I'd recommend checking aliases as well. I've seen a handful of third party vendors that still use the old "sp_addalias" trick, aliasing their dedicated login to the database's dbo...

In case you wanted something quick for the "script generating a script" thing...

DECLARE @xpcmdshellflag TINYINT,

@exec_str NVARCHAR(MAX)

...

Oddly enough, I needed to do this in the past as well. The best solution seemed to be low tech: run the query in three distinct and [separate] steps/queries:

1.)...

Mater.

I apologize for what might be dated info - I haven't worked on an AS/400 in a few years. I distinctly remember the default character set giving me heartburn....

I see [two] possible solutions to the "running two queries in the same window/'job' at the same time" question:

SELECT col1, col2 FROM table1 -- Query #1

UNION

SELECT col1, col2 FROM...

Steve is right on the mark, and I'd like to add one thing coming from direct experience: When you finally leave the job - or employer - that you're unhappy...

Re: Little Bobby Tables

I haven't heard that reference in a while. Thanks for the laugh...

BTW: The 'documented' capacity for SQL Server databases on one instance is listed as 32,767...

FWIW, I've tried both approaches (sp-controlled audit vs. triggers) and found that the trigger approach had the least amount of care and feeding in the long run. Regardless of...

Hey Todd

Re: splitting a string to a table variable "array" - give this a try:

DECLARE @values TABLE (value VARCHAR(10))

DECLARE @xml AS XML,@str AS VARCHAR(100),@delimiter AS VARCHAR(10)

SET @STR='A,B,C,D,E'

SET...

One of my co-workers was a Chinese national and sometimes his command of the English language - coupled with his brevity - led to some "inside jokes" for the DBA...

I completely agree with comments made above: being "told" to do something usually generates a reflexive negative response. If the manager wants to turn lemons into lemonade, rather than...

At the risk of planting an idea in somebody's head (mental picture: Beavis and Butthead at a computer keyboard) I'll deliberately generalize. Hospitals use a [lot] of wireless for...

Chalk up one more vote for online index rebuilds.

In some respects, automating 'the usual' is exciting in itself. I've learned a lot by being lazy enough to want to automate the grunt work but motivated by my...