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SQL Server blogs from Wise Owl (page 1 of 9)
Showing blogs 1-20 (out of 175)
What is SQLCMD mode, and how can you use it?
Posted by Andy Brown on 24 November 2021
You can use SQLCMD mode to parameterise the connection, database name, table name and select columns for a query - and much more besides, as this blog explains.
Practise SQL in your browser with SQL Fiddle
Posted by Sam Lowrie on 01 July 2021
Some of our poor delegates don't have the luxury of a home computer to install SQL on (even worse some have made bad life choices and picked a Mac). The good news is that you can still practise your SQL skills in your web browser, using the impressive SQL Fiddle site. Have no fear, SQL Fiddle is here, a browser based sandbox to bring you cheer!
What to do when you get red squiggly lines in SSMS and no Intellisense
Posted by Sam Lowrie on 28 April 2021
Normally when SQL Server Management Studio underlines words with what Microsoft call "red squigglies" it's because you haven't refreshed your local cache, but it could also be because of a recent bug - here's how to get round this!
The new SQL String_Split function for comma-delimited strings
Posted by Andy Brown on 22 March 2021
If you're using SQL Server with compatibility level 130 or greater you can now use the new String_Split function to divide a comma-delimited string into a table of values.
What Power BI report server is, and how to create reports through it
Posted by Andy Brown on 23 December 2020
Puzzled as to why there are two near-identical versions of Power BI Desktop? Wondering if web portal is anything like Power BI report server? Confused as to what a paginated report is? This blog answers all these questions, and more!
5 horrible SQL jokes and one puzzle
Posted by Sam Lowrie on 22 July 2020
Sam has a terrible sense of humour which is all too often inflicted on his delegates. Sadly, with this blog, on website viewers too ...
Azure Data Studio versus SQL Server Management Studio
Posted by Andy Brown on 16 January 2020
Microsoft have brought out a new SQL editor called Azure Data Studio, to act as a substitute for SQL Server Management Studio, but this owl cannot see any justification for its existence!
Introducing the new CREATE OR ALTER command in SQL
Posted by Andy Brown on 10 January 2020
From SQL Server 2016 onwards you can choose to CREATE OR ALTER a procedure, trigger, view or function, as this blog explains.
You can now use AT TIME ZONE to access different time zones in SQL
Posted by Andy Brown on 25 November 2019
If you're working with different time zones, the AT TIME ZONE keywords introduced in SQL Server 2016 will make your life much easier - this blog explains how they work.
A comparison of SQL Server Reporting Services and Power BI
Posted by Andy Brown on 18 October 2019
Power BI improves with each monthly update. Will it reach a point where SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) becomes redundant? This detailed blog compares the two products, and considers the future of SSRS.
Introducing three new functions in SQL to make concatenating text easier
Posted by Andy Brown on 20 September 2019
The CONCAT function makes it much easier to join columns together, while the STRING_AGG and CONCAT_WS functions make it easier to create things like comma-delimited lists.
Congratulations to Shaun Rowark for his suggestion for a new acronym for SFWGHO!
Posted by Andy Brown on 14 August 2019
We're always on the look-out for a new acronym for the order of SQL commands, and are pleased to award a gift voucher to another worthy winner of our competition.
A table-valued function in SQL to split a comma-delimited list
Posted by Andy Brown on 11 June 2019
If you're creating Reporting Services reports using multivalue parameters and stored procedures, you'll find this function to split a list of values into a single-table column useful.
Wise Owl have found one SQL structure which slows down code more than any other
Posted by Andy Brown on 13 May 2019
If your stored procedures or SQL queries are running slowly, don't bother looking at correlated subqueries, cursors, functions or any of the other usual culprits. There's one SQL syntax which Wise Owl have found to be an order of magnitude worse than any other, as this blog shows.
Changes that BI developers can expect from SQL Server 2019
Posted by Andy Brown on 08 May 2019
SQL Server 2019 is not out yet (it's scheduled for release in the second half of 2019), but this blog shows what changes you can expect to see.
Mapping stored procedure parameters to SSRS parameters
Posted by Andy Brown on 02 May 2019
This blog explains why you might want to use the PARAMETERS tab in the Dataset Properties dialog box in SSRS.
A new acronym for the order of SQL keywords
Posted by Andy Brown on 29 March 2019
Someone has finally won our competition to think of a better acronym for the order of keywords in SQL, we're pleased to announce.
A way to get 32-bit and 64-bit drivers to co-exist on the same computer
Posted by Andy Brown on 21 September 2018
A (very) short blog containing a link to an article showing how you can import data from Access using SSAS or SSIS on a 64-bit computer
Five methods for creating partitions of SSAS Tabular tables programmatically
Posted by Andy Brown on 23 July 2018
Need to generate a partition for a fact table for each year, product or region? This blog gives five approaches, so that you can choose which method is for you.
Using partitions/processing to load a large fact table into a tabular data model
Posted by Andy Brown on 23 July 2018
This blog shows how you can load the empty structure of a large fact table into an Analysis Services tabular data model, then use partitions to bring in the data bit by bit.