The Data Platform Vision
Microsoft published a vision for their data platform and SQL Server recently. Steve Jones has a few thoughts on what this means for you. Hint: it's cloudy.
Nesting Levels in SQL
The 'Structured' part of SQL denotes the fact that queries can be nested inside each other in such a way that, wherever you can use a table, you can use a table expression. Such derived tables can provide powerful magic, to which is added CTEs and Lateral Tables.
San Jose, CA - SQL in the City Seminar - Deployment Stairway
SQL Server MVP Steve Jones will be hosting a free seminar in San Jose on Friday March 7 2014. Join fellow database professionals to learn best practices and practical tips for SQL Server version control, continuous integration and deployment.
Did This Work? - Forum Changes at SQLServerCentral
We've made a change to the forums at SQLServerCentral. Learn how you can mark a post as an answer to your question and help others.
Performance Tuning Through Panic
We've all been there, trying to improve performance in a panic situation and not making things better.
Black Day at I/O Gulch
Not long ago, a crack team of SQL Server experts was flamed for a crime against database normalization they didn't commit. Today, Joe Deebeeay had a problem, no one else could help, so he found these exiled experts. Together Joe and the DBA-Team get to the bottom of high disk I/O.
Five Rules For Successful Conversations With Developers
In this piece, Josh follows up on his earlier article about smoothing DBA/Developer interactions, this time from the side of the developers.
Oddball Interview Questions
Today we have a guest editorial from Andy Warren. He talks about strange questions in interviews and whether they help you assess the candidate.
SQL Server Database Connectivity Testing Using PowerShell
There are several networking issues that can prevent the user from reaching or connecting to the SQL Server database. Learn how to test your SQL Server connectivity with PowerShell.
Sending a Variable Number of Elements in a Parameter
What are your options for sending a variable number of choices in a parameter to a stored procedure? Alex Grinberg looks at three techniques you can use.
Blogs
A bespoke reporting solution doesn’t have to cost the earth
By ChrisJenkins
You could be tolerating limited reporting because there isn’t an off the shelf solution...
Presenting with Visual Studio Code
A while back I wrote a quick post on setting up key mappings in...
Advice I Like: In 100 Years
By Steve Jones
In 100 years a lot of what we take to be true now will...
Forums
AllocationType as ROW_OVERFLOW_DATA
Hello, I inherited a number of tables with like 20-30 column using nvarchar(256) in...
is it true we cant debug c# scripts in ssis anymore under vs
Hi, i'm running vs2022. I'm trying out a c# script that i'd like to...
Question of the Day
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:
SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.What is wrong? See possible answers