One of the problems I have had with SQL Azure are the native restrictions for scaling data. The databases are limited in size. The only way to access large volumes of data, (a single table that is bigger than the allotted database size), from an SQL Azure database is through federation. This is always the case if you are accessing […]

I can’t believe I left out one of the key learning resources I user personally. I was just looking through my SSWUG email, and came across some courses available in the SSWUG learning center, and realized I had neglected to include this in my short list of training resources. It’s not my job to promote resources on SSWUG. In fact, […]

You will never have enough time to keep current. Jim reminds us of that in his comment for yesterday’s editorial. His comments have prompted me to explore the fact that there is more than one kind of skill set you need to continually improve. In my mind I see three different kinds of skills we need to maintain. There are […]

While the task to keep current is daunting, there are some things you can do to keep fresh, and balance your skill set. Here’s a brainstorm on ideas to help you keep current : Take some online courses in areas where you have interest. There are some very helpful and free solutions for Dot Net developers at MSDN. I have […]

Being an IT professional is like the coyote character in a Warner Brothers Road Runner Cartoon. For those of you not familiar with the cartoon, there are two characters. There is the Road Runner, a ground bound bird that runs incredibly fast. The second character is the coyote, a hungry animal, constantly racing after the Road Runner, hoping to capture […]

Desinging a database from scratch can be a daunting process.If you get it wrong it results in a lot of extra work. There are many options that are not necessarily wrong, but also create extra work downstream. When you are starting from scratch the easiest way to get things going is to identify the entities pertaining to your database. An […]

One of the features of SQL that makes it very attractive is the interactive capabilities for writing queries. Many of us use SQL to write a quick query to ask a question. Based on the results, we write another query, or enhance the query just executed. This process continues until we find the results we need, or have to take […]

The MVC (Model/View/Controller) pattern has been popular with programmers for over a decade. What’s really cool about it is the continuing growth of techniques targeted at implementing MVC. One of the things I think makes it so powerful is that you can fulfill the pattern in many layers. With HTML5 implementations in browsers, it is easier than ever to implement […]

As most of us know, not all Cloud platforms are alike. You can be one of multiple installations sharing a service as co-tenant (software as a service). You may be purchasing Infrastructure as a Service, having full capacity of your installation. Even then, you most likely do not have sole access to a server; more likely you have a virtual […]

In keeping with the idea that Simple is better, today I share a comment from our reader, using the handle meilenberger62, simplifying the EF implementation published in yesterday’s editorial. Our reader alters my implementation code down as follows: Your example seems to works fine. I don’t believe you need to add all that code to create the relationships. If you […]