sp_GetLastBackup
This will get the last date a database was backuped. It allows you to report this date on all databases on a server, or pass in a db name, and it'll report the date that db was last backed up
2002-03-07
474 reads
Miscellaneous
Populate a table with a directory's file info.
I use this SP to return full directory information into a table. FilePath, FileName, Filedate and FileSize are parsed from a 'dir /n/on/-c ' command. FilesInDir is the table created. usage: exec LoadFileDetailsIntoTable 'c:\winnt'select * from FilesInDir where filesize > 100000select min(fileDate) from FilesInDirThe Return Code will equal the number of files found.
2002-03-05
499 reads
spGetFieldsExists
spGetFieldsExists takes a tablename and a field name, and checks if that field exists in that table.It simply returns 0 or 1 (false or true).
2002-03-05
197 reads
spFindTableInfo
spFindTableInfo is a great proc for finding info about your database. It will accept parameters like tablename, fieldname, size, datatype. So you can run it with no params, and it'll report every table, every field in those tables, and the size, datatype and whether its nullable or not. You can filter it by Table name […]
2002-03-05
403 reads
spDropField
spDropField does exactly the opposite of spAddField. It checks for existence, then drops it, if it does exist.
2002-03-05
171 reads
spAddField
spAddField is the proc I use to add all fields to the db in our upgrade scripts. With this proc, you pass it the tablename, fieldname, datatype, and null or not null. This will call spGetFieldsExists and see if the fields exists or not. If it does, spAddField will drop that column. Then it readds […]
2002-03-05
255 reads
Return formatted datetime as a string
Pass a datetime value and receive back a formatted string. Much like the Format$ function in Visual Basic.I put this together to provide a date string to add to filename. Also handy when you are creating text files that require datetime data to be output in weird character formats like yyddmm or yyyymm.eg: fnDate2Char(GetDate(), 'dmy', […]
2002-02-27
867 reads
Review of Debugging the Development Process
Andy read this book recently and gave it a great review. Even though it's not a SQL book! Seriously, take a look at the review. It's a good book that is fun to read.
2002-02-26
3,309 reads
Recompile Views/SPs from DOS from .SQL Files.
This script is very helpful for anyone trying to recreate particular SQL Server Database Versions for Testing. It allows you to automatically recompile any stored procedures or views saved with drop, create and permission statements. The scripts must all be sitting in one directory and end in the same extension. I have found this very […]
2002-02-25
744 reads
Re-create Transaction log file
This stored procedure detaches and re-attaches a database without specifying a filename for the transaction log. This causes SQL Server to create log file with default size of 512kb.After playing around with SHRINKDATABASE, SHRINKFILE, forcing the virtual log to wrap around, etc... I found this was the quickest and most reliable method of reclaiming the […]
2002-02-25
2,652 reads
Blogs
T-SQL Tuesday #203: Risk and Reward
By Steve Jones
This is timely, as I’m currently on a boat in the Adriatic taking a...
dataMinds Connect 2026 – Slides & Scripts
You can find the slides and SQL scripts for my session “Spice up your...
How to Clear the SSMS Cache (SSMS 21 and Later)
By SQLPals
How to Clear the SSMS Cache (SSMS 21 and Later) Updated...
Forums
Using CHOOSE()
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Re-Seeding a Broken Log Shipping Secondary (Without Touching the Primary)
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The DBA is Dead! Long Live the !
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The DBA is Dead! Long...
Question of the Day
Using CHOOSE()
We have this code that sets some status values and then queries them using the CHOOSE() function in SQL Server 2025.
CREATE TABLE Status
(
StatusID INT,
StatusDescription VARCHAR(20)
);
GO
INSERT dbo.Status
(
StatusID,
StatusDescription
)
VALUES
(0, 'Uncategorized'),
(1, 'Active'),
(2, 'Inactive'),
(3, 'Temp');
GO
SELECT CHOOSE(StatusID, 'Unknown', 'Active', 'Inactive', 'Temporary')
FROM Status;
When the SELECT runs, what is returned? See possible answers