Where Do I Want To Go Today? - Upsert
Where should SQL Server go in the future? What enhancements are needed? Steve Jones starts to explore his wish list for future versions of SQL Server.
Finding and Deleting Duplicate Data
Bad data is almost a given, but true duplicate data can really cause you some headaches. How do you remove all the duplicates and still leave a 'keeper' record? If you think procedural code it's not too hard, but can you do a set based solution? Chris shows you show!
Database Server Clash Revisited (Eweek)
This is a follow up article on the database comparison they did about 18 months ago.
Creating a Chart From a Table
New author! This article has a stored procedure that will generate an HTML document - as long as the table has the proper schema. If you try it, be sure to download the associated zip which has some images and the script for the stored procedure.
The SQL Delete Statement
New Author! Narayana has some ideas on the delete statement and how you can have a fall back plan if something goes wrong.
Replacing BCP with SQLBulkLoad
New Author! Stephan writes about why he thinks the bulk load capabilities added in the SQLXML3 addition are a great way to handle imports - maybe so good that you'll stop using BCP.
Review: EditPlus
Everyone uses a text editor. Whether for programming, editing configuration files, or reviewing logs. Here's a look at an inexpensive replacement for notepad that performs a number of functions that DBAs might be interested in having.
Freeware : DDL Source Safe Archive Utility
If your shop is even close to the typical Microsoft SQL Server environment there are several people that can make changes to the production environment and what's in SourceSafe does not match what's on the SQL Server. This freeware by Bill Wunder will make archiving DDL and DTS packages a piece of cake and simplify deployment of SQL Server code. Available exclusivily for SQLServerCentral.com members.
MSMQ Extended Stored Procedures For SQL Server
As you might guess from the title, this is an extended stored procedure that you can use to interact with MSMQ. It's supposed to be extremely fast, able to handle 4-5k messages per second and have a very small memory footprint. (Press Release)
Example VSS Framework - Source Code Management - Part 2
In part two of this article Chris explains how to handle some common issues you'll run into while using version control and how to manage the process. Defintely read part one first if you haven't already.
Blogs
Learn about Modern Microsoft Apps in San Diego
By Steve Jones
I wrote about learning today for the editorial: I Can’t Make You Learn. I...
How To Deploy Fabric SQL and Azure SQL Databases with Azure DevOps
By ReviewMyDB
Fabric has CI/CD built in, but if you've tried to use it for database...
A New Word: Attriage
By Steve Jones
attriage – n. the state of having lost all control over how you feel...
Forums
SSRS Reminded Me of the Time Microsoft Retired TMG
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SSRS Reminded Me of the...
Getting results from a Procedure to join to a query
I have a need to execute a stored procedure and return the results to...
Upgrade 2016 Standard to 2022 Express
Title pretty much says it all - can this be done? I've tried several...
Question of the Day
BIT_COUNT II
In SQL Server 2025, I have a table (dbo.UserPermission) that contains this data:
UserID UserPermissions 15 23 37 4 NULLWhat is returned when I run this code:
select bit_count(UserPermissions) as PermissionCount from dbo.UserPermission where UserID = 4;See possible answers