While the Reporting Wizard and basic report tables will do for prototyping, very soon we'll want to add some finesse to our reports, and allow our report users to create different views of the same data, dynamically. Kathi Kellenberger shows how to use expressions, functions, grouping, the matrix control, and other features, to add a degree of user control to the reports while maintaining visual clarity.… Read more
On Ask.SQLServerCentral.com, a group of people interested in experimenting with heavily optimised SQL techniques try them out on a problem, using reasonbly large amounts of data. They aren't so interested in explaining the techniques, so Kathi continues on her mission to explain the lessons learned and the tips that can be derived.… Read more
The SQL Speed Freak Challenge is a no-holds-barred competition to find the fastest way in SQL Server to perform a real-life database task. It is the programming equivalent of drag racing, but without the commentary box. Kathi has stepped in to explain what happened with the second challenge and why some SQL ran faster than others.… Read more
Phil Factor's SQL Speed Phreak challenge is an event where coders battle to produce the fastest code to solve a common reporting problem on large data sets. It isn't that easy on the spectators, since the programmers don't score extra points for commenting their code. Mercifully, Kathi is on hand to explain some of the TSQL coding secrets that go to producing blistering performance. … Read more
