Using bit columns with NULLs when three options exist in SQL Server
Frequently surveys ask yes/no questions and use a bit datatype. What are the effects of allowing this column to be NULL in a SQL Server table? Check out this tip to learn more.
Biography Brent Shaub has been creating, renovating and administering databases since 1998. He's worked on nearly two dozen professional systems, most incorporating web front-ends, iterating many times over the SDLC. After 14 years in the corporate world working for Foster Wheeler, Design Strategy and Research Pharmaceutical Services, Brent has created his own company, Buoyant Creations LLC, to provide health education. Community Activity Brent's role as technical lead on his company's flagship site Library of Learning, is to create the first web-based, database-driven Feldenkrais search tool, complete with recordings. The global endeavor will use insights from 30 senior practitioners and serve over 2,000 practitioners and their students. Brent has worked with the Australian Feldenkrais Guild on their website and teaches Feldenkrais classes. SQL Server Interests Open to alternative viewpoints, Brent encourages constructive debate in his articles on MSSQLTips.com. Impressed with the elegance of clear design, Brent digs into structural relationships. He's a whiz at redesigning existing schemas and creating systems from ideas. Through fine-tuning logical differences organizing data, Brent aims to minimize the ripple-effect of
Optimal Storage of IP addresses in a SQL Server database
Often databases are used with web-based interfaces and recording the IP address of the end user can assist with debugging, marketing, bandwidth planning and collation selection to name a few. In this tip we look at way to optimize storage of IP addresses.
SQL Server stored procedure to generate random passwords
SQL Server is used to support many applications and one such feature of most applications is the storage of passwords. Sometimes there is a need to reset a password using a temporary password or generate a random password for a new user. In this tip I c
Script to move all objects to a new schema for SQL Server
This tip includes a script that will identify and move all objects to a new SQL Server schema.
Insulating SQL Server Tables in Views
In a team of SQL and front-end developers, changes to the database can affect team mates inadvertently. Is there a way to establish a base upon which the front-end can be built while allowing necessary database changes to be made? How can impacts to every
Creative Uses for Extended Properties in SQL Server
Systems could often have volumes of documentation written about them because of their complexity, the extensive changes over time and the many minds that worked on them throughout their existence. Because of this, documentation can get scattered and outda
Two options to store user friendly column names in SQL Server
Report-writing often involves putting labels on columns for easy recognition by the end users. Sometimes these labels change as the business changes and different users adopt the system. Are there any easy ways to automate displaying user-friendly column
SQL Server Database Design with a One To One Relationship
In order to manage any business situation which may arise, a SQL developer needs to know the basic relationship types and their uses. Perhaps the most rare, a one-to-one arrangement offers a few elegant ways to handle some common business needs. In readin