SQL Denali T-SQL features in SQL Azure now

Earlier this month I noticed that SQL Azure, with the latest upgrade has a version of 11…something (actually 11.0.1467.26, to be exact). And I wondered, aside from the long-touted new spatial library, if there were any Denali T-SQL enhancements that were now available. That is, what version of "version 11" is this? I did do some cursory tests of spatial functionality, but Ed Katibah (aka SpatialEd) will be posting the long list of spatial feature tests directly, I don't want to steal his thunder on those. But here's the tests for Denali T-SQL features, tested against SQL Azure, today.

Working in SQL Azure, now:
1. ORDER BY with OFFSET and FETCH
2. THROW (adjunct to TRY-CATCH)
3. Metadata discovery system procedures (sp_describe_first_result_set and friends)
4. EXECUTE … WITH RESULT SETS
5. FORCESCAN and FORCESEEK hints with extensions

Not working in SQL Azure yet:
1. Sequences
2. UTF-16 collations with supplimentary characters
3. New functions (CONCAT, IIF, EOMONTH, and friends)
4. Windowing (OVER clause enhancements, LAG/LEAD and others, new analytical functions)

So it appears as if T-SQL and Spatial in SQL Azure is now approximately SQL Denali CTP1– (that's one-minus-minus). Interesting. Wonder when the rest of the functionality will appear. And will it beat the SQL Denali release to RTM?

Bear in mind, of course, that most of the SQL Denali funtionality doesn't apply to SQL Azure (e.g. Always On, security enhancements) because SQL Azure doesn't support this level of control in the first place. But you could almost (if not exactly) state that SQL Azure databases were "contained" databases all along.

Followup from a friend on the SQL Azure team: "The features from Denali that are enabled in SQL Azure are fully supported and can be safely used. There aren't any changes to terms of use of the SLAs we provide."

@bobbeauch

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