SQL Server XQuery, Accessing Attributes
While browsing this blog's usage logs recently, I've noticed quite a few referrals from various search engines of users trying to troubleshoot problems they may have encountered when accessing XML...
View ArticleSQL Server: XQuery/XPath, Retrieval Functions
Even after all this time (since the release of SQL Server 2005 which introduced the XML data type) I still notice users having trouble with XQuery/XPath functions when processing (or rather trying to...
View ArticleSQL Server: XQuery/XPath, Predicate Functions
Previously we have looked at the supported XQuery/XPath retrieval functions implemented in SQL Server 2005 with a few examples of use, and we have mentioned the fact that some functions are restricted...
View ArticleSQL Server 2008 Scoped Search
This may be old news, but it's also the kind of "old news" that's actually becoming more and more relevant these days. ;) More than a month ago the Microsoft SQL Server documentation team have...
View ArticleSQL Server 2008 (RC0), FILESTREAM changes
At this year's Microsoft NT Conference in Portorož fellow MVP Andrej Tozon and I have presented a workshop on designing solutions with Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 using the Windows...
View ArticleSQL Server 2008 RTM
I'm sure you know by now that SQL Server 2008 has RTMed about two days ago and is already available for download to MSDN/TechNet subscribers. There are additional free downloads that you might also be...
View ArticleSQL Server 2008 Express with Advanced Services
The advanced edition of SQL Server 2008 Express is now available for download. As was the case with version 2005 when this edition was first introduced, the Advanced Services include (in addition to...
View ArticleSQL Server 2008 Books Online Update (August 2008)
An update to SQL Server 2008 Books Online has just been published yesterday: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Books Online (August 2008). ML
View ArticleSome Old News
This may be old news, but I haven't said anything about this so far, so this may not be old news to everyone. ;) SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 SQL Server 2005 SP3 has been released on December 15th...
View ArticleSparse Columns and Filtered Indexes
At the December meeting of SLODUG, the Slovenian Developers User Group, I've presented two new functionalities introduced with SQL Server 2008: Sparse Columns – a new (or, at least, an improved) way of...
View ArticleSQL Server 2008 Books Online Update (January 2009)
The January 2009 update of SQL Server 2008 Books Online has been released last Friday. The installation file is available for download: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Books Online (January 2009). An update...
View ArticleSQL Server 2008 XPath Functions
The 2008 version of SQL Server has not introduced as many changes to its XPath implementation as one might have expected; nonetheless, two additional XPath functions have been added. In fact, I'm very...
View ArticleSQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1
SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 has been released on April 7th 2009, bringing a few improvements to the setup process – on top of several important fixes. Be sure to review the release notes before...
View Article[snap] Pending File Rename Operations?
I will never understand why some software/hardware vendors fail (forget?) to clean up the Windows registry after they've... well, fondled with it for reasons known only to them, such as during software...
View ArticleSQL Server MVP Deep Dives
Earlier this month, at the PASS 2009 Summit, a very special event took place – the SQL Server MVP Deep Dives book launch. As the title suggests, this is no ordinary SQL Server book, for several...
View ArticleWhat Permissions Does a Principal Have?
SQL Server Management Studio provides several ways of checking which permissions have been granted (or denied) to whom and on what objects. This is achievable on different levels within the securables...
View ArticleCannot open user default database? Login failed?
Assigning a default database to every server principal (login) is good practice, no doubt. Just think of the last time someone in your organization created a user object in master by mistake....
View ArticleSQL Server Integration Services, Execute SQL with Complex Parameters
If you're familiar with SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) then you've probably, at one time or another, run into problems with the integration bit – however weird that may sound. I can understand...
View ArticleSQL Server: The XPath ID Function
XML provides a simple and efficient way of storing relational data, especially for the purposes of transporting it from one RDBMS to another. Besides the "natural" technique, where the structure of the...
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