As a database developer, when I started using Power BI, I was concerned about it retrieving reams of data only to perform transformations downstream. The Power Query editor misleads us into thinking the retrieval and transformations are applied sequentially. Thanks to Query Folding, that’s not usually the case. And that gives us more power to […]
If you’re building a large INSERT statement using VALUES, you might find yourself hitting the limit of 1000 rows, for example: INSERT statement exceeds the maximum allowed number of 1000 row values Folks may tell you there are better ways to solve the issue, but the likelihood is that you’re doing it this way for a particular reason. […]
Dealing with endless formats for SQL scripts is a special type of pain you get to enjoy as a data developer. With the arrival of SSMS v22.7 last week, we have a solution in the form of a T-SQL formatter which is now available in preview. What’s new? The ability to format scripts in the […]
This month the invitation from Koen asks what would happen if we came back from the cloud. Back to On-Prem. Cloud solutions have sliders which magically reduce downtime, performance issues, and account credit. When you build it, infrastructure and platforms are your challenge, and you get one shot to right-size it. Capacity, resilience, capabilities. They’re your challenges to solve. […]
Someone drops a KQL query in your lap and says “you know SQL right?”. Honestly, it’s different enough to trip you up, but similar enough that you’ll pick it up quickly. In this post I want to touch on what KQL is, why it matters, and show how familiar (or different) it is compared to […]
“AI will take our jobs” scares folks away. This past weekend I took a photo of a plant that’s in a bad way, and asked ChatGPT for support. I got a full rundown of positioning, care, pruning – immediate steps based on what it saw in the photo. The reality of AI is very different […]
Large data solutions can span multiple databases. I’ve recently shared how amazing Database Projects can be but objects which reference across database boundaries can throw up warnings. Is the code solid or have you picked the wrong table and column combination? – you won’t know, and the code is fragile. This is where References come into play. They make […]
Being a Data Engineer, this month’s invitation from Meagan resonates. She’s asked us to share a tip, technique, or lesson about detecting changes – which can be crucial to reduce workload across a large dataset. I’ll rewind back a number of years to an overnight batch process which ingested key transactional data for a business. Due to […]
A regular Database Project deployment is static and delivers consistent results regardless of environment. When it comes to schema, that’s usually desired, but data is a different story. Data is environment specific. You want a Database Project that works across all environments. You want smarter deployments. You need SQLCMD Variables. What are SQLCMD variables SQLCMD is a […]
Last month in SSMS v22.4, we had the Database DevOps (preview) workload introduced which brings with it Database Projects. Last week I shared my favourite features for them which make deployments amazing. But if you’ve tried them out in SSMS you might have noticed that not everything is present. It’s a preview, after all. So what can we […]
Andy Brownsword 