New JDBC Driver for SQL
This is one of the vendors we met at PASS 2003. Their new driver is supposed to be faster than the driver provided by Microsoft AND supports NT authentication. Link takes you to a comparision chart of features. (Not Reviewed)
Indexed Views
Most of us know what it is, or do we? Chris works on a good definition and along with that, gets into a good look at the problems denormalization creates and talks about a pretty common form of it - the indexed view.
Notes about PASS 2003 and Other Stuff
Andy wrote up some notes about the recent PASS Community Summit, plans for next year, people we met, and much more.
Parameterizing Views
Views dont parameters, but sometimes you need them to act as if they do. Andy discusses views and how they encapsulate code and then offers an idea about how to alter the behavior of views on the fly. Controversial? Probably!
What is Denormalization?
Chris Kempster brings us a basic look at the database design topic of denormalization.
Lockwood Tech is now ApexSQL!
The name has changed, but the owner and the upgrade policies remain the same! Follow the link to see the press release that explains the name change.
Introduction to ADO Part 2 - Recordsets
Part two in the Introduction to ADO series, this beginner level article shows how to open a recordset, how to add and edit records, and touches lightly on how to select the best cursor type and locking mode. Good code samples help you get started fast!
Custom Log Shipping
One of our favorite authors is back with a great how-to on log shipping. This isn't the baked in log shipping, this is a code your own solution that gives you a starting point for your situation. Even if you don't need it now, it's worth looking at to gain a better understanding of how shipping works.
Bypassing Triggers
This articles covers a variety of techniques to let you bypass or conditionally execute code in a trigger based on criteria outside of the inserted/deleted tables. It also includes a contest that gives you a chance to win a copy of our book The Best of SQLServerCentral.com 2002!
Find Min/Max Values in a Set
New Author! The author tries to port a solution from Oracle and runs into a problem. Agree with the solution?
Blogs
Learn Better: Pause to Review More
By Brian Kelley
If you want to learn better, pause more in your learning to intentionally review.
Azure SQL Managed Instance Next-Gen: Bring on the IOPS
By John
If you’ve used Azure SQL Managed Instance General Purpose, you know the drill: to...
SQL, MDX, DAX – the languages of data
By DataOnWheels
Ramblings of a retired data architect Let me start by saying that I have...
Forums
Two foreign keys to the same table. Can't cascade deletes.
Not sure if this is really a relational theory question but it seems about...
Connecting Power BI to SSAS and effective user not working
Hi everyone, Below is a consolidated summary of what we validated Architecture & data...
High Availability setup - has anyone seen this method?
Hi all, I recently moved to a new employer who have their HA setup...
Question of the Day
Encoding URLs
I have this data in a SQL Server 2025 table:
CREATE TABLE Response ( ResponseID INT NOT NULL CONSTRAINT ResponsePK PRIMARY KEY , ResponseVal VARBINARY(5000) ) GOIf I want to get a value from this table that I can add to a URL in a browser, which of these code items produces a result I can use? See possible answers