Actually this is just a demonstration of encryption, not necessarily key management.  Key management is a whole 'other topic.  Windows provides key management tools via the Crypto library; it would...

According to the best information I could find it is most likely that SQL Server can't locate a referenced DLL, i.e., MFC40.DLL as you mentioned.  I just checked it against...

You shouldn't have to re-start SQL after running the script.  The xp's are installed in the "master" database (the only place xp's can be installed, by the way).  Are you...

The good folks here at SQLServerCentral have uploaded the updated SQL Encryption Toolkit.  To get the updated version, just click on any of the download links anywhere in...

Thanks for the feedback.  I wouldn't go so far as to encrypt all your data.  If that's what you're looking to do, then you should probably look for a file-level...

Explanation:

"The parens and the | indicate an OR matching of any of the items listed between the |. In this case, without anything before or after, this expression would only...

First off, thanks for the comments!

Don't be fooled by the A-mark/I-mark discussion.  This solution unfortunately leaves us with only two reasons "why" data is missing.

FIPS 127-2 (http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/fip127-2.htm) defines...

Hi Michelle,

The COALESCE() function is documented here http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/tsqlref/ts_ca-co_9dph.asp  and here http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~shadow/sql/sql1992.txt

COALESCE() performs a similar function to ISNULL(), but it...

You wouldn't have had this issue with COALESCE(), which is ANSI SQL standard anyway.  Here's an example:

DECLARE @C CHAR(2)

SELECT COALESCE(@c, 'HELLO')

SELECT ISNULL(@c, 'HELLO')

The COALESCE() version returns...

Someone e-mailed me a question directly (name and address withheld on request).  The question was a good one, so I thought I'd address it with a post here:

"Why would you...

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

In addition to what was already stated about creating a temp table to hold intermediate results, if your calculations are conditional using IF..ELSE constructs, you might look at converting them...

Great article.  A lot of people make the mistake of trying to use SQL as a procedural language instead of a declarative language.  It's hard for some to think in...

Thanks, your posts help me refine the style I will use in future article submissions.  I appreciate your feedback!

Regarding this statement:  "cASE SEnSitiVITY is not good for the whole of the database. I do agree that it saves '40%' time... but should be used only for columns that...