Posts

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

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, but I completely understand the rationale for using tabs instead. I just find that some of the tooling I’m using doesn’t play nicely with tabs.

So, it’s painful 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 got to record another podcast last week and it’s published now: SQL Down Under Podcast

The guest this time was Data Platform MVP Aaron Bertrand. We initially planned to mostly just discuss SentryOne Plan Explorer because all the Pro features were now available in the free edition, which is an awesome situation. But the release of SQL Server 2016 SP1 came the week before, and as both Aaron and I were deeply invested in the changes that occurred there, we spent time discussing it, and also SQL Server on Linux because the public preview for that was also announced.

2016-11-26

SQL Server Management Studio has moved into the Visual Studio 2015 shell. In general, that’s a really good thing. There are many built-in benefits that come from using that shell. I’ve been showing people many of these. One that surprises many people is the ability to change the font in Object Explorer. No longer do you need to squint at the tiny writing in Object Explorer. You too can change the text in Object Explorer to a readable size (particularly on high-resolution monitors):

2016-11-26

Hi Folks,

The next SQL Down Under show is now online. In it, Glenn Berry discusses hardware and hardware-related performance issues for SQL Server.

You’ll find the show here: SQL Down Under Podcast

Enjoy !

More on Glenn:

Glenn Berry is a Principal Consultant with SQLskills. He has worked as a SQL Server professional for many years in a variety of roles, most recently as Database Architect for Avalara in Parker, CO.

2016-10-16

I ran into this one today and it’s the in the category of things that I’m likely to run into again one day so it’s worth recording it here.

I was trying to configure an unattended execution account for SQL Server Reporting Services 2016 and was getting the above error.

The problem was that even though the machine is just in a workgroup, SQL Server Reporting Services Configuration Manager needs a domain or machine specified for the user name.

2016-09-01

The link below is to quite a fascinating article that on the surface is about why Uber moved to MySQL from PostgreSQL.

http://use-the-index-luke.com/blog/2016-07-29/on-ubers-choice-of-databases

What it really is about is a limitation in how PostgreSQL indexes are updated. They consider it a severe limitation.

With SQL Server (and MySQL), if you update a few columns in a row, only the indexes that have that column are updated. In PostgreSQL, all indexes still need to be updated. I understand why they’ve done that but I can see why users might not want that behavior.

2016-08-04

I’ve been using the Polybase services in SQL Server 2016 all throughout the pre-release period without any issue.

When I tried using them in the GA (Generally Availability) release, I could never get the two Polybase services to start. They were always stuck in a “Change Pending” state. Trying to start them in SQL Server Configuration Manager basically made SSCM look like it was hung.

Trying to use the Polybase services to create an external data source returned:

2016-07-06