Jacob's Blog

XQuery Lab 49 – Deleting rows from a table based on the data in an XML document

We have seen a few examples that demonstrated how to delete elements and attributes from XML documents. In this lab, let us see how to delete rows from a table, based on the data in an XML document. DECLARE @t TABLE (id INT ) INSERT INTO @t(id) SELECT...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-26-2009 | 1,971 Views

Finally, received my SQL Azure Invitation Code!

After waiting for much longer than I anticipated, I received my SQL Azure Invitation Code! One of the questions most frequently asked in the Azure forums is from anxious users like me who wanted to know when the invitations codes will be sent. Zach wrote...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-24-2009 | 1,642 Views

XQuery Lab 48 - Sorting Query files in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) Solution/Project

I was working on my presentation for 24-hour-pass event on 2nd September and came across the sorting issue with the solution explorer. I have a number of script demos and I wanted to organize them by name. No matter, what I did, the solution explorer...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-22-2009 | 5,817 Views

SSRS 2008 R2 and ATOM Data Feeds

While going over the ‘What is new’ part of SQL Server 2008 R2 Books Online, I found a reference to generating ATOM Data Feeds. It appeared that I could crate a report and then generate the data as an ATOM Data Feed. I found it very interesting. I was...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-21-2009 | 2,799 Views

Resources to understand Locks in SQL Server

I have recently seen a number of questions on locking in the Database Engine Forums. Shankar Reddy and oj has shared links to a few interesting whitepapers and articles that helps to understand how locking works in SQL Server. Troubleshooting Performance...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-21-2009 | 814 Views

Registration for SQL Azure Database CTP is open

If you have been waiting for SQL Azure (formerly known as SSDS) Database CTP, there is a good news. Registration for SQL Azure Database CTP is open: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/dataservices/default.aspx Key features with this CTP: Relational...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-18-2009 | 773 Views

XQuery Lab 47 – Generating HTML table from XML Data

Welcome to XQuery Lab 47. In this lab, we will see how to generate an HTML table from an XML document, using XQuery. Here is the source data: < CUST COMPANY ="Company1" CONTACT ="Jacob" /> < CUST COMPANY ="Company1"...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-18-2009 | 2,164 Views

SQL Server 2008 R2 August CTP – What is new in Database Engine Features?

SQL Server 2008 R2 is a minor release and the number of features and enhancements added to the database engine is very limited. The public CTP is available for download at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ee315247.aspx The following are the...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-18-2009 | 1,033 Views

SQL Server 2008 FILESTREAM – How do I find the size of the FILESTREAM data stored in a column?

When a VARBINARY(MAX) column is marked with the FILESTREAM attribute, the limitation of 2GB is not applicable on the value any more. You can store values larger than 2GB in such a column. The maximum size is limited only by the size of the disk. A FILESTREAM...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-17-2009 | 2,041 Views

XQuery Lab 46 – Extracting Zip Code from an Address Value

I just came across a task to extract ZIP code values from the address column of a table. The address is a single string that contains information such as street, city, state, zip code, apartment number etc. The data comes from a legacy system where the...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-12-2009 | 2,453 Views

SQL Server FILESTREAM – How to upload FILESTREAM data from ASP.NET using TSQL?

This question was asked in the comments section of my FILESTREAM article at simple-talk.com . I thought it may be a better idea to write a detailed blog post explaining it along with some sample code, rather than writing a short answer in my return comments...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-09-2009 | 3,703 Views

My FILESTREAM article at simple-talk.com

I had been blogging a bit about the FILESTREAM feature of SQL Server 2008 recently. I have just published a rather long article on FILESTREAM, at simple-talk.com. You can read the article here: http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/sql-training/an-introduction...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-06-2009 | 1,105 Views

FILESTREAM Error - Default FILESTREAM filegroup is not available in database "dbname"

I see this error reported many times in the online forums. This usually happens if you try to create a FILESTREAM enabled table in a database that is not configured for FILESTREAM usage. To be able to store FILESTREAM data in a database, the database...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-03-2009 | 4,270 Views

SQL Server – How to load data into a FILESTREAM enabled column using TSQL?

“Well, when accessing from TSQL, FILESTREAM enabled columns are not different from other regular columns and the code is not different from the regular code that you write”. This used to be my usual answer to people who ask me this question. I also had...

by Jacob Sebastian on 08-01-2009 | 2,258 Views