XQuery string-length counts the selected element string value. Seven bounded cases separate content from markup, empty elements from missing elements, and missing XML from existing documents.
Finding Duplicates Before Adding a Unique Constraint
A unique constraint fails on the first duplicate it meets and tells you about only one. Here is how to list them all and clean up safely.
Full-Text Search Basics
Full-text search basics explains catalogs, full-text indexes, CONTAINS, and LIKE so SQL Server searches match the question and the data.
How to Patch SQL Server Without a Bad Morning
Before you patch SQL Server, check backups, plan replica and cluster sequencing, record builds, and prepare a tested recovery path.
SQL SERVER – Maximizing View of SQL Server Management Studio – Full Screen – New Screen
Two ways to get more room in SQL Server Management Studio: show results in a separate tab and switch SSMS to full screen, from my TechEd India 2009 demo.
SQL SERVER – Puzzle – Write Script to Generate Primary Key and Foreign Key
A puzzle from a migration project: SSMS cannot script every Primary Key and Foreign Key at once. Can you write a script that generates them all?
Calculating the Cost of a Slow Query
Cost of a slow query includes frequency, CPU, reads, waits, and user time; learn to turn SQL Server measurements into a practical tuning priority.
geometry STBoundary: A Polygon Edge Is a Different Shape
geometry STBoundary returns the edge of a shape as another geometry instance. I inspect that result independently from the source. A polygon’s boundary is not another filled polygon with the same area.
SQLAuthority News – Authors Visit – DelhiBuzz TechEd on July 11, 2009
My report from DelhiBuzz TechEd on July 11, 2009, where Delhi got its own PASS Chapter, with thanks to the people who made the day a success.
SQL SERVER – Get Last Running Query Based on SPID
How to see the last running query of another session based on its SPID, using @@SPID to find session IDs and DBCC INPUTBUFFER to read the query.