One of the uses for sparse columns will likely be replacing entity-attribute-value designs. In an EAV design, the "sparse attribute" values are represented by a
It's easier than you'd think… When you use the SQL Server 2008 CREATE EVENT SESSION DDL statement with extended events, you specify: Events to be
It appears that there are some changes in .NET 3.5 System.Transactions (or System.Transactions.dll and System.Data.dll version 2.0.50727.1433 if you're looking at assembly versions). Florin Lazar
Short post this evening… Just in case anyone else flails around looking for this feature, its right under your nose. When you use the PowerShell
I'm still getting used to the new sparse column feature in SQL Server 2008. I'd just read in the BOL definition of ALTER TABLE that
This is the last part of a series on programming policy-based management. The series starts here. In the previous installment, I created a policy that
This post is part of a series on programming policy-based management. The series begins here. So, we were working with a policy that required an
This is part of a series on programming policy-based management. The series starts here. Now, we'll tackle programming a little bit more complicated policy. The
This is part three of a series on programming policy-based management. The series starts here. So, to initialize my Condition's ExpressionNode I need more than
This is the second part in a series about programming policy-based management. The series starts here. To build our MailOffByDefault policy we need: Condition
I've been looking at the new Policy-Based Management (was: Declarative Management Framework) in SQL Server BOL. All of the BOL examples use the SSMS user-interface
This is the last post in the series, at least for now. I'll update it (or post more on the topics discussed here) as the
This post is part of a series about worries when implementing LINQ to SQL or ADO.NET Entity Framework from a SQL database-centric programmer's perspective. The
This post covers LINQ to SQL and EF worry #4. That is: LINQ to SQL and EF will write code that gets too much or
SQL Server 2005 introduced some new features that left “traditional” SQL folks puzzled. What’s the hidden use for SQLCLR? Or the XML data type? Or
This post is part of a series, see parts 1 and 2. Sorry to be so long getting back to this series. This post covers
Recently I had the occasion to load .NET 3.5 on to a machine that had an existing instance of SQL Server 2005. .NET 3.5 does
It’s good to see Ed Katibah open up a blog on SQL Server spatial data. Ed is sort of the “dad” of spatial data in SQL
I've been working with Filestream storage in SQL Server 2008 since it appeared in CTP5. The way I've always set it up is to use
Quite a bit of activity last week in the Visual Studio and ORM spaces. Visual Studio released a CTP of Visual Studio 2008 support for
Sometime before SQL Server 2008 RTM, the libraries for LINQ and LINQ to XML (that is System.Core.dll and System.Xml.Linq.dll) but NOT LINQ to SQL will
I often hear those who identify themselves as "database programmers" (sometimes I think these may be folks who program only inside-database code), say: "I'd give learning LINQ
This post covers LINQ to SQL and EF worry #2. That is: LINQ to SQL and EF will encourage "SELECT * FROM…" style coding because
I'd been meaning to write this entry for a while, about my opinion on LINQ to SQL and the ADO.NET Entity Framework and performance. I've
This entry is a continuation of the previous posting on how to use SQL Server 2008 spatial data and Virtual Earth. This entry discusses your
Last week at the SQL Server 2008 Jumpstart I showed an example of using SQL Server 2008 spatial data types with Virtual Earth. I showed
SQL Server 2005 introduced the concept of endpoints. Every connection entry point into SQL Server is abstracted as a endpoint. You can see all the
Wow. It’s already Tuesday and I’m still recovering from last week. I’ve been laying low for the last six months or so, writing a few
In a previous blog entry a while ago, I wrote about writing a single SQL statement that did a SQL MERGE operation, used the OUTPUT
More about Service Broker priority in SQL Server 2008. The books online states, when setting a initiator/target priority as local service name/remote service name that
Conversation priority is a new feature with SQL Server 2008. In a previous blog post, I talked about how to simply set one up. But
One last SQL syntax post for the evening… We've all heard about SQL Server 2008 row constructors. They allow syntax like this to work: CREATE
To round out the new plan guide-related features in SQL Server 2008, there is a new way to express a table hint that increases the
SQL Server 2005 introduced the OUTPUT clause in DML statements. With the OUTPUT clause, you can output column values to a table variable, a table,
One of the nifty new SQL Server 2005 features was called "plan forcing". You could acheive plan forcing by using the USE PLAN query hint
After getting insert/update/delete stored procedures going with a simple standalone table (no relationships), I started thinking about how I'd do this in a many-many relationship.
I've been working with the new ADO.NET Entity Framework designer for a few weeks now, and I've got to like it. If you're used to
Since its appearance in SQL Serve 2008 CTP5, folks have been wondering about the reason for SQL Server's new Change Tracking feature, and how it
As a continuation of the previous discussion, here's a DELETE of a title row without fetching it from the database: pubsEntities model = new pubsEntities();
The ADO.NET Entity Framework Beta 3 was released this week. For details, see the ADO.NET team blog. One of the things that bothered me originally
One last SQLCLR feature I'd forgotton about but was quite highly publicized. This is extension of SQLCLR UDT and UDAgg maximum size from 8000 bytes
Another cool SQLCLR feature in SQL Server 2008 is the ability to define a table-valued function with an ORDER clause. If you have intimate knowledge that
One thing that I didn't find in the BOL What's New page is some of the new SQLCLR functionality in SQL Server 2008. The first
With any new product or CTP, I’ve always gotten fast results by starting with the readme.txt file that comes with the product/CTP. Although its now
SQL Server 2008 adds the concept of priority for conversations. It's setup using special DDL statements, priority cannot be specified on the CREATE DIALOG CONVERSATION
SQL Server 2008 adds support for the 'let' clause in FLWOR expressions. The for and let clauses have a similar purpose, to bind content (tuples)
The upcoming SQL Server 2008 provider for Powershell was a big hit and sparked quite a bit of discussion when I talked about and demonstrated it
I’m up early this morning for a repeat of my T-SQL in SQL Server 2008 talk. Things really went well for the last two days,
With training and consulting from SQLskills, you’ll be able to solve big problems, elevate your team’s capacity, and take control of your data career.