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External Article

Using the DbFit Framework for Data Warehouse Regression Testing

It is ironic that the users of database application need to rely on the very technologists that created the system to then devise and run their acceptance tests. Surely someone has devised a test system for databases that is simple enough for ordinary tech-savvy people to use and for them to create the tests? Yes they have. Fitnesse DbFit is a mature product that can, and does, test SQL Server databases, and Nat Sundar explains how to set it up and do it.

2017-05-18

3,142 reads

External Article

Encrypting SQL Server: Dynamic Data Masking

Dynamic Data Masking is a good way of rendering data unreadable for such purposes as user-acceptance testing, or demonstrating an application. It doesn't encrypt the data, and a knowledgeable SQL user can defeat it. However it provides a simple way to administer from the database what data the various users of a database application can and can not see, making it a useful tool for the developer.

2017-05-16

3,672 reads

External Article

Displaying Backup or Restore Progress

Have you ever started a database backup or a restore process that runs a long time then wanted to know when it will complete? Knowing when a database backup or restore operation will complete provides you valuable information, especially when you need to perform follow-on tasks that are waiting for the backup or restore process to complete.

2017-05-12

4,017 reads

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Question of the Day

Getting the Average

I have this data in the dbo.Commission table in a SQL Server 2022 database. 

salesperson commission
Brian       12
Brian       16
Andy        7
Andy        14
Andy        21
Steve       20
Steve       NULL
All the data is a varchar, and I decide to run this query to get the totals for each salesperson. 
SELECT SalesPerson
     , AVG(TRY_PARSE(Commission AS int)) AS TotalCommission
 FROM commission
 GROUP BY SalesPerson
GO
What average commission is calculated for Steve?

See possible answers