Product learning

Posts by

Phil Factor

Phil Factor (real name withheld to protect the guilty), aka Database Mole, has 30 years of experience with database-intensive applications.

Despite having once been shouted at by a furious Bill Gates at an exhibition in the early 1980s, he has remained resolutely anonymous throughout his career.

He is a regular contributor to Simple Talk and SQLServerCentral.

10 September 2018

10 September 2018

How to Detect SQL Injection Attacks using Extended Events and SQL Monitor

Phil Factor shows how to monitor for the errors indicative of a possible SQL Injection attack on one of your SQL Server databases, using a SQL Monitor custom metric that uses diagnostic data from Extended Events. Read more

sql server monitoring

SQL Injection

Phil Factor

31 August 2018

Phil Factor

31 August 2018

Pseudonymizing a Database with Realistic Data for Development Work

How to use SQL Data Generator, and PowerShell to obfuscate personal data (names), while retaining the same distribution of data, so that the test database behaves like the original. Read more

Compliant database DevOps

24 August 2018

24 August 2018

SQL Prompt Code Analysis: Avoid using the ISNUMERIC Function (E1029)

Avoid using the IsNumeric() function, because it can often lead to data type conversion errors, when importing data. On SQL Server 2012 or later, use the Try_Convert() or Try_Cast() function instead. On earlier SQL Server versions, the only way to avoid it is by using LIKE expressions. Read more

SQL code smells

Phil Factor

16 August 2018

Phil Factor

16 August 2018

Documenting your Database with SQL Change Automation

Phil Factor uses SQL Change Automation and PowerShell to verify that the source code for the current database version builds successfully and, if so, to generate web-based database documentation using SQL Doc. Read more

PowerShell

automated database deployment

13 August 2018

13 August 2018

SQL Prompt Code Analysis: INSERT INTO a permanent table with ORDER BY (PE020)

Data in relational tables is never guaranteed to be returned in a particular order, so adding an ORDER BY to an INSERT INTO statement is meaningless and, pre-SQL Server 2012, could cause performance issues. If you really need to impose a particular order on rows in the table, use a Row_Number() window clause instead. Read more

3 August 2018

3 August 2018

Practical PowerShell Processes with SQL Change Automation

Starting from the object-level source code for a database, Phil Factor shows how SCA can create a NuGet build package, use it to migrate target database to the same version, and publish web-based database documentation, a report of what changed on the target and the results of a static code analysis assessment. Read more

automated database deployment

25 July 2018

25 July 2018

SQL Prompt code analysis: avoid non-standard column aliases (ST002 and DEP021)

If you declare a column alias using equals SQL Prompt will raise a violation of a style rule (ST002). It's best to follow the ANSI-SQL92 standard of assigning aliases using the AS keyword. If the alias is not a standard identifier, delimit it with double quotes. using single quotes has long been deprecated (DEP021). Read more

12 July 2018

12 July 2018

SQL Prompt code analysis: avoiding the old-style TOP clause (ST006)

If you want to use TOP with an expression or subquery, or in INSERT, UPDATE, MERGE, and DELETE statements, then use of brackets is required, so it's a good habit to adopt everywhere. Read more

4 July 2018

4 July 2018

Deploying Multiple Databases from Source Control using SQL Change Automation

How to automatically build multiple test databases, from source control, and then fill them with standard test data sets, using SQL Change Automation, BCP and some PowerShell magic. Read more

Source control

automated database deployment

Phil Factor

29 June 2018

Phil Factor

29 June 2018

SQL Change Automation with PowerShell Scripts: getting up-and-running

Provides a PowerShell automation script that will build a SQL Server database from the scripts in source control, document the database and then deploy it as a NuGet package, using it to update the schema of a live database. Read more

PowerShell

automated database deployment

Redgate Test Data Manager

Flyway

Redgate Monitor

Overview

Test Data Management

Automate

Monitor

Product learning

Posts by

Phil Factor

How to Detect SQL Injection Attacks using Extended Events and SQL Monitor

Pseudonymizing a Database with Realistic Data for Development Work

SQL Prompt Code Analysis: Avoid using the ISNUMERIC Function (E1029)

Documenting your Database with SQL Change Automation

SQL Prompt Code Analysis: INSERT INTO a permanent table with ORDER BY (PE020)

Practical PowerShell Processes with SQL Change Automation

SQL Prompt code analysis: avoid non-standard column aliases (ST002 and DEP021)

SQL Prompt code analysis: avoiding the old-style TOP clause (ST006)

Deploying Multiple Databases from Source Control using SQL Change Automation

SQL Change Automation with PowerShell Scripts: getting up-and-running

Redgate Test Data Manager

Flyway

Redgate Monitor

Overview

Test Data Management

Automate

Monitor

Posts by Phil Factor

Posts by

Phil Factor