SQL Server MVP Simon Sabin brings us a very interesting article on a possibilltyfor using enumerated values instead of integer or other coded foreign keys. It is an interesting idea that could go a long way towards making code easier to read.
2007-08-28
13,020 reads
SQL Server MVP has been working extensively with SQL Server 2005 and one of the less well known features: Service Broker. In this short article, we continue definitions of the terminology you'll need to know to work with this subsystem.
2007-04-18
4,154 reads
SQL Server MVP has been working extensively with SQL Server 2005 and one of the less well known features: Service Broker. In this short article, we get an introduction to some of the terminology you'll need to know to work with this subsystem.
2007-04-17
5,393 reads
Dealing with text, image, and other large object data types can be confusing for many people, in all aspects of working with them. However one place that is important is performance. SQL Server MVP Simon Sabin brings us a few thoughts on improving performance with these columns and the Text in Row setting.
2006-10-04
6,011 reads
Have you ever wanted to check that a server exists before using it. Here is a solution that use SQLDMO from within TSQL to get the status of a SQL Server service. It also works for 2000 instances. I have named it sp_ServerStatus for it to be based in master.This returns the status integer and […]
2002-11-14
612 reads
Do you want to use OPENXML with an xml document in a table, this procdure will do it for you.Pass in the SQL that will return the column of data, it will return the document handle which can then be used with OPENXML.ExampleDROP TABLE TabCREATE TABLE Tab (doc ntext)INSERT INTO Tab VALUES ('' + REPLICATE('' […]
2002-11-14
535 reads
This function and stored procedure can be used to easily identify if a file, directory or parent directory exist. It wraps the functionality of xp_fileExist but gives easy access to the directory and parent directory exist values.To use it the function pass in the file or path and either 'IsFile', 'IsDir' or 'HasParentDir' it will […]
2002-11-13
3,845 reads
The procedure copies one stored procedure from one database to another one
2002-11-12
720 reads
This script will list the spaceused by all tables in a database. You can order the output by changing one of the parameters.It also provides totals
2002-10-27
679 reads
The script allows you to prepare an xml document as you would use the sp_xml_preparedocument but by specifying a SQL statement. i.esp_xml_preparedocumentfromcolumn @iDoc OUTPUT, 'SELECT TOP 1 documentColumn From myTable'
2002-10-12
576 reads
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
By Steve Jones
One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way...
Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years of SQL Server...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Decoded Value
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition...
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned from this code:
DECLARE @message VARCHAR(50) = 'Hello SQL Server 2025!'; DECLARE @encoded VARCHAR(MAX); SET @encoded = BASE64_ENCODE(CAST(@message AS VARBINARY(1000))); SELECT BASE64_DECODE(@encoded)See possible answers