The Bit Bucket

Hi Folks,

We’ve just created the May 2017 update for SDU Tools. We’re pretty excited about what we’re delivering this month.

The first part that we’ve added is a set of tools to make it really, really easy to capture a performance query trace, to load it, and to perform a basic analysis of it. There are three tools involved in this:

• CapturePerformanceTuningTrace – Just give the trace a name, say where it should be stored, which databases to filter on (if any), and how long you want the trace to run. We do the rest.
• LoadPerformanceTuningTrace – This tool loads the completed trace into a table. AnalyzePerformanceTuningTrace - And then we find the things in the trace that are of interest – automatically

Next, we’ve added a useful tool to help with your database consistency. I often run into databases where columns that hold the same information are defined differently across the database.

2017-05-07

When applications need to call stored procedures, they try to work out what the returned data will look like ie: which columns come back, what data types are they, etc.

The old way of doing this was to call SET FMTONLY ON. Unfortunately, many applications like Biztalk and versions of Reporting Services still did this, and/or still do this. The same issue happens with LINQ to SQL and other tools that use SQL Metal.

2017-04-11

When you output a series of numbers in T-SQL, people often want to right-align the numbers. So instead of numbers that look like this:

They want an output that looks like this:

Now the first thing to understand is that this is generally a client-tool or program issue, not a T-SQL issue. I ran these queries in SQL Server Management Studio and it could just as easily have decided to show me numbers right-aligned.

2017-04-09

Yesterday, I discussed changing the case of T-SQL strings to ProperCase, TitleCase, SnakeCase, and KebabCase.

But there are other case options that can be needed. For example, often when I’m programmatically generating code, I want to create identifiers for objects. While many people will use SnakeCase for that, in Microsoft-related land (particularly around .NET), it’s common to use both PascalCased and camelCased strings.

In the April2017 update to SDU_Tools, we added functions to do all of the above. SDU Tools is a free library for SQL Server developers and DBAs. You can easily just add it to your database, then call the functions as needed. The functions get added in a separate schema and are easy to remove later if you ever wish to. (We hope you won’t want to). They’re also easy to upgrade.

2017-04-08

Often when I’m moving data around (usually with SSIS but also with just T-SQL), I need to take text that is all capitalized or simply has messed-up capitalization, and convert it to something that looks better (and more human readable) in the target system.

The most common option for me is conversion to Proper Case. Here’s an example. Let’s start with the following text:

 

 

On a webpage or report, that’s going to look downright ugly. In the March 2017 update to SDU_Tools, we added functions to do all of the above. SDU Tools is a free library for SQL Server developers and DBAs. You can easily just add it to your database, then call the functions as needed. The functions get added in a separate schema and are easy to remove later if you ever wish to. (We hope you won’t want to). They’re also easy to upgrade.

2017-04-07

Hi Folks,

As promised, tonight we’re releasing the monthly update to SDU Tools, our free toolset for SQL Server developers and DBAs. A download link will be sent to all registered subscribers.

First, the new tools:

AnalyzeTableColumns - allows for quick profiling of a table. Shows the column metadata, and shows a sample of distinct values from each column. We suspect this will be the favorite this month. You can see it here:

2017-03-25

Hi folks,

I’ve written another Data Tales article for SQL Server Magazine. This time, it’s SSIS (Integration Services) related.

http://sqlmag.com/sql-server/data-tales-12-case-code-refused-execute-1

Enjoy !

2017-03-14

This is just a short post that I’ve been meaning to write for a while.

I know that there is an eternal tabs vs spaces debate that goes on in development teams. Currently I’m in the spaces team for SQL queries.

So, it’s a pain in the neck when I receive a script file from someone and it’s full of tabs. Even worse when there are a bunch of tabs at weird tab positions. And I start to edit it, and things jump around, and I think @#$@$!@#$@#$ tabs !

2017-02-28

I’ve worked with T-SQL for a very long time, and over the years I’ve lost count of how many tools I’ve found the need to create to help me in my work.

They have been in a variety of script folders, etc. and whenever I go to use them now, I often have to decide which is the best version of a particular tool, as they’ve also been refined over time.

2017-02-05

Hi folks,

I’ve written another “Data Tales” case for SQL Server Magazine.

It’s posted now and you’ll find it here: http://sqlmag.com/sql-server/data-tales-11-case-ballooning-tables

Enjoy !

2017-01-10