SQL Server Denali brings the clipboard ring from Visual Studio to SSMS. Copy a few items, then press CTRL+SHIFT+V to cycle through what you copied.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
FOR XML PATH: Decode Escaped Text Through TYPE
FOR XML PATH escapes reserved characters. Use TYPE and scalar extraction to recover text instead of manually replacing entity spellings.
Slowly Changing Dimensions in Plain T-SQL
Slowly changing dimensions need explicit Type 1 and Type 2 rules; use T-SQL updates and inserts with tests for history and overlap.
SQL SERVER- Differences Between Left Join and Left Outer Join
Is there any difference between LEFT JOIN and LEFT OUTER JOIN? A reader asked, and here is the short answer: none at all, they are the same.
SQLAuthority News – 1600 Blog Post Articles – A Milestone
This blog now has 1600 blog post articles. To mark the milestone I share a few statistics, like 22 million views and 6200 feed subscribers, and thank my readers.
Loading a Fact Table Without Blocking Reports
Loading a fact table without blocking reports calls for isolated staging, aligned partition switching, short locks, and a tested reader path.
SQL SERVER – Shrinking Database is Bad – Increases Fragmentation – Reduces Performance
Shrinking database is bad: it increases fragmentation and reduces performance. Here is a simple example with two tables that shows it step by step.
SQL Server slow? Let's fix it together in about four hours.
In my Comprehensive Database Performance Health Check, you share your screen, I guide you, and we fix your biggest performance troublemakers. No passwords. No remote access.
You keep every script, and the know-how to fix it yourself next time.
Want your whole team to learn it?
My Practical Workshop has no PowerPoint, just live demos. My AI Enablement Workshop shows your team where AI saves hours, and where it quietly costs them.
Over 400 customers have worked with me this way, and not one shared a password. See all consulting options.