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A Six Week Break

Today begins my second sabbatical from Redgate Software. I took one a few years ago, and it was a really interesting period of growth for me. I planned out quite a bit, tackling a few different learning areas, and enjoyed it immensely. I'm due again, actually, I'm about 18 months late, but it's been a busy time in life and trying to fit this in has taken some doing. It finally starts, and this is my last editorial for six weeks as I'll be away from work. Kathi Kellenberger, editor of Simple Talk, will primarily be covering for me, but Kendra and Grant will be helping as well.

I don't have any big plans this time, but instead decided to focus on things closer to home. My children have all grown up and left the house, and it's been a strange year for my wife and me. Since they've somewhat moved on, there are a few things we'd like to tackle around the house that we've delayed and avoided for years. The last few months have had us doing a little Marie Kon'ing, and I want to continue that in a few ways that might help me learn a bit about myself and life.

I have some house projects to tackle, which I'll document on my blog, as well as a personal project. I hope to spend a significant portion of most days on these projects, while also finding some time to ski with my wife and enjoy the Colorado winter. I'm hoping this is a good break from work and life that will recharge me and get me ready to tackle the rest of what I expect will be a busy 2020.

Work is important to me, and while I greatly appreciate this benefit, I also have obligations. There is one conference near the end of my sabbatical that I submitted to speak at and will attend for a couple days, so I'll likely be back on Feb 26. I'll also still pay authors while I'm gone as it's easier for me to do this for half an hour a month than try to get someone else set up.

I don't know if I think this is a valuable benefit that every company should offer, but I do know that my first one was something I greatly appreciated and it went a long way towards making me think about life and things away from work. My career has been a big part of my life, and I enjoy that, but I also know there is likely a time to retire, and there are other things out there. Getting away for weeks lets me keep everything in perspective, as well as just enjoy a number of days where I'm not pushing bits around.

I'm looking forward to the break, and I'll see you in six weeks.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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Question of the Day

Today's question (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor):
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I have this code in an application: DECLARE @i INT = 4, @j int SELECT @j = CHOOSE(@i, 10,20,30,3.14,50,'Test') SELECT @j What is the value returned from this batch?
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Yesterday's Question of the Day (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor)

SQLCMD Mode

I am writing a SQLCMD script in SSMS with SQLCMD mode. How do I turn this on?

Answer: Enable this in the Query menu

Explanation: You enable this in the Query menu, as shown here: SSMS Query Menu Ref: Edit SQLCMD Scripts with Query Editor - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/scripting/edit-sqlcmd-scripts-with-query-editor?view=sql-server-ver15

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Database Pros Who Need Your Help

Here's a few of the new posts today on the forums. To see more, visit the forums.

SQL Server 2017 - Administration

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BCP export/Import >> More Columns in Table than in Data File - Hi, I'm using BCP to export and import. Steps followed: Took BCP export for Table A (Which has 14 columns ) 2. Dropped this Table A and created again with one extra column. Now this tables will have 15 columns. 3. Created formatted file for the recreated table. 4. Ran BCP import with export data […]

SQL Server 2017 - Development

difference between numeric and decimal - Hello, beginner in Tsql I need help: here in one of the tables that I use, one of the fields is declared in decimal (10.5). I understand that the field is therefore decimal but what are the 10 and 5 used for ?? Thanks for your help

SQL Server 2016 - Administration

Availability groups - Hi all Our ETL process is quite slow and we are wanting to speed it up. I've come to the conclusion it's slow as we have to use linked servers to get to the data. This is the current set-up:- server 1 - feed from 3rd-party application (SQL 2012 Enterprise) server 2 - mirrored […]

SQL Server 2016 - Development and T-SQL

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Development - SQL Server 2014

Fifi Calculation - Hi I have below Data and i want Balance Invoices on accoun of Fifo . In case of C00220 it should return 54575 entry In case of C00575 it should return 1593 & 401 entry In case of C00576 it should return 180304 entry Code debit Credit RefDate C00220 41477 0 06-05-2019 C00220 0 41477 […]

SQL Server 2012 - T-SQL

handling Nulls in case series - Why is the "is null" throwing a syntax error?: UPDATE [GCDF_DB].[dbo].[People] SET [educationtext] = CASE [education]when 1 then 'Post Graduate' when 2 then '4 Year Degree' when 3 then 'Associates Degree' when 4 then 'High School' when is null then 'Unknown'END

SQL Server 2019 - Administration

Columnstore index to be created in Oracle - Does Oracle allow creating a Columnstore index be created on a regular, non memory optimized table? Just like it is possible to do in SQL Server.

Not an 8 to 5 employee - How can I get re-started in the world of SQL Server. Fifteen years ago I was as a SQL Server DBA but then shifted to a career as a Storage Area Network (SAN) engineer. I will retire soon but would love to get involved with Databases again. I enjoy creating/managing databases and analyzing data etc. […]

SQL Server 2019 - Development

TSQL Help - I need help on SQL Query i have table with 2 column Acol BCol 1 ABD 1 ACD 1 ADD 2 DEF 2 DDD 2 EEE I want output as 1 ABD,ACD,ADD 2 DEF,DDD,EEE Appreciate your help.

Theoretical Question regarding Orphaned data in a Parent-Child table Relation - I am providing DDL to re-create the parent and child tables involved and the DDL is a representation of the actual 2 tables involved because I'm not allowed to post the source DDL so I altered the table names and column names so I could. That said, this is a general purpose question that is […]

SQL Azure - Development

Dmvs to show missing indexes - Any dmvs(sripts) to show missing indexes in azure sql db?

Integration Services

Validating meta data of xls file - Hi Team, We get xls file every day with so many sheets in it. I need to validate only the sheet named with current year. In this case, it is 2020. the main issue is that the user some times add new columns and due to that package is getting failed. So I want to […]

Design Ideas and Questions

Star Schema draft - I'm trying to figure out if this star schema works for counting the quantity of products in the warehouse for each day. This is my schema......Are the dimension and fact tables alright?

Buy and store desing - Hi I need to design to register the purchase and enter the products into the warehouse, make transfers between warehouses At the moment I have this

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