Roy: Yeah, a case statement would work, but only with a small table where you have easily defined sets of values, and where the data will never change.

I'm kind of...

Matt: You're right. Drop the C2 in the dense_rank function. Meant to have it in the query's Order By, but not in the dense_rank.

(And, actually,...

That's what the "right" function is used for....

You'll need to use the WRITETEXT function to do that. It's a little complex, with pointers and such, but it can be done. Books Online gives the details....

select dense_rank() over (order by c1, c2) as [Nu.], c1, c2

from dbo.table

order by c1, c2

Edit: Only works in SQL 2005, not in 2000. For that, you need to insert...

You'll have to define it as a string data type (char, varchar, nchar, nvarchar), then make it:

right('0000000000' + col1, 10)

That will make it so it's always 10 digits, with however...

I've done various different types of IT work, and I have to say that database development and administration is the most satisfying for me.

I'd say go for it. If...

Management Studio is what I use for typing all of my queries. Access is very awkward for that.

Some tricks that come in useful:

If you select part of the query...

I think having "- Editor" is helpful. I assumed it was intentional and had a purpose (identifying who you are).

Rajan (1/16/2008)

---

I would say backup/restore if there is a huge amount of free space in the database. If the datafiles dont have much free space, go for detach/attach.You need to...

Jeff: Good point. I hadn't thought of that.

I just checked two execution plans, using both methods. They were identical, so no performance reason to use either. So...

A good place to start looking for Microsoft data on SQL Server is:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/default.aspx

Lots of "how to" articles, blogs by MVPs, lots of other stuff.

Another good page to check out is...

My first suggestion is get very, very familiar with this site. It's a great place to learn all things SQL.

My second is get comfortable with Books Online, if you...

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head on this one is that the statistics on the tables are a mess. That might cause...

What does, "... will not run ..." mean in this context? Do you get an error message?