Ok folks…this is really old school. I still use it because it is quick, easy and flexible. The following query may be used to find in any database object containing text you suppl. It checks tables, views, functions and procedures. When I say it checks tables, I mean it checks the definition of a table, not the data contents stored […]

In the holiday tradition of giving, for the year of 2015, I want to share some of the cool things you can do with the SQL Server binary and varbinary data types. You can easily cast just about every other data type into one of the binary data types. Varchar max can be saved in a VarBinary max, etc. Numbers, […]

Today’s topic is one I have never written about. It is about the SQL Server data type SQL_Variant. I haven’t used it because I have always preferred strongly typed data. So, I often stay away from data types like XML or SQL_Variant. Soon, JSON will be added to the mix of undefined data types in the SQL Server family. Regardless […]

Firebase.Io has developed a storage technology providing what I call Event Driven Data. Firebase.io is stored data as JSON objects in a key database. But, it doesn’t stop there. The Firebase.io infrastructure provides not only data storage, but other capabilities not generally associated with a data storage engine. First off, it starts with a web infrastructure with APIs for REST, […]

There are a lot of symptoms that appear when your database hasn’t been normalized according to your needs. Notice I didn’t say it has been normalized to 3rd nrmal form, or boyce-codd normal form, which is a good place to start any database. Usually you will find issues with missing indexes or statistics, or complicated queries. Sometimes you find yourself […]

The term Code Smells is not my invention. It has been around for a while. Code Smells are those areas of code that work. They meet the application requirements. But, they aren’t well formed, and benefit from refactoring. A good example of a code smell is when you see duplication of code. At that point, you know there is a […]

I’m working through some issues with the editor. Please forgive the formating, if it is hard to read. I also am unable to link to the previous editorial introducing this SQL Puzzler. It should show on the site with my list of editorials. Regardless, today I’m sharing the simple answer to the problem. Just use a cursor. There are more […]

Here’s a little SQL Challenge for those of you who like to do SET logic instead of procedural loops, etc. I have an SQL Query that doesn’t behave the way I thought it should. I have a table containing a list of phrases. I want to modify the table of phrases, replacing each word in the phrase with an abbreviation […]

Thanks to all of the many people responding to my request for feedback. It is helping me shape the direction for editorials next year. I especially appreciate the replies where English is not your first language. Your grammar was much better than mine. I’ll be humbled for quite some time. One reply did pose a question regarding how to protect […]

Today I’m going to do a little bit of trolling, trying to get feedback from you. Instead of asking which is better between two competing products, I am asking for your feedback to continue, and improve my daily column. I’d like you to leave a comment, or drop me an Email, answering any of the following questions: Why do you […]