File Watcher Task

The File Watcher Task does what it says really, it watches a folder waiting for files. When an available file is found the task completes, returning the name of the file for later use.

The task will detect changes to existing files as well as new files, both actions will cause the file to be found when available. A file is available when the task can open it exclusively. This is important for files that take a long time to be written, such as large files, or those that are just written slowly or delivered via a slow network link.

Database Design and Reference Tables

Whether you are building SQL Server 2000 applications or getting ready for the new features in SQL Server 2005, there are many fundamental database design principals that should be followed. New author Ranga Narasimhan brings us a look at how he handles reference tables when designing a database..

"TOP" Clause in SQL Server 2005

We all know the "TOP" clause returns the first n number of rows or percentage of rows thereby limiting the number of resulting rows displayed when we are selecting rows in a table.

SQL Server 2005 is packed with new features and enhancements. One of the enhancements in SQL 2005 that we are going to see is the clause, "TOP." The "TOP" clause will now allow us to do Data Manipulation and also allow similar criteria results to be displayed by using the TIES option.

Enterprise Manager Tricks for Newbies

SQL Server 2000 has a great set of administrative and development tools, one of the most heavily used of which is Enterprise Manager. Sushila Iyer brings us a fantastic article with some tricks in using this tool to create and manipulate tables.

A Call to Arms

Long anticipated, the arrival of radically restructured database architectures is now finally at hand.

SQL Server Spotlight on Donald Farmer

Continuing with the humanization of the amazing team hard at work on SQL Server, Steve Jones takes a few minutes with Donald Farmer, BI guru.

Using DTS to Generate and Email Excel Reports

Another great article from Joe Sack that looks at a great technique for generating reports in Excel for your users. Using DTS, you can easily setup an ad hoc or recurring schedule for your users. It's a way to quickly build a report that keeps people happy while making you look like a genius.

Database Geek of the Week - Richard Hundhausen

Richard Hundhausen is the author of Building Web Applications with ADO.NET and XML Web Services and Programming ADO.NET, both from Wiley, as well as the upcoming Working with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System from Microsoft Press. He is also a trainer, teaching numerous courses and speaking at conferences such as VSLive and Tech Ed.

Fixing SysDepends

Have you been burned by sysdepends at some point in your SQL Server DBA career? Steve Jones has many times, but a FREE new utility ends all that.

SQLAnswers Review

How many of you using SQL Server 2000 have the need to send email from SQL Server? How many of you hate Outlook? Here is a software package that can send not only HTML, but PDF as well and through SMTP. Read Hugh Scott's review and thoughts on this product.