StraightforwardSQL

Blog Post

Inspecting TSQL Abstract Syntax Trees

TSQL ScriptDOM is a useful library for parsing scripts into an abstract syntax tree. I've built a web tool that helps visualize this tree as a learning exercise.
Foreword
I've leveraged...

2025-12-03 (first published: )

112 reads

Blog Post

KDA: Echoes of Deception - Case 3

The crime spree in Digitown is not ending. This time 20 cars have been stolen and we need to find where they’re stored.
The problem
This is the abridged case description....

2025-06-09 (first published: )

278 reads

Blog Post

KDA: Echoes of Deception - Case 2

The people of Digitown are being targeted by phishermen, and they need my help to stop them in their tracks.
The problem

The police have asked for our assistance, and we’ve...

2025-06-02 (first published: )

198 reads

Blog Post

KDA: Echoes of Deception - Case 1

Another KDA case: Digitown’s utility bills suddenly doubled for no good reason. With the election coming up, I got pulled in to figure out what went wrong. I’ve got...

2025-05-30 (first published: )

202 reads

Blog Post

Kusto Detective Agency - Intro

While I mostly write about SQL Server, I have a soft spot for Kusto. In this series, I will explore solutions to fun challenges collectively known as the Kusto...

2025-04-27 (first published: )

109 reads

Blog Post

Deploy at Low Priority

Learn how to deploy schema changes in an always-online SQL Server environment without a maintenance window. This utility reduces blocking and improves deployment success.
The problem
I attempted to deploy a...

2025-03-19 (first published: )

202 reads

Blog Post

Finding nested references

I originally planned this post just as an answer to DBA Stack Overflow question: How can I get the list of tables in all the stored procedure? After preparing...

2024-09-13 (first published: )

267 reads

Blogs

Presenting with Visual Studio Code

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A while back I wrote a quick post on setting up key mappings in...

Advice I Like: In 100 Years

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In 100 years a lot of what we take to be true now will...

dataMinds Saturday 2026 – Slides

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At Saturday the 21st of February I’m presenting an introduction to dimensional modelling at...

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Forums

AllocationType as ROW_OVERFLOW_DATA

By inHouseDBA

Hello, I inherited a number of tables with like 20-30 column using nvarchar(256) in...

connections vs apis

By stan

hi , i hear more and more that we have too many connections to...

is it true we cant debug c# scripts in ssis anymore under vs

By stan

Hi, i'm running vs2022.   I'm trying out a c# script that i'd like to...

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Question of the Day

Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance

I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:

SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:
Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.
What is wrong?

See possible answers