Implementing Table Inheritance in SQL Server

When designing a database, we sometimes come across situations where there are multiple types of entities that we are modeling, but we'd like them to all have certain attributes or relations in common. Using "sub-type" tables is a simple way to implement table inheritance in SQL Server.

Precedence

Schema Comparison with Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals

In this article Dinesh Priyankara describes how schema comparison can be performed using Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals.

Statistics and Indexes

When is it okay to let SQL Server to make a statistic for columns in your queries, and when should you take those statistics and make an index out of them? What I do is to test all of my procs, and if they generate system statistics (_WA_SYS%), then I add an index to the table for the column in the statistic. But is this a good practice?

Module Signatures

Script to determine permissions in SQL Server 2005

Although a few different options (Management Studio, system stored procedures, system views, custom scripts, etc.) exist to determine your permissions in SQL Server, in this tip we want to outline the functionality from the fn_my_permissions table valued function.

Trash Destination Adapter

The Trash Destination is now available for SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008. The Trash Destination and this article came from early experiences of using SSIS and community feedback at the time. When developing a package it is very useful to have a destination adapter that does nothing but consume rows with no setup requirement.

Apply Test-Driven Development to your Database Projects

This article from MSDN discusses the benefits of TDD and bringing unit testing to your database development.

Extending SQL Server Reporting Services with SQL CLR Table-Valued Functions

This article describes how to take advantage of SQL CLR table-valued functions to combine different types of data sources to create rich and exciting SQL Server Reporting Services reports.

Dimensional Model Components: Dimensions Part II

Business Intelligence Architect Bill Pearson continues his subseries surrounding components of the Analysis Services dimensional model. In the second half of this article, we extend our focus on dimensions to include property settings for Cube Dimensions.