Enforce Business Rules for All Your Data with Constraints
The only way to guarantee that your business rules are always enforced for all your data is by using constraints. Learn how to use them to enforce business rules in the database.
A Primer on Managing Data Bitemporally
In systems that require, for auditing purposes, advanced logging and reproducibility of reports between runs, a straightforward update, insert, or delete may be counter-productive. In such circumstances, a bitemporal model is necessary
Creative uses for COALESCE() in SQL Server
COALESCE() accepts a series of values and a value to use in the event that all items in the list are null; then, it returns the first not-null value. This tip describes two creative uses of the COALESCE() function in SQL Server.
Parallel Statistics Update
Full scan statistics update can be slow and expensive on a large system, and a single update statistics job for a whole database can easily exceed an overnight maintenance window. This article looks at jobs that could update statistics on the system in parallel.
SQL Server Replication Crib Sheet
Robyn Page delves into all the things you need to know, rather than want to know, about SQL Server replication.
The May Car Update (2007)
Steve Jones takes a look at the world of automobiles and specifically his new Prius hybrid.
Upload multiple XML files to an XML data type column
Learn how to upload multiple XML files to an SQL Server 2005 database XML data type column.
Best Practices for Date/Time Calculations in SQL Server
You can use arithmetic operators in date/time calculations in SQL Server, but sometimes the date/time functions provided by Microsoft are the better option. Follow a few scenarios that demonstrate when arithmetic operators are safe and when they are risky.
Gathering RSS Feeds using Visual Studio and RSS.NET
If you would like to learn how to build and customize your very own Windows service to retrieve posts from multiple RSS feeds, and then store those posts in a SQL Server database, let John Papa guide you through his tutorial.
Generating lift reports using Reporting Services - Part 1
This tip explores a DMX extension introduced in SQL Server 2005 SP2 that can be used to render lift reports directly in Reporting Services.
Blogs
A New Word: on tenderhooks
By Steve Jones
on tenderhooks – adj. feeling the primal satisfaction of being needed by someone, which...
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...
Forums
how do i map the "current" object entry in for each to one variable
hi, in an ssis for each loop over an object variable called MyListVariable, i...
Simulating Mercury’s Orbital Motion Using Pure T-SQL (NASA 2025 Dataset)
SQL Server is typically viewed as a transactional or analytical database engine. However, it...
Azure SQL Database | CREATE EVENT SESSION [Blocking_Capture] ON DATABASE
Hello, Is there a way in Azure SQL Database to change the 'Blocking Process...
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