It's far better to write good fast SQL with the proper indexes instead of trying to trick...

Heh... they even made the same mistake that caused the y2k crisis...

Best T-Shirt I ever saw on the subject of "SQL Darwin Awards" was...

[font="Courier New"] SELECT *

...

[font="Courier New"]SET @Cmd = 'DEL \\dt-sc2\shares\Data.txt'

EXEC Master.dbo.xp_CmdShell @Cmd[/font]

Yes... it does NOT affect performance of what SQL Server does for page allocation...

Run the following: EXECUTE master.dbo.xp_cmdshell 'SET'

and then run SET from the command prompt. (make sure you are logged in as the account that the agent is running as). For me...

Ummm... actually, Scope_IDENTITY() is exactly what you want.

Crud... missed your reference where you explained it before. Sorry, John.

A whole lot more subtle than the obvious candidates for the "SQL Darwin Award" that you guys have shown, is my favorite clock-cyle waster/index defeater...

[font="Courier New"]AND ISNULL(somecolumn,' ') <> '...

Yes... don't forget that SQL_Variant can take up to 8016 bytes... if you have more than one SQL_Variant column...

Great minds think alike... and, frequently, at the same time. 😉

Linda Johanning (12/13/2007)

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I have to reply to this post. Yes, I am tired of poorly built 3rd party applications too. For years our IT department didn't have any...

Sure... in fact, I'm honored :blush:. But, I would be very careful and I'd possibly do a bit of editing... the term...

Just in case you dislike cursors as much as I... see attached...

Good... you're trying to answer questions and that's a good thing. But go back and read...

Ummm.... not quite true in 2k or 2k5,...