The Flash DBA
Does it make sense for a DBA to be a job that moves from project to project? Steve Jones has some thoughts.
When sp_HelpText is not so helpful!
A note of caution on the use of sp_helptext to script out objects.
SQLCLR in Practice: Creating a Better Way of Sending Email from SQL Server
SQLCLR is now considered a robust solution to the few niche requirements that can't be met by the built-in features of SQL Server. Amongst the legitimate reasons for avoiding SQLCLR, there is the fear of getting bogged down in code with special requirements that is difficult to debug. Darko takes a real example, extending the features of sp_send_dbmail, to demonstrate that there need be few terrors in SQLCLR.
Help from Cortana
Lots of work is going into making software more helpful. This week Steve Jones wonders what you want from these assistants.
Insert Stored Procedure Results Into New Table Without Using OPENQUERY
OPENQUERY arrives with a lot of baggage. Try this alternative technique to inserting stored procedure results into a new table.
The Best of Both Worlds: Using Excel and Power BI Together
Excel and Power BI work well together. This allows you to use the two tools together to provide for many types of business workflow and BI practices. You can publish an Excel file to Power BI to share with others, analyse a Power BI dataset in Excel or import either an Excel workbook or Excel data to Power BI. You can gain the workgroup power and business-orientation of Power BI without losing the ease and versatility of Excel. Saurabh shows how.
SQL Server 2016 SSIS Basics - Install SQL Server Data Tools
Step-by-step instructions for downloading and installing SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) for SQL Server 2016.
The Avalanche of Cloud Computing
Today Steve Jones talks about the tipping point of cloud computing.
Purging Old Database Mail Items
Are you purging the old database mail items stored in msdb? In this tip, Greg Larsen shows you how to purge database mail.
Interviews: What is ACID?
While thinking about interviews, Steve Jones shares a story of a job situation he encountered.
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