Learn why the intuitive queries that address a common tree path request are optimized inefficiently, and discover alternative solutions with improved performance.
The author discusses a fundamental topic in mathematical set theory to determine the properties of a relation represented by a table called R on a set represented by a table called V.
Have you ever had a stored procedure that could accept a NULL value as a parameter but didn't seem to work correctly when you did so? Here's what might have gone wrong.
Itzik presents a set-based solution with linear complexity that performs better than the previous solutions. He also discusses a set-based solution that will outperform all other solutions once SQL Server supports it.
The PIVOT statement is a great tool for presenting data in an easy-to-read format, but it has one key limitation: You must know about and include all the column names in the PIVOT query. You can work around this limitation with dynamic pivoting.
Itzik discusses a set-based and a cursor-based solution to a T-SQL concurrent sessions querying problem, as well as the performance and scaling ramifications of both solutions.
In SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2005, one of the easiest ways to encrypt and decrypt strings is to use T-SQL's ENCRYPTBYPASSPHRASE and DECRYPTBYPASSPHRASE functions.
A DBA was asked to produce a list of dates in which there were no transactions from a database that included only the dates in which there were transactions. Here's how he pulled it off.
In this PASS Summit Unite 2009 Speaker Tip, Louis Davidson recommends that developers follow the order of operations when designing a new SQL Server database.
Ever need to create temp tables with cursors in T-SQL to mimic the utility of an array? You can use the array in C# to easily provide a solution to a common need: the transposition of a query’s result set.
SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) doesn't have a GUI that lets you easily obtain information about partitioned tables. Here's a stored procedure that helps fill this gap.
Three common methods for querying AD are using a linked server, using an SSIS ADO.NET connection manager, and using an SSIS Script component. But these three methods aren't equal. Learn how they work and why their results differ.