Being Responsible for Data
There is an interesting court case on who is responsible for the data being posted on the Internet. Steve has a few thoughts today.
Piping, Filtering and Using Flyway Output in PowerShell
Flyway's output is often overwhelmed with verbose messages, most of which we can ignore but some of which provide vital warnings about failed compilations, or useful details about what a migration or callback did. I'll show how to use some pipeline-aware PowerShell functions to filter out and save the bits we want and pass the results along in a form that is useful to the next process in the pipeline.
Using TOP clause in a SELECT statement
There might be a time when you might want to return just a few rows of a result set, instead of the complete set. This might be useful if you want to just validate a selection criteria or a few rows of data. For whatever the reason the TOP clause can be used to return a specific number or a percentage of rows from a result set. This article will cover using the TOP clause in a SELECT statement and how it can be used to return a partial set of records.
Passing parameters to query without TVFs
This article looks at an interesting way to help your users get filtered data from a TVF instead of using a stored procedure or specialized view.
Database Monitoring: The ROI of Build vs. Buy
In this webinar, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Grant Fritchey, is joined by our expert panel to share the pros and cons to building a monitoring system versus purchasing one.
How to use the SQL WHERE Clause with Examples
With the SQL WHERE clause in SQL Server, users can filter their query results in many ways. In most cases, we do not utilize all the options the WHERE clause provides, so we tend to forget that they exist. In this SQL tutorial, we will look at several examples of how to use the WHERE clause.
Review Early and Often
Several years ago, I was brought in on a project to review a database design. I was provided a time for a meeting. No written requirements were available, but I generally knew what the system was supposed to do. No before/after schema images showed what was being changed were available. Still, I was assured that […]
How Important is Zero Downtime?
Zero downtime used to be more important in Steve's job, but lately it seems customers aren't as concerned.
How to Connect SQL Server and Create C# Objects for Data Management
Learn about how you can work with your SQL Server data from C#. A good basic tutorial for beginning C# developers.
Blogs
Ramblings about data communities and your contributions, no excuses
By DataOnWheels
I have been active in the data community throughout my career. I have met...
SQL Server Journey till 2025 (brief)
By Vinay Thakur
Quick Summary for Microsoft SQL Server till 2025, I am fortunate to be part...
Building Power BI Reports: Desktop vs Fabric
By James Serra
Why this comparison feels confusing If you’re a Power BI report author who’s just...
Forums
2026 Guide to Multi-State Payroll Tax Issues and Compliance
Stay compliant in a complex regulatory environment with expert guidance on multi-state payroll tax...
Azure SQL Database | CREATE EVENT SESSION [Blocking_Capture] ON DATABASE
Hello, Is there a way in Azure SQL Database to change the 'Blocking Process...
Having a Little Fun at SQL Server Central
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Having a Little Fun at...
Question of the Day
String Similarity I
On SQL Server 2025, when I run this, what is returned?
SELECT EDIT_DISTANCE_SIMILARITY('SQL Server', 'MySQL') See possible answers