A Good Case For Reference
Steve Jones is looking for some interesting application ideas using SQL Server that can help teach people how to take advantage of features.
2008-07-14
66 reads
Articles
SQL Server Function to Determine a Leap Year
I need to write a function to determine if particular year is a leap year (i.e. February contains 29 days rather than 28 days). I know that there are various rules for calculating leap years. Is there an easy way to figure this out? Can you provide an example or two to validate various years?
2008-07-14
5,755 reads
Where is the Query in XQuery?
Michael David discusses how XQuery was designed from the ground up to process hierarchical XML data, but it is still missing capabilities that a hierarchical query processor product should have and did have originally.
2008-07-14
2,422 reads
Software for Profit
Steve Jones will be attending the Business of Software conference in September and gives a few reasons why this is an interesting topic to him.
2008-07-13
58 reads
Software for Profit
Steve Jones will be attending the Business of Software conference in September and gives a few reasons why this is an interesting topic to him.
2008-07-13
86 reads
Software for Profit
Steve Jones will be attending the Business of Software conference in September and gives a few reasons why this is an interesting topic to him.
2008-07-13
63 reads
SQL Server 2005 Service Accounts
Are you aware that SQL Server 2005 can have up to ten services running? Working with that many service accounts can be a challenge. Steve Jones takes a look at these services and a few of the things that you will want to know before setting up SQL Server 2005.
2008-07-11 (first published: 2006-03-23)
50,609 reads
VBscript hacks for DTS packages
This article is about using VBscript hacks to overcome two limitations of DTS packages.
2008-07-11
9,686 reads
Intrinsic Member Properties: The MEMBER_KEY Property
Join BI Architect Bill Pearson in an introduction to the intrinsic MEMBER_KEY property. In hands-on exercises, we gain exposure to the use of the property in generating simple lists, as well as datasets to support report parameter picklists.
2008-07-11
2,077 reads
Microsoft Jet 4.0 Sorting APIs: DBCompareStringW and DBLCMapStringW
The Microsoft Jet 4.0 relational database engine utilizes character sorting tables when creating and querying field indexes made up of character data. Two Microsoft Windows APIs are generally utilized for this functionality:
2008-07-11
3,944 reads
Blogs
A New Word: los vidados
By Steve Jones
los vidados – n. the half-remembered acquaintances you knew years ago, who you might...
In-Person CISA Training – April 13-16, 2026
By Brian Kelley
I will be leading an in-person Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) exam prep class...
EightKB 2026
EightKB is back again for 2026! The biggest online SQL Server internals conference is...
Forums
Vectors in SQL Server 2025
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Vectors in SQL Server 2025
Odd Sequences
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Odd Sequences
Everything is the right question away
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Everything is the right question...
Question of the Day
Odd Sequences
What values are returned from this code?
CREATE SEQUENCE NumericSequence
AS NUMERIC(5,1)
START WITH 1.0
INCREMENT BY 0.1;
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO See possible answers