Living With Broken Software
Steve has to use software that is broken, but it's OK. It actually works well enough.
DAX CASE Statement Functionality with IF, SWITCH and SWITCH True
The CASE expression is one of the most valuable tools in your T-SQL toolbox. I use it in almost every query I write. However, there isn't a direct equivalent of CASE in DAX. Since it's a different language entirely, I don't expect it. As my grandmother used to say, I am not surprised, just disappointed. If you don't know, DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is a language for creating custom calculations and aggregations in Power Pivot, Power BI, and other data analysis tools. Two functions in DAX come close to replicating the functionality but come with limitations. Which one of these functions should you use? Please stay tuned.
Improving the Quality of your Database Monitoring
Database monitoring should be as simple as possible, and yet still allow the users to drill into sufficient detail to be able to recommend a fix to the problem. The trick is to adopt a layered or 'tiered' approach.
Has SQL Server Performance Improved?
This week Steve found a question of whether SQL Server 2019 uses more CPU than 2016.
Building a Better Profile
Steve thinks building a brand is important in today's competitive world of job seekers.
Shrink Database Log Files One by One
Learn how you can shrink your transaction log files serially, one by one.
Snowflake Temporary Tables vs. Transient Tables
When working with Snowflake, it is important to understand the different types of tables available and when to use each one. In this tutorial, we will compare Snowflake temporary and transient tables, highlight their similarities and differences, and provide examples of when to use each type of table.
Being Responsible for Data
There is an interesting court case on who is responsible for the data being posted on the Internet. Steve has a few thoughts today.
Piping, Filtering and Using Flyway Output in PowerShell
Flyway's output is often overwhelmed with verbose messages, most of which we can ignore but some of which provide vital warnings about failed compilations, or useful details about what a migration or callback did. I'll show how to use some pipeline-aware PowerShell functions to filter out and save the bits we want and pass the results along in a form that is useful to the next process in the pipeline.
Using TOP clause in a SELECT statement
There might be a time when you might want to return just a few rows of a result set, instead of the complete set. This might be useful if you want to just validate a selection criteria or a few rows of data. For whatever the reason the TOP clause can be used to return a specific number or a percentage of rows from a result set. This article will cover using the TOP clause in a SELECT statement and how it can be used to return a partial set of records.
Blogs
SQL Server 2025 RegEx and AI
By Steve Jones
One of the language changes in SQL Server 2025 that I’ve seen a lot...
T-SQL Tuesday #192: SQL Server 2025 Backup Changes
By Steve Jones
I hosted this month, but I decided to put my own entry in as...
Why Databases Still Fascinate Me
By Chris Yates
I get asked a lot about why or how I began working with databases...
Forums
Need to overload tempdb
Yes, you read that title correctly. I have a somewhat hilarious problem. We have...
Columnstore index question
Hi experts, I’ve been going through several articles and videos about Columnstore indexes, but...
Transactional Replication
Recently stood up a 2022 Enterprise server. Have 8 publications with subscriptions on a...
Question of the Day
Identify a Slipstream Installation
I get a new SQL Server instance from my build team. How can I tell if the instance was installed using a slipstream installation later?
See possible answers