If you concatenate strings together and one of them contains NULL then the result will always be NULL (unless you've played with the default CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL setting).

Have a look at ISNULL,...

Well, finally done it. Created a blog site via WordPress.com (because I really don't want to mess around any more than I need to). Basically somewhere to leave useful information...

This article shows you how to post enough information to be helpful to everyone that is willing to assist you:

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/

Once enough information is supplied there will be no end of...

'NAME' is in the SELECT but it is the fourth column and has been described as the first column in the column names list.

Remove the column names so it read...

No, you have a misunderstanding about this.

When you create a snapshot of a database it needs to know about all of the data files that belong to the database. These...

Look at the files that make your database, the easiest way is via SSMS - right-click on the db/properties/Files.

Do you actually have a file called 'Exhibitor_Data'?

You could use Row_Number to allocate a number to each row, partitioning by all of the columns. Then remove any row where the number is greater than 1.

http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/paul/a-sql-server-dba-myth-a-day-3030-backup-myths/

Bearing in mind point 30-01 in that article, what...

Stop the service before you defrag a hard-drive. Any errors during the defrag and you'll have a corrupt database - it isn't worth the risk.

Make sure you have a backup...

I may have misunderstood your intention with this code, so could I just check?

You appear to be selecting data from scd.dbo.semp1 where Statuscode is 1, into @testingtable. Then you select...

Is it always showing a blank result or NULL?

This is important, because if you concatenate strings together and one of them contains NULL then the result will always be NULL...

Thanks for that Grant. I saw the Table Variables but it just didn't register. "Looked But Failed To See" - it will be on my headstone one day.

Could somebody with more experience with Execution Plans have a look at this thread please - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1498743-23-1.aspx ?

Because I've never used OPENQUERY outside of idle curiosity I don't know if...

All of the date manipulation bits you should ever need: https://www.simple-talk.com/sql/learn-sql-server/robyn-pages-sql-server-datetime-workbench/

Is this a printed version of the Stairways articles on SSC http://www.sqlservercentral.com/stairway/72401/?