There is another solution - a turbo-charged version of James' solution, which doesn't require any tedious messing around with format files:

USE tempdb;

GO

-- Sample table

CREATE TABLE dbo.SourceData

(

...

[font="Courier New"]Warning: Null value is eliminated by an aggregate or other SET operation.[/font]

(suppressed by SET ANSI_WARNINGS OFF)

Aside from...

1. Referencing the table in a foreign key relationship

2. ...

That level of interrupts is not unusual or concerning with a quad core based system. Older net-burst architecture processors were worth monitoring for interrupts, but no longer really.

It is...

To correct some inaccuracies in previous posts on this thread:

Support for locked pages on 64-bit Standard Edition was added in 2005 SP3 CU4, and 2008 SP1 CU2. You need...

Leo,

The threshold is currently fixed at 15 seconds, though this may become configurable in a future release or service pack.

There are many better ways of monitoring I/O performance than scanning...

Finally, here's my script for what I believe to be the absolute fastest possible way to populate the table and return the desired results:

The key point is that all the...

Here is the 2005-syntax equivalent of the 2008 code I posted (it produces an identical plan on 2005 to the 2008 version):

SELECT U.row_id, CA.column_nm, CA.old, CA.new

FROM ...

WayneS (11/2/2009)

---

You know, it is this attitude that I see so much from the "regulars" here, and it's one of the reasons I love this site. But Paul, none of...

You could do a lot worse than consider Itzik Ben-Gan's latest books:

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft®-Server®-T-SQL-Fundamentals-PRO-Developer/dp/0735626014

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Microsoft%C2%AE-SQL-Server%C2%AE-2008/dp/0735626030

The links there provide a limited preview of the content too. Highly recommended.

Paul

WayneS (11/1/2009)

---

I was going to ask what kind of indexes you'll thought would be of use in this query. I hadn't pushed it since I figured that since I'm working...

Same...

Yes that works. I am willing to bet that opinion will be divided over whether it is elegant or robust however 😉

Paul

Hey everyone,

Although the 2008 method is undoubtedly impressive, I'm very aware of the fact that it is a relatively small tweak to the original (awesome) solution from Peter. He...

G²,

Decimal and money are fixed-point types. They don't go near an FPU 🙂

http://blogs.msdn.com/khen1234/archive/2005/05/13/417153.aspx