Beyond Formatting: Improving SQL Code using SQL Prompt Actions

How to qualify object names, standardize the use of aliases, and make other instant changes that improve the quality and performance of your SQL code. Read more

Monitoring and Troubleshooting Deadlocks with Redgate Monitor

This article explains what SQL Server deadlocks are, why they occur, why they require immediate investigation, and the diagnostic data required to troubleshoot them. It then demonstrates an "Update Order" deadlock condition and shows how to find the cause quickly, in Redgate Monitor, using the Extended Events deadlock graph provided by the deadlock alert. Read more

Investigating problems with ad-hoc queries using SQL Monitor

Phil Factor demonstrates the performance problems that overuse of ad-hoc queries can cause and then how SQL Monitor can warn us when they are the cause of these problems on your SQL Servers, using built-in metrics such as SQL Compilations/sec metric and Batch Requests/sec. Read more

Consider using [NOT] EXISTS instead of [NOT] IN with a subquery (PE019)

Phil Factor explains why you should prefer use of EXISTS over IN, when comparing data sets using a subquery. While there is no longer any significant performance advantage, using NOT EXISTS will avoid unexpected results when the subquery’s source data contains NULL values. Read more

Masking Dates in a Non-Production Database

Gerry Leith explores what’s required for the effective masking of dates and times in your data. Read more

Misuse of the scalar user-defined function as a constant (PE017)

The incorrect use of a scalar UDF as a global database constant is a major performance problem and should be investigated whenever SQL Prompt spots this in any production code. Unless you need to use these global constants in computed columns or constraints, it is generally safer and more convenient to store the value in an inline table-valued function, or to use a view. Read more

Customizing the SQL Prompt built-in snippets: a better ALTER TABLE ADD (ata) snippet

Phil Factor improves SQL Prompt's built-in ALTER TABLE ADD (ata) snippet so that it enforces certain coding standards, such as specifying whether the column accepts NULL values, and ensuring the new column is well-documented. Read more

How to reformat a database in one operation

Inherited a database from another team? Changed your team policy on the way that you format SQL? What's to stop you formatting the code of an entire database nicely, when you're developing it? Manually, the process can take longer than you expect. Phil Factor demonstrates a simple 3-step approach to reformatting a whole database , in a single operation, using SQL Compare and SQL Prompt. Read more

How to Test SQL Server Functions and Procedures using SQL Prompt

Phil Factor shows how to create a table of input values versus expected results, and then use it to unit test your SQL stored procedures and functions and verify that they always produce the correct results. He uses SQL Prompt to make this task much simpler. Read more

Baselining a SQL Change Automation project from an existing database

This article show how to create a 'baseline' for your Visual Studio SQL Change Automation project, from an existing, target SQL Server database, so that the team can start making changes and easily deploy them to the target database. Read more

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