Scripts

Technical Article

PACK() user defined function

Convert a decimal number to IBM EBCDIC packed decimal format.  If for some reason you need to export a number to IBM systems in native format, you can define a SQL Server field as binary(8) and Pack() your decimal number into it.  Then IBM mainframes and COBOL/CICS systems can read the numbers from your data […]

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2002-12-04

565 reads

Technical Article

Script to determine backup finish times

SQL Server provides the RESTORE HEADERONLY command which helps users determine backup completion times.  What if you have the need to use this completion time for comparison, perhaps to set up a job that only restores the file if it is xx hours old.  This script can be used to determine the maximum backup finish […]

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2002-12-04

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Technical Article

Dependencies on a specific table column

SQL Server provides a built-in stored procedure, sp_depends, that returns object dependencies.  Recently, I discovered a need for determining dependencies on a table column, not just the table itself.  For example, a table may be referenced by many stored procedures and views, but a specific column in that table may only be referenced in a […]

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2002-12-03

3,557 reads

Technical Article

Add Check Digit (LUHN)

If you ever need to create a credit card like number this stored procedure is for you.Most credit cards contain a check digit, which is the digit at the end of the credit card number. To generate the check digit, the LUHN formula is applied to the number. To validate the credit-card number, the check […]

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2002-11-30

4,356 reads

Technical Article

Check user activity

This stored procedure is another monitoring utility that can be executed periodically as a sql server agent job. The procedure checks if there are any open connections, and if there was any recent user activity within a given period of time in a given (or any) database by a given (or any/any except given) login […]

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2002-11-30

1,308 reads

Technical Article

Delete old versions of DTS packages

This script will remove old versions of DTS packages. It accepts a single parameter which is used as a filter criteria on the package name. It will also remove package log records for the version that is deleted.EXAMPLE: EXEC usp_DelOldDTSPkgVersions @vcrPkgName = 'Devel'This will delete old versions for packages that have 'Devel' in the nameQuestions […]

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2002-11-30

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Question of the Day

ORDER BY alias

There is a table tmp_tab:

CREATE TABLE tmp_tab (
id int,
val int
);
INSERT INTO tmp_tab VALUES
(1, 1),
(2, NULL),
(3, 3),
(4, 4),
(5, 5);
You want to order the rows ids by the following expression:
    ISNULL(val, id) + 1
Which of the following queries produces the expected ordering and why? (Select all correct)

See possible answers