Clients sometimes send files made with Results To File in SSMS. Kevin shows how to convert standard SSMS file results to delimited data you can load.
MONTH, DATEPART and DATENAME: Getting Month Names and Numbers Right
Use DATENAME for month labels, compare MONTH and DATEPART, control language and culture, and group sales without combining different years.
Interview Question of the Week #018 – Script to Remove Special Characters – Script to Parse Alpha Numerics
Interview question: write a script to remove special characters and parse only alpha numeric values. Here is a function that does it, and my honest view.
SQL SERVER – Generate Different Random Number for Each Group Using RAND() Function
The RAND() function returns the same value for every row in a query. Here is a simple trick to generate a different random number for each group.
SQL SERVER – How to Identify a DB is Using Cross-Database Transactions?
Recently, when I was at a conference, one of the attendees came to me to ask a question. The conversation was as below for cross-database transactions.
SQL SERVER – Split Comma Separated List Without Using a Function
I have shown how to build a comma separated list many times. This time a reader wanted the reverse: split a comma separated list into rows without a function.
SQL SERVER – Walking the Table Hierarchy in Microsoft SQL Server Database – Notes from the Field #076
Kevin Hazzard shows how to walk the table hierarchy in a SQL Server database using the catalog, so you know the right order to load or clear tables.