Building Output with Trend Lines

setfocus.com — This week's installment of I-Data Weekly focuses on Building Output with Trend Lines. We'll use SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services for our example, and will cover the following: Defining the end result of how we want the chart to look (a bar chart that shows monthly sales, and then 2 trend lines to show sales from last year, along with a monthly sales goal), Laying some groundwork by constructing some necessary MDX calculations to support the chart , Building the base MDX query for the chart , Designing the chart in SQL Server Reporting Services Customizing the chart to show monthly sales from last year, along with sales goal, as trend lines read more...

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MDX Named Sets in SQL Server 2005/2008

setfocus.com — An MDX Named Set is a list of members, based on some pre-defined retrieval logic. You may have a named set that lists your Customers in zip code order or products sold for 2005 in sales order amount. Since an MDX Named Set is simply an MDX expression, you could create a more complex Named Set using other MDX functions like DESCENDANTS to build a list of members from a customer geography, starting at a certain level (Region) down to another level (Market). read more...

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SQL Server 2005: New Snaphot Isolation Level

setfocus.com — Application developers who work in an environment where users retrieve data while others save/update data are probably familiar with the challenges of concurrency and isolation levels. This month I'll cover the standard SQL Server isolation levels in SQL Server 2000, and also talk about the new SNAPSHOT ISOLATION LEVEL in SQL Server 2005. In this article, I'll cover the following: What are Isolation Levels in general? An overview of the Isolation Levels in SQL Server prior to SQL Server 2005 The new Snapshot Isolation Level and how it improves on the existing Isolation Levels read more...

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Creating CLR Functions for SQL Server

setfocus.com — One of the most exciting new features of MS SQL Server 2005 is its ability to host the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR). This feature was not, however, designed merely to provide an alternative to Transact SQL (TSQL). In any development project, it is important to use the right tool for the right job. If you want to create a stored procedure that performs standard operations on relational data, then without doubt TSQL is the platform to choose. Since TSQL is designed solely for the purpose of manipulating relational data, it is superb at that job. However, there are many tasks which fall outside of the realm of relational data. It is for these tasks that CLR code might be a wise choice. Such tasks might include writing log information directly to disk or gathering data from a web service. read more...

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New T-SQL Capabilities in SQL Server 2005 - Part 3 of 3

setfocus.com — In last month's article, I covered the new APPLY operator, Ranking functions, and the new TRY...CATCH capabilties in T-SQL 2005. This month I'll talk about two of the largest enhancements in the SQL 2005 language - Common Table Expressions (CTEs) and Recursive Queries. Both fo these are part of the SQL-99 standard. CTEs allow developers to more expressively identify a temporary result set (similar to a derived table or temporary view). Recursive Queries allow developers to more easily query hierarchies of data, by permitting developers (in a single SQL statement) to recursively query into a CTE that's also being populated). CTEs and Recursive queries can be a little difficult to initially grasp, so I'm going to show several code examples to demonstrate their value. read more...

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New T-SQL Capabilities in SQL Server 2005 - Part 1 of 3

setfocus.com — This month I'll start a three-part series on new Transact-SQL language features in SQL Server 2005. Microsoft added many new language features in SQL Server 2005, in response to developer requests and also in following compliance with the SQL-99 standard. read more...

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