Using try catch in SQL Server stored procedures
A great new option that has been around since SQL Server 2005 is the ability to use the Try..Catch paradigm that exists in other development languages. Doing error handling in SQL Server has not always been the easiest thing, so this option definitely makes it much easier to code for and handle errors.
Life Moves Pretty Fast
Driving my soon-to-be granddaughter to school today (my son is getting married and will adopt the young lady), we saw a dead armadillo, a turtle in the road (rescued it) and an escaped cow (left it alone). THEN... old soon-to-be granddad had forgotten lunch, so had to deliver that back at the school (cow must […]
50 Years of Microsoft
Steve looks back at his history with Microsoft and asks what your memories are of using their products.
Retrieving Data Using the REST API in Data API Builder
I wrote a piece on getting started with the Data API Builder (DAB), which looked at how this product works and how to start using it. That was a basic look, but it gives data professionals an idea of how this might help them work more closely with front-end developers who are more comfortable with […]
Managed Instance Gotchas – Error Conditions
I was recently on a project to migrate a very transactional installation of SQL Server to Azure SQL Managed Instance (MI). SQL Managed Instance is a good stepping stone between a full, on-prem SQL instance / Azure VM and an Azure SQL Database.
Stairway to ColumnStore Indexes Level 7: Optimizing Nonclustered Columnstore Indexes
In this level, we will focus on optimization techniques to apply while building the nonclustered columnstore index, which is available in all versions of SQL Server from 2012 up.
Using the CASE expression instead of dynamic SQL in SQL Server
I have a lot of SQL update queries where I need to make IF/ELSE types of decisions. In some cases, I am using a cursor but looping through thousands of rows for update takes a long time. I also use some dynamic SQL to handle some query parameter decision making. Is there a better alternative?
Blogs
SQL, MDX, DAX – the languages of data
By DataOnWheels
Ramblings of a retired data architect Let me start by saying that I have...
Setting PK Names in Redgate Data Modeler
By Steve Jones
A customer was testing Redgate Data Modeler and complained that it auto-generated PK names....
Flyway Tips: AI Deployment Script Descriptions
By Steve Jones
With the AI push being everywhere, Redgate is no exception. We’ve been getting requests,...
Forums
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...
Semantic Search in SQL Server 2025
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Semantic Search in SQL Server...
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