Review lookup data load behavior for cache freshness, comparison rules, duplicate reference keys, and unmatched rows before trusting the output.
SQL SERVER – Denali – New Functions and Shorthand for CASE Statement
Do the new Denali functions replace the CASE statement? No. They are shorthand for CASE statement logic, and TRY_PARSE works well with CASE.
XML Namespaces: Match the Namespace URI, Not Just the Tag
XML Namespaces are part of element identity, so a matching tag name alone can still miss a node. I compare three paths against one document. The namespace URI stays the same while the query binding changes.
SQL SERVER – DBA Quiz 2011 – All was well few moments before all went wrong – Reasons and Resolutions
My question in DBA Quiz 2011 comes from a real incident: a query that always worked fine suddenly did not. Share your reasons and resolutions.
SQL SERVER 2012 – Logical Function CHOOSE() – A Quick Introduction
A quick introduction to the logical function CHOOSE() in SQL Server 2012: it returns the value at a given index from a list, or NULL when out of range.
SQL SERVER – Denali – Logical Function – IIF() – A Quick Introduction
A quick introduction to the IIF function in SQL Server Denali, a shorthand for the CASE statement that returns one of two values. It can be nested too.
SQL SERVER – Denali – Conversion Function – Difference between PARSE(), TRY_PARSE(), TRY_CONVERT()
SQL Server Denali adds a new conversion function trio: PARSE(), TRY_PARSE() and TRY_CONVERT(). Here are the differences, answered as questions.