So, you're looking for the TOP 2 of each group? Try this:

set nocount on

use northwind

select

t1.CustomerID

, t1.OrderDate

from

orders t1

where

t1.OrderDate in

(

select top 2 --with ties

t2.OrderDate

from

  orders t2

...

Can it be that one or more column can contain NULL values?

If so, put an ISNULL around them, since a string + NULL is NULL

And, btw, you're mixing presentational stuff...

Sure thing!

This is an introduction to some of the most interesting undocumented xp's

http://www.sql-server-performance.com/ac_extended_stored_procedures.asp

But keep in mind, that mostly they are undocumented for good reasons. So, evaluate carefully if you...

And if you also want column headers consider this:

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/forums/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=5&messageid=169337

Forget to post, I would prefer this:

set nocount on

use tempdb

go

create table class( sno numeric primary key, Names varchar(15),

 mark1 int

 , mark2 int

 , mark3 int

 , mark4 int

)

go

insert into class (sno,names,mark1, mark2, mark3,...

Some slight correction, and I got this to work

set nocount on

use tempdb

go

create table class( sno numeric primary key, Names varchar(15),

 mark1 int

 , mark2 int

 , mark3 int

 , mark4 int

 , total int

)

go

create trigger...

I'm not aware of anything simpler, but this should work:

if object_id('workaround')>0

 drop view Workaround

use pubs

go

create view Workaround as

select

 au_id

 , au_lname

 , au_fname

 , phone

 , address

 , city

 , state

 , zip

 , convert(char, contract) 'contract'

 , 1 as...

Just to add:

When working with DATETIMES you should use a language and settings independant save format. A pretty good overview can you find here:

http://www.karaszi.com/sqlserver/info_datetime.asp

Why should it continue evaluating when it already found a matching condition?

I think that's one of the basic principles of designing efficient algorithms. Most people tend to place conditions...

A UDF might look something like this:

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.ExtractString(@Input VARCHAR(8000))

RETURNS VARCHAR(10)

AS

BEGIN

 DECLARE @pos TINYINT

 DECLARE @pos1 TINYINT

 SET @pos = CHARINDEX(',',@Input,1)

 SET @pos1 = CHARINDEX(',',@Input,@pos+1)

 SET @Input = SUBSTRING(@Input,@pos+1, @pos1-@pos-1)

 RETURN @Input

END

GO

SELECT dbo.ExtractString('1234,666,12345,12345 ')

DROP FUNCTION dbo.ExtractString

GO

          ...

When you look at "Maximum capacity specifications" in BOL you'll also find a row telling

If I have a TEXT of Length 16 it seems to mean 16Bit or 65,536 characters.  Is this correct?

Like Antares already said, read BOL.

...and forget the 16 you see in...

Yelena, Date's books are on a very high level, I think. I also think, you can find some of his stuff on http://www.dbdebunk.com

Maybe this will give you an...

I bet you'll find something useful here in the article section. I would look for articles by Brian Kelley. In addition, see if you find http://www.sqlsecurity.com useful in security...

Here's the link to the BOL download page:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a6f79cb1-a420-445f-8a4b-bd77a7da194b&displaylang=en

It's a free download.

Next, whoever assigned you such a stupid task to keep a redundant column like "total" should sit himself for...