Intellisense is fine, but there is the tried and true ALT+F1. In SSMS simply select the object name in the query window and press ALT+F1 which executes the sp_help...

You may want to consider performance differences between using an IN and an INNER JOIN

select columns

from dbo.sometable

where ItemCode in (select Item from #tempTable)

-- AND --

select columns

from dbo.sometable st

inner

join ...

There is an updated version of this pending. I changed the use of XML as the extract mechanism for data which allowed me to remove the dependency on a...

I hear the argument "we don't want to be locked in" from the app dev folks - the same ones that aren't afraid to be locked in to their programming...

I'd be interested in throwing in on an open source effort. I agree that it can do much more than only SSIS. I look forward to sharing my...

Well done! I had created a process framework at my last company that was similar in it's approach but more generic in nature. I used a queueing mechanism...

I enjoyed the article and think it's a good overall non-biases intro. There are a couple of points I feel are worth mentioning. The in-line TVF can be...

In all a well written and reasoned article and I agree wit the practices outlined as far as production goes. However, it's a regular practice at our shop to...

I like this idea! Having a body of knowledge that can be applied to these situations will be a great resource.

IMHO: Steer away from the term "best practice". ...

They generally range from 1/3 - 1/2 longer for the context switching. I have one person (a mother of twins) that can context switch...

A few years back I learned of a test that demonstrates the evils of multitasking. It's a way of training people not to say "no" but "not yet". ...

I have a hybrid approach. First, I look for an MS only solution. There's a tremendous number resources available thru SQL Server Central, other web sites and blogs...

I don't think you can overlook the usefulness of bcp and/or bulk insert. They're frequently overlooked in favor of SSIS. Many times SSIS is overkill for loading/producing simple...

It looks like it's an issue with one of the varchar data columns.

You might want to look at the table variable -- maybe bust out the varchar 5/6 to sysname....

Having the ability to "variableize" a few commands like BULK INSERT and OPENQUERY would be nice.

...something like:

BULK INSERT dbo.MyTable

from @FileSpec

with ...

...and for open query...

create proc myproc @key int

as

declare...