Joe Celko SQL Server SEQUENCE Basics The SEQUENCE statement introduced in SQL Server 2012 brings the ANSI SQL 2003 standard method of generating IDs. This is... 06 February 2014 13 min read
Dwain Camps Gaps and Islands in SQL Server data The fun of exploring problems such as Gaps and Islands is all the greater when we have a test-harness to... 25 July 2013 16 min read
Andy Brown Moving Data From Excel to SQL Server – 10 Steps to Follow SQL Server Integration Services provide a versatile way of reading Excel files into SQL Server. A task like this illustrates... 21 May 2013 15 min read
Phil Factor SQL Server JSON to Table and Table to JSON One of the surprises that I got from writing for Simple-Talk was the popularity of my article Consuming JSON Strings... 26 March 2013 7 min read
Seth Delconte Manipulating XML Data in SQL Server When the average database developer is obliged to manipulate XML, either shredding it into relational format, or creating it from... 23 October 2012 14 min read
Joe Celko SQL VIEW Basics SQL Views are essential for the database developer. However, it is common to see them misused, or neglected. Joe Celko... 10 May 2012 19 min read
Andy Brown 10 Reasons Why Visual Basic is Better Than C# After having converted a whole lot of training materials based on VB.NET into C#, Andy 'Wise Owl' Brown decided to... 14 February 2012 8 min read
Robert Sheldon Converting String Data to XML and XML to String Data We all appreciate that, in general, XML documents or fragments are held in strings as text markup. In SQL Server,... 01 February 2012 18 min read
Robert Sheldon The XML Methods in SQL Server The XML Data type has definite uses, but the way of interrogating, retrieving, and manipulating the values of properties and... 08 December 2011 22 min read
Jeremiah Peschka SQL Server Functions: The Basics SQL Server's functions are a valuable addition to TSQL when used wisely. Jeremiah provides a complete and comprehensive guide to... 10 November 2011 41 min read
Robert Sheldon Working with the XML Data Type in SQL Server The XML data type, introduced in SQL Server 2005, is a powerful construct. When used wisely, it can provide useful... 07 November 2011 16 min read
Phil Factor How to Import Data from HTML pages It turns out that there are plenty of ways to get data into SQL Server from websites, whether the data... 30 March 2011 21 min read
Robert Sheldon The EXCEPT and INTERSECT Operators in SQL Server The UNION, EXCEPT and INTERSECT operators of SQL enable you to combine more than one SELECT statement to form a... 28 February 2011 14 min read
Joe Celko Look-up Tables in SQL Lookup tables can be a force for good in a relational database. Whereas the 'One True Lookup Table' remains a... 01 February 2011 18 min read
Robert Sheldon Bulk Inserts via TSQL in SQL Server The trouble with using BCP for reading data into SQL Server is that BCP is a command-line program. Fortunately, the... 31 January 2011 20 min read
Robert Sheldon Data Conversion in SQL Server Most of the time, you do not have to worry about implicit conversion in SQL expressions, or when assigning a... 06 January 2011 17 min read
Robert Sheldon The DELETE statement in SQL Server Of the big four DML statements in SQL Server, the DELETE is the one least written about. This is odd... 25 November 2010 11 min read
Phil Factor Consuming JSON Strings in SQL Server It has always seemed strange to Phil that SQL Server has such complete support for XML, yet is completely devoid... 15 November 2010 26 min read
Robert Sheldon Working with Window Functions in SQL Server With SQL Server 2005, SQL Server introduced some of SQL's window functions, that apply, not to the full set, but... 28 October 2010 12 min read
Robert Sheldon Working with the INSERT statement in SQL Server The INSERT statement in SQL Server is versatile. It now allows the insertion of multiple rows of literal values. It... 27 September 2010 12 min read
