to external endpoints from SQL Server, including the new sys.sp_invoke_external_rest_endpoint procedure that hit the on-premises editions in SQL Server 2025. This seemed like an ideal use case to enhance our current solution for sending a message to Slack: using xp_cmdshell to call a PowerShell script that calls Invoke-RestMethod. In this tip, I’ll describe how we changed our implementation and why it is a marked improvement for us.

2026-01-23

External Article

Generating Shape Bound Random Points in SQL Server

Random number generation is vital in computer science, supporting fields like optimization, simulation, robotics, and gaming. The quality, speed, and sometimes security of the generator can directly affect an algorithm’s correctness, performance, and competitiveness. In Python, random number generation is well-supported and widely used. In this article, we will look how to we can use SQL to do this.

2026-01-09

Blogs

Why your data still can’t answer a simple question 

By

Every organization I talk to has the same problem dressed up in different clothes....

T-SQL Tuesday #197 Invitation – An impactful session or two from a conference

By

I am delighted to host this month’s T-SQL Tuesday invitation. If you are new...

Did You Really Name That Default?

By

Ten years (and a couple jobs) ago, I wrote about naming default constraints to...

Read the latest Blogs

Forums

The day-to-day pressures of a DBA team, and how we can work smarter with automation and AI

By Terry Jago

Comments posted to this topic are about the item The day-to-day pressures of a...

Using OPENJSON

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Using OPENJSON

Data Modeling with dbt for Visual Code: The Fabric Modern Data Platform

By John Miner

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Data Modeling with dbt for...

Visit the forum

Question of the Day

Using OPENJSON

I have some data in a table that looks like this:

BeerID BeerName    brewer               beerdescription
1      Becks       Interbrew            Beck's is a German-style pilsner beer 
2      Fat Tire    New Belgium          Toasty malt, gentle sweetness, flash of fresh hop bitterness.
3      Mac n Jacks Mac & Jack's Brewery This beer erupts with a floral, hoppy taste
4      Alaskan Amber Alaskan Brewing     Alaskan Brewing Amber Ale is an "alt" style beer
8      Kirin       Kirin Brewing         Kirin Ichiban is a Lager-type beer
If I run this, what is returned?
select t1.key
    from openjson((select t.* FROM Beer AS t for json path)) t1

See possible answers