Since you're using SQL 2005 (per the forum you posted in), not SQL 2000, is there any reason to not use OpenRowset Bulk, and then parse the XML using XQuery?...

Nope. Windows will, SQL Server won't.

It's a "too many steps for Windows authentication" problem. (There's a more formal name, but this one's more expressive.)

Natively, Windows can only pass authentication one step, e.g.: client to...

Will there be any other colons in the data? If not, you could use some simple string functions to get the characters around the colons.

Something like this, but with...

Since VB.NET can create text files pretty easily, a CLR proc would do the job, and be more secure than xp_cmdshell.

Alternately, if you don't have a Tally table in place, try this:

DECLARE

@SDateTime DATETIME,

@EDateTime DATETIME ;

SELECT

@SDateTime = '11/4/10',

...

Take a look at isolation levels in Books Online or on MSDN.com. That's about as close as you're going to get. Probably won't do what you need, but...

Wayne asked a technical question. Gives The Thread indigestion.

Yep, something that says, "System undergoing upgrades. Minor interruptions or slow-downs in service may occur during the following hours. Please excuse any inconvenience, and schedule any critical uses...

What you're talking about aren't "locks" in the traditional database sense. What you need is a "mutex" (short for "mutual exclusion"), which is a pretty standard programming concept.

Usually the...

CELKO (11/4/2010)

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My favorite security device is the "bingo card password" -- if anyone know the real name, please tell me. I have seen it in use in Brazil ...

You need a list of the seconds in a time period, and how many jobs were in progress during each second, right?

I recommend using a Numbers table instead of a...

The MS books are still good.

You could also check out specialized DBA/BI training with a company like SetFocus. They have you take a sort of IQ test, and if you pass that, then you...

Any particular reason to not just let SQL Server handle the locking? It usually does an adequate job at it.

If you really want to override that, you can look...