Tag Archive for Better Habbits

T-SQL Tuesday #72 – Bad Decisions Made With Surrogate Keys

This is my second time hosting the t-SQL Tuesday blog party. The party was started by Adam Machanic (b|t) in December of 2009.

This month’s invitation topic is on Data Modeling Gone Wrong. Being a Database Developer, I deal with bad database design decisions daily. One of my app-dev teammates loves to tell me that the bad decisions were made because I didn’t work there yet. (That makes me laugh.)

Surrogate Keys vs Natural Keys

The point of surrogate keys is to represent complicated natural keys as the primary key of the table. Both the surrogate key and natural key will yield a unique key for the row. Sometimes that unique natural key is the entire row. When possible, it is better to use the natural key since it is the true representation of the row. Unfortunately, this is not always practical. Let’s look at some examples.

TSQLTuesday72 Image1

In the employee table it would take four fields to make a primary key from the natural key (first name, last name, social security number, and birthdate). Note: This is assuming this table is only used in the US and the employees have social security numbers. The reason the birthdate is also needed is due to the fact that social security numbers can be reused after someone has passed away. For the employee table it makes sense to have a surrogate key since it would be cumbersome to use all four fields as foreign keys in other tables.

The StateList (representing each state in the United States) is a good example of using the natural key as the primary key. Each state only uses two characters to represent the State so CHAR(2) can be used for the natural key and the primary key. This would provide the added benefit of not needing to join back to the StateList to get the two character representation of the State abbreviation…unless additional information about the state is needed. So what is the point of this table? Well, by having it, you are guaranteed referential integrity on the StateCode field by having a foreign key back to the StateList table. You don’t have to worry that someone puts ZZ as a StateCode.

Danger, Will Robinson!

One of the problems I’ve seen with careless use of surrogate keys are the duplication of natural keys. Quite often it’s overlooked that the natural key still needs to have a unique constraint. Without it, the reporting team ends up having to use MAX or DISTINCT to get the latest instance of the natural key, or SSIS packages are needed to clean up the duplicates. This can be compounded with many-to-many tables.

Many-to-many tables allow two tables to be joined multiple times. An example can be seen in the car insurance industry.  If you have multiple people on the same insurance and they are registered to drive multiple cars, then a many-to-many table would be created to capture the data.

If a surrogate key is used on the many-to-many table in order to provide uniqueness and if the natural key does not have a unique constraint, then duplicate natural key combinations can occur. This can be obfuscated if there is additional information in the table. Maybe the amount the car is insured, is also maintained in this table. Let’s take Victoria’s insurance as an example. If Victoria is in the table with her 1971 Corvette listed twice with two different insurance amounts listed, which one is the current one? The better pattern in this case would be to use the natural key.

TSQLTuesday72 Image2

Conclusion

Surrogate keys are very useful, but it should not be assumed that they should be used for all tables. The natural key should always be considered first. If the natural key is too complicated to be used as foreign keys in other tables, then the surrogate key is a good choice. Just remember to ALSO put a unique constraint on the natural key.

Thanks for all the fish

I had several people tell me on Twitter that they were going to write their first blog post for this t-SQL Tuesday blog party. I want to thank them ahead of time for taking the leap into the blogging world to share their experiences and expertise in their fields.

Questions Answered From Presentation (Part 2): Creating SSRS Reports Efficiently Through Best Practices

On Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015, I had the privilege of speaking for Pragmatic Works. For the month of March, they are highlighting Women in Tech and have the whole month lined up with female speakers on each Tuesday and Thursday. I was the first in the line up for the month and it ended up being my largest audience to date. There were 419 people listening in. I even saw some comments about there being others who couldn’t make it. Wow

Thanks to everyone who came to listen to my session. While I couldn’t hear anyone, I enjoyed reading the questions and comments that were sent to me afterwards, and let me tell you there were quite a few. Below you can find the answers to SECOND HALF of the questions that were asked. The first half of the questions can be found here.

Questions Answered

1. How do you make the report to see test database or production db or development db?

This is done by changing the data source properties. Say I have a database server called Monkey. I would create a shared data source called Monkey that each of the reports would share. On the Development SSRS Server, I would have the Monkey data source point to the development database. On the QA server, I would have the Monkey data source point to the QA database. And on the Production server, I would have the Monkey data source point to the production database. Each time the report is loaded into the new environment, it would automatically point to the correct database server.

If you are in a situation, where environments have to share a SSRS report manager (and I’m sorry if you are in that situation), then I would create a separate parent folder for each environment. For instance a parent folder called Development and a parent folder called QA. In each of these parent folders, I would create a folder for all your shared data sources for that environment. Each parent folder would have its own copy of the report and its own shared data source called Monkey pointing to the correct database.

2. When copyrighting, does your company need to be registered with the copyright office?

The answer to this question should come from your legal department. Through my experience, the answer is no. Copyright laws are different than patent laws. When I was an artist, the fact I made the artwork first, meant I owned the copyright. Even in another country.

3. Query for getting reports that have not been run.


SELECT

c.ItemID

,c.Path

,c.Name

FROM

ReportServer.dbo.Catalog AS c

LEFT JOIN [ReportServer].[dbo].[ExecutionLog3] AS e ON c.[Path] = e.ItemPath

WHERE

e.ItemPath IS NULL

AND Path NOT LIKE '/Decommisioned Reports%' --Ignore folders I don't care about.

AND c.Type NOT IN (1, 5, 8) -- Ignore Folders, Data Sources, and Data Sets

ORDER BY

c.Path

,c.Name

4. How did you add the template file in Visual studio?

For SSRS 2012, I put the RDL, RSD, and RDS files in the following directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies\ ProjectItems\ReportProject. The directory will be different for 2008 and 2014.

5. What if a company doesn’t have any procedure for gathering requirements and creating/keeping documentation?

This puts you in the driver position. I would suggest meeting with your manager to discuss the benefits of having requirements documentation and a standard way of maintaining the documentation. I would then outline a plan for starting on this new path. I would start with new reports, and slowly add in existing reports as they get modified.

Awesome quote from one of the attendees:
I ask “what the decision is going to be taken with the data from the report”

6. How do you know the width to fit on landscape and portrait nicely?

I like half inch margins. So I subtract the two half inch margins from the width of the landscape or portrait paper. That becomes the width of the base report. I also set the half inch margins in the Margin property of the Report.

7. Could you show an example of a Tracking Number?

Sure! If I were using an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my reports, I would number all my reports starting with 1000. (Why 1000? I like starting with 4 digits. No other reason.) If I were using a product like Team Foundation Server (TFS), then I would have each report represented by a work item. In either case, say the report named National Sales Revenue was represented by the number 1500. 1500 would always represent the report National Sales Revenue.

The first time this report is successfully published to production, it would be given a “release number” of 00. So the tracking number would look like 01500.00. After modifications were made to the report and republished to production, it would get a new release number of 01. The new tracking number would look like 01500.01.

In the location where I store all my documents for my reports, the report National Sales Revenue, will be stored under the number 01500. I usually add the name of the report to the folder name so that it looks something like 01500 – National Sales Revenue. This allows for two things. One, you can create the folder before you have a permanent title. (The temporary folder name would just be 01500.) Two, if the title changes later for some reason, you don’t lose the documentation location. It’s still under 01500.

8. What methodology do you use to create the Tracking Number or is it automatically generated from TFS?

When I’m using TFS, it is automatically generated for me. TFS uses a single sequential string of numbers across all the work item types (task, bug, custom work item, etc.), so you may have a report with number 1500, and then the next report will be number 1583. I do put a leading zero or two in front of the number so that when it goes two 5 digits, my folders are still in the correct order.

9. How do you put in the watermark?

a. Click on the base report.

b. Go to the properties window.

c. Click and open the BackgroundImage property.

d. Set the BackgroundRepeat property to repeat.

e. Set the MIMEType property to the correct format.

f. If you are using an Embedded image, set the following properties.

i. Source = Embedded

ii. Value = iif(First(Fields!EnvironmentID.Value, “GetReportStandards”) <3,”DRAFT”,””)

g. If you are using an image from the database, set the following properties.

i. Source = Database

ii. Value =iif(First(Fields!EnvironmentID.Value, “GetReportStandards”) <3,First(Fields!Draft.Value, “GetReportStandards”),””)

h. If you are using an image from a server location, set the following properties.

i. Source = External

ii. Value =iif(First(Fields!EnvironmentID.Value, “GetReportStandards”) <3,”location of your image”,””)

10. If a report is setup as a subscription, how can I tell if the subscribers are actually using/accessing the report?

This is an excellent question. The ReportServer Database will tell us which reports were executed through a subscription, but it cannot tell us if they were used. I have some ideas on ways to still capture the information, but they would require research and extra layers of complexity. If you want to hear about these ideas, send me an email.

Awesome idea from one of the attendees:
Maybe we should add a “pixel tag” to the report so that hits a web server which can track access.

11. This is not the question you are looking for. Move along. Move along.

12. Is there any way to handle the row hight dynamically in Excel output where include the merged cells? (Can grow does work with merged cells)

I don’t know a definitive answer to this question, but my inclination is to say no. Dynamically changing row height/width outside of the auto grow properties, is usually not possible. I have found ways around this by providing multiple layouts of columns/rows and hiding the ones I don’t want.

13. How can you use a business glossary to develop your label and be consistent across reports?

This question is a big one. The simple answer, is you need buy in from the business to make it happen and discipline from the entire team to make it successful. I would suggest you look into the topics for Data Governance, Business Semantics glossary, and Conceptual Data Modeling. These areas are what would help create and drive the business glossary from the very beginning, so that by the time you are ready to create a report, the terms already exist.

If you can’t get buy in yet, or ever, then I would suggest creating your own business glossary. Excel would work and is easily searchable. Make sure it is stored where your whole team can update it and use it.

14. Any major changes to SSRS 2014?

No. You can see the changes from version to version here. Just select the version you want to look at from the “other versions” drop down at the top of the article.

15. Can you tell what format they placed it in? PDf Excel

The Format Field in the ExecutionLog3 view will give you that information. Here is an example looking at the rendered format of a subscription.


SELECT

ItemPath

,UserName

,RequestType

,[Format]

,ItemAction

,TimeStart

,TimeEnd

FROM

ReportServer.dbo.ExecutionLog3

WHERE

RequestType = 'subscription'

AND ItemAction = 'Render'

16. How long did it take you to build this framework?

It took me a couple of years. I started by tracking down all the reports and entering them in an Excel spreadsheet. My manager wanted a more permanent solution that could be shared with others, so I was given time to create a custom Report Work Item in TFS. I then moved the whole catalog there and decommissioned the Excel based catalog.

For the requirements and design document, I slowly saw a pattern of questions that I kept asking, so I designed a requirements document and tweaked it over time.

For my report templates, I looked at existing reports. I took the consistent layouts I found, filled in some things I felt were missing like showing the parameters, and created the templates. They stayed pretty consistent over the years.

17. Is there a way to find out the limit of data export to Excel? We used to have reports which we can view, but time out when exporting to Excel. The limit is per size of other Excel or number of rows?

The limit will be how long it takes to do the export. There is a time limit and it if the export is not accomplished in that time frame, then it will time out. This can be changed with settings in the Report Manager. As far as the amount of data Excel can take, I would Google that, since different versions have different limits.

18. What’s better to use stored procedure or embedded SQL query and how to determine that?

This is an excellent question. This is also a highly debatable discussion, so this is my stance on the topic.

I prefer stored procedures for the following reasons:

  • Stored procedures are easier to modify when they need to be optimized. It is easier to track down a stored procedure in the cache plan than an inline SQL Statement in a report. You also only need to deploy the updated stored procedure back to production, not the report.
  • Dynamic queries are more likely to be classified as an “Adhoc query” by SQL Server. Depending how your SQL Server properties are set, the Execution Plan may never be kept in the cache, which means you will always have the overhead of creating the best Execution Plan.
  • On the reverse, if your SQL Server properties are set to handle Adhoc queries, then you can cause unnecessary bloating in your cache plan since every embedded query with different parameter values will be seen as a different query. That is not true of Stored Procedures….unless they have dynamic SQL inside them.

19. Would you recommend some sort of standards for Data Source Names?

I’m in favor of standards for everything. It satisfies my OCD needs. I keep all my data sources in one folder called either “Data Sources” or “DataSources”, depending if you like spaces in names. For the names, my data source names are the same name as the database they represent. If you have multiple databases with the same name in your production environment, then I would suggest adding the server name to the data source name. You want the Data Source names to represent what they are pointing to.

Name data sets the same way. I use the name of the stored procedure as the name of the data set. If you have the same stored procedure name in different Schemas, then I would include the Schema name in the data set name.

20. How to deploy the SSRS reports using TFS auto build?

I haven’t had the pleasure of using this feature. I unfortunately had to write a deployment document so that the report(s) could be deployed manually.

21. Can you mention the bug again with 2008 R2 with concatenated fields in excel prints?

Sure. In the footer of the report, I had a single textbox that had multiple fields in it. When the report was exported as an Excel document, the textbox was created in the footer of the Excel document, but the font size had been increased to 72 PT font. This bug did not occur on all of our servers.

22. All these best practices are good. I would like to see some more of practical on how to create hierarchies and links and other stuff, maybe in next webinar.

Please, please, please email me what you would like to see in sessions. I am always looking for ideas.

I have an example of a way to handle a hierarchy in my other Pragmatic Works session called: Scalable SSRS Reports Achieved Through the Powerful Tablix.

You can look at my recorded presentations page to see a list of presentations that have been recorded.

You can also look on my 2015 Speaking Engagements to see where I will be speaking or hope to be speaking this year.

23. No Russian Thank you? 🙁

Спасибо

Thanks for all the fish

Thanks go out to everyone who attended the presentation and for the patience of those who waited two weeks for me to answer the second half of the questions.

This is me sitting at a local café with my oldest daughter while I write, she studies, and we both drink flat white coffee. (This week she was working on an essay about Frankenstein and an exegetical essay for another class.  I’ll stick to SQL and SSRS.)
Mar 2015 Victoria and Me at Cafe

Questions Answered From Presentation (Part 1): Creating SSRS Reports Efficiently Through Best Practices

This past Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015, I had the privilege of speaking for Pragmatic Works. For the month of March, they are highlighting Women in Tech and have the whole month lined up with female speakers on each Tuesday and Thursday. I was the first in the line up for the month and it ended up being my largest audience to date. There were 419 people listening in. I even saw some comments about there being others who couldn’t make it. Wow

Thanks to everyone who came to listen to my session. While I couldn’t hear anyone, I enjoyed reading the questions and comments that were sent to me afterwards, and let me tell you there were quite a few. Below you can find the answers to HALF the questions that were asked. The other half of the questions will be answered next weekend.

Questions Answered

1. The number one question that was asked was: Will your documents, like your requirements document, be available?

Yes! You can find all the assets to the presentation under the Resources\Presentation menu on my website. I list all my presentation on this page, so just scroll to the correct presentation title.

I did get some comments about my SSRS templates missing. That has been fixed. Here are the three separate downloads:

If you missed the presentation, don’t worry. Pragmatic Works will be adding it to their catalog of past presentations here.

2. Hey, can you please share us that sample database?

I’m not sure which sample database this was pertaining to. Please email me.

3.  Would you give that mock up tool again?

It’s called Balsamiq. They are a wonderful company with a great user support forum. You can find tons of templates on their website and get your feet wet with a trial version.

4. Do you have any scripting that can be used to see what subscriptions are set up using all the various parameters?

I broke this question up into two questions because I wasn’t clear if you wanted existing subscriptions or executed subscriptions.

Executed

The ExecutionLog3 view in the report server database will have this information for you. You can filter the data on the RequestType field to show you only subscriptions. The Format field will tell you how it was rendered and the Parameters field will tell you what all the parameters were set too. The down side, is they use special escape characters, so you’ll have to decipher it.


DECLARE
@StartDate DATETIME = '03/1/2015'
,@EndDate DATETIME = '04/5/2015'

SELECT
InstanceName
,ItemPath
,UserName
,RequestType
,ItemAction
,TimeStart
,Status
,Format
,Parameters
FROM
ReportServer.dbo.ExecutionLog3
WHERE
ItemPath NOT LIKE '/DataSets/%'
AND TimeStart >= @StartDate
AND TimeStart <= @EndDate
AND RequestType = 'Subscription'
AND ItemPath <> 'Unknown'

Existing  

For existing subscriptions, you can look in the Subscriptions table in the ReportServer database. This lists the subscriptions that are set up, how they will be rendered, and the parameter values that will be used as well as other information.

5. Is there is way to bulk change the owner of a subscription? We have people leave and then when their account is deleted, the subscriptions stop working.

I’ve been asked this before. The information is stored in the ReportServer database, but I am always cautious about directly modifying this database. So , if you change it, then test it heavily  in development before applying the changes to production.

To help with this problem in the future, I would recommend a new standard. All subscriptions should be directed to Active Directory distribution lists. Even if the distribution list has only one person in it. I try to use existing distribution lists, but when I can’t, then I work with the Active Directory Admin (or whoever wears that hat). You could make a distribution list for a specific title, position, or category of people. I also made sure the description on the distribution list was filled out and included something like, “Do not delete this distribution list. It is used for subscriptions.”

6. What tool do you use for your report catalog?

There are several ways to create a report catalog. I started with an Excel document. After I outgrew that, I ended up creating a custom work item in TFS (Team Foundation Server). This allowed me to catalog the report, keep track of the workflow as the report went through its life cycle, and associate work items and bugs to the report.

Here is a blog post by Ted Gustaf on creating custom Workflows in TFS 2010.

7. Don’t you think that its better to get the Requirements and have them sign off on That ?? Prior to a Mock Up ?

Yes, it would save us some work too. Unfortunately, I found that the end users have a hard time verbalizing what they actually want. I find that the changes they request after seeing the mock-ups are not normally based on scope creep, but on the way they verbalized their needs when they initially gave them. This can be due to them not understanding what they really want, to them, assuming we know their data as well as they do. By creating the mockup, they have something tangible to look at. It’s analogous to telling a realtor that you want a three bedroom house, but the first one they show you is not what you were looking for. Now that you’ve seen the house, you can better articulate what you really want in a house.

8. Did you discuss the data quality requirements with your customers?

This is a very good question, and a delicate one. Some customers are very glad you bring this question up, and some customers assume all the data is accurate and will become concerned with past reports if they think the data is “dirty”.

Here are some scenarios and how I handled them. 

  • I was replacing an existing report that had bad data. This is an example of a delicate situation. My manager ended up coming with me to the meeting and backing me up. I showed samples of raw data under both reports and explained why the data was inaccurate before. Always save the explanation and data in an easy to locate place because they will be back asking again why a previous report is so different than a current report.
  • I had to aggregate data based on key phrases in a text field. This is an example where the customer is expecting to have a dialog about the quality of the data found. I spent some time looking at the raw data that did not match her phrases exactly and provided recommendations on additional phrases.
  • One of the requirements I was given for a report was based on ranges of numbers. For this report, I approached my client about the data I found that did not fall into the ranges he was expecting. In this case, it uncovered the need to validate the data when it was entered, so the client was grateful.

The bottom line is, be careful how and to whom you bring this question up to. It is a very important question and should always be addressed. It just may need to be addressed by your team instead of with the client, directly with the client, or in a very subtle manner with the client.

9. How do you place the Tablix color palette in the template form? And, could you provide, in your blog, info about Microsoft’s suggested methods of maintaining tracking info.

Below are the steps for creating a “color palette” on a new template. For your second question, I don’t know if there is an article from Microsoft for best practices on tracking info. In next weeks post, I have examples of how I did it.

Steps for adding your own color palette to a template

  • Add a table control (Tablix) to the body of a new report.
  • Remove the header row.
  • Make sure there is a column for each color in your color palate.
  • Make the width of each cell 0.2 in.
  • Change the background property of each cell to the name or hexadecimal value of your colors.

DeGraeve.com is a really cool website that can be used to create a color palette from an image.

Awesome quote from one of the attendees:
A formal report request process gives the requestor an opportunity to think closely about what is really wanted. Does not force it to happen, but increases the likelihood that a good and complete request will be done.

10. What do you use for Version Control?

I have used both Team Foundation Server (TFS) by Microsoft and Subversion, which is an open source product. There are a few versions of Subversion out there. I used the Tortoise version.

For maintaining my SQL source code easily, I also use Redgate’s SQL Source Control product. It’s like a bridge between your repository (TFS, Subversion, etc.) and SSMS. I am happy to talk to anyone on Redgate’s products. Just send me an email. (No, I don’t work for them. I’m just addicted to their products.)

11. Is it better to use Visual Studios of Report Builder?

Better is not the word I would use. More Powerful is the adjective I would use. Report Builder only has a subset of features that you have in Visual Studio. It was designed to empower “power users” and to provide “self service BI solutions”. If you are designing reports all the time, I would highly recommend using Visual Studio. To see the power of what you can do in Visual Studio, take a look at my Scalable SSRS Reports Achieved Through the Powerful Tablix. It’s recorded on Pragmatic Works website.

Here’s some additional terminology for you with regards to the different versions of Visual Studio. The version that comes with SQL Server is all that you need to design reports. For SQL Server 2012 and 2014 it’s called SQL Server Data Tools and commonly referred to as SSDT. For SQL Server 2008 and 2008R2 it was called Business Intelligence Development Studio and commonly referred to as BIDS.

12. What’s the major difference of standalone SSRS and the SSRS on SharePoint server?

I have never worked with the SharePoint version of SSRS. From what I know, the major difference is how the metadata for the management of the reports is stored in SQL Server. The SharePoint tables are used instead of the ReportServer database. I don’t think the creation of the reports is any different.

13. Can excel templates be imported or easily developed so that if I export to excel it looks like the data came from excel?

I’m not aware of the ability to bring in an Excel templates as an SSRS template. If the user exports the report using the Excel render type instead of the CSV render type, then the report should look like it came from Excel. You might need to email me an image of what you are trying to accomplish for me to answer this question better.

Next weekend I will answer the rest of the questions from this presentation.

Thanks for all the fish

Thanks go out to Liz Hamilton at Pragmatic Works for moderating my presentation. She is wonderful to work with and I loved the movie trivia that she did prior to the presentation.

This is me sitting at a local café with my oldest daughter sorting, compiling, and answering questions. (I think she’s doing Latin homework. I’ll stick to SQL andSSRS.)Cafe201503

Becoming a SQL Prompt Power User

MCJJ_ALLFour SQL professionals gathered from the four corners of the world to share their SQL knowledge with each other and with their readers: Mickey Stuewe from California, USA, Chris Yates from Kentucky, USA, Julie Koesmarno from Canberra, Australia, and Jeffrey Verheul from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. They invite you to join them on their quest as they ask each other questions and seek out the answers in this collaborative blog series. This month we are cooperatively blogging about SQL Prompt by Red Gate.

The Next Mission

What makes up a SQL Prompt power user? Well, they use the SQL prompt commands like they were extensions of SSMS. They know the shortcuts, and they’ve memorized the key words to call up their favorite scripts. Let’s take a look what these short cuts are and how to integrate them seamlessly into your every day SQL Life.

Playing The Ebony Keys

A power user of any software is one who uses the hot keys in lieu of the menus. SQL prompt has a plethora of hot key combination.

Before I use <ctrl> + e to execute my code, I always use <ctrl> + k, <ctrl> + y. This hot key combo will structure your code based on the styles you have set in SQL prompt. This is my most heavily used hot key combo right after <ctrl> + e and <ctrl> + r (hiding the results window).

There is a new hot key combination that is coming out soon in version 6.4, and I’m very excited about it. It adds a semicolon at the end of each statement! I’ve been trying to add the habit of using semicolons for 2 years now, and it never sticks. Now I can use <ctrl> + b, <ctrl> + c and away I go.

Here is a table of the hot key combinations I use the most, plus the shortcut way I remember them.

Hot Key Combination Shortcut Hot Key Combo What It Does
<ctrl> + b,
<ctrl> + w
<ctrl> + bw Expands ALL of the wild cards.
<ctrl> + b,
<ctrl> + q
+ bq Qualifies all the SQL Objects and fixes the capitalization as well.
in beta <ctrl> + b,
<ctrl> + c
<ctrl> + bc Adds semicolons to the end of each statement. (Available soon in 6.4)
<ctrl> + k,
<ctrl> + y
<ctrl> + ky Standardizes the code based on the formatting styles that were set in SQL Prompt.

As a power user, my key strokes will look like this when I use them all at once:

<ctrl> + bw, bq, bc, ky and finally <ctrl> + e to execute my code. Here is an example of how an ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan by applying all of these hot keys at one time.

Before


alter procedure [dbo].[salesteamassignment_rptugly](@group as varchar(1000), @startdate as date, @enddate as date)as
set nocount on
declare @uselessvar as varchar(max)
select
p.businessentityid ,firstname,lastname,s.name as store,[group] as TerritoryGroup,cr.name as CountryRegion,st.name as Territory,customercount,s.*
from
adventureworks2008r2.sales.salesperson as sp join adventureworks2008r2.person.person as p on sp.businessentityid = p.businessentityid
join adventureworks2008r2.sales.salesterritory as st on sp.territoryid = st.territoryid join [adventureworks2008r2].[person].[countryregion] as cr on st.countryregioncode = cr.countryregioncode
join adventureworks2008r2.sales.store as s on s.salespersonid = sp.businessentityid join dbo.fn_split(',', @group) as grps on st.[group] = convert(nvarchar(50), grps.separatedvalue)
outer apply (select count(*) as customercount from adventureworks2008r2.sales.customer as c where s.businessentityid = c.storeid ) as cc

After

ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.SalesTeamAssignment_rptUGLY
(
@group AS varchar(1000)
,@startdate AS date
,@enddate AS date
)
AS
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DECLARE @uselessvar AS varchar(MAX);
SELECT
p.BusinessEntityID
,p.FirstName
,p.LastName
,s.Name AS store
,st.[Group] AS TerritoryGroup
,cr.Name AS CountryRegion
,st.Name AS Territory
,cc.customercount
,s.BusinessEntityID
,s.Name
,s.SalesPersonID
,s.Demographics
,s.rowguid
,s.ModifiedDate
FROM
AdventureWorks2008R2.Sales.SalesPerson AS sp
JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Person.Person AS p ON sp.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Sales.SalesTerritory AS st ON sp.TerritoryID = st.TerritoryID
JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Person.CountryRegion AS cr ON st.CountryRegionCode = cr.CountryRegionCode
JOIN AdventureWorks2008R2.Sales.Store AS s ON s.SalesPersonID = sp.BusinessEntityID
JOIN dbo.fn_Split(',', @group) AS grps ON st.[Group] = CONVERT(nvarchar(50), grps.SeparatedValue)
OUTER APPLY (
SELECT
COUNT(*) AS customercount
FROM
AdventureWorks2008R2.Sales.Customer AS c
WHERE
s.BusinessEntityID = c.StoreID
) AS cc;

But Wait, There’s More

Formatting your code is only half of the features in SQL Prompt. There are three other features that every power user should use. (Ok, the truth be told, there are more than 3, but my article shouldn’t be the length of a book.)

Feature 1:

SQL Prompt offers the ability to save snippets of code. This is really useful for repetitive tasks. Here is a list of articles that I’ve written talking about specific snippets that I find handy.

Placeholders are one of the most helpful features that SQL Prompt provides for you to work with snippets. The placeholders are reserved words that are variables for specific pieces of information or represent actions that can be applied to your snippet. They are always completely capitalized and are surrounded by dollar signs ($). You can find the current list for SQL Prompt 6 here.

One of the new placeholders is prefect for the power user. It allows you to insert a snippet and have part of it highlighted. Here is an example of how I like to use it. This particular snippen, which I named “st1”, will add SELECT TOP 100 * FROM in front of the table name that I”ve highlighted and copied to the copy buffer.

$SELECTIONSTART$SELECT TOP 100 *
FROM $PASTE$$SELECTIONEND$

The $PASTE$ placeholder will be replaced with whatever is in my copy buffer. The $SELECTIONSTART$ and $SELECTIONEND$ placeholders will cause the code within the placeholders to be highlighted.

To use it, I follow these steps.

1. I highlight a table I want to use and hit <ctrl> + c to get the table  into my copy buffer.

SQLCoop5_image1

 

2. I type st1 + to get the snippet. I now have a highlighted SELECT statement ready to execute, so I hit + e to execute it.

SQLCoop5_Image2

 

3. Finally, I type <ctrl> + z twice to undo the changes I’ve made.

SQLCoop5_image1

 

This allows me to quickly see some sample data from the table without ever leaving my current query window.

Feature 2:

This is a hidden gem. This feature finds all the invalid objects in your database. This is a great feature for those of you who need to perform code reviews and want to make sure that any DDL changes have not broken any existing SQL Objects.

In this example I have a table with a trigger that uses the field ModifiedDTS. I deleted the field and ran the command. It listed all the SQL Objects that are now broken due to the deleted field.

SQLCoop5_Image3

This feature does not have a Hot Key, but it is definitely worthy of a power user.

Feature 3:

This is a great “clean up” feature, especially when you are working with stored procedures with 200 + lines that you have inherited. You know the ones, they are filled with old code and have never been cleaned up. Well, this feature is perfect for it, because it finds all the unused variables and parameters. Simply use the hot key combination + b, + f. SQL Prompt, will then underline in green all the unused variables and parameters for you to evaluate for usefulness.

SQLCoop5_Image4

 

I encourage you to spend 10 minutes going through the SQL Prompt menu to find out what other goodies exist for you to leverage. There are also new features coming soon in version 6.4. Here is a great reference to all the release notes for each version, plus the release notes for the current beta version.

Don’t Stop Yet

If you want to read more about how to work with SQL Prompt, then check out these blog posts:

To follow our quest for SQL knowledge through this collaborative project, follow the #SQLCoOp tag on Twitter.

See you next month!!

Original Post: On a SQL Collaboration Quest

T-SQL Tuesday #51- Don’t Crap Out While Betting On Table Functions

My good friend Jason Brimhall (b|t) is hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday blog party. The party was started by Adam Machanic (b|t) in December of 2009. As a compliment to the upcoming debut of the Las Vegas SQL Saturday, Jason has taken up a betting theme. He wants to know our stories of when we bet it all on a risky solution and won or lost.

Instead of telling you about the past, I want to help you win big at the table today. I really don’t want you to crap out while betting on the wrong table functions.

Snake Eyes

There are two types of table functions Multi-line Table Functions and In-Line Table Functions. There is a huge difference between the two of them.

Multi-line table functions sound great. You write as much code as you need in them and they will return all the data in a table variable. This is where the weighted dice rolls snake eyes every single time. You see, the statistics for a table variable always, always says there is only one row in the table being returned. It doesn’t matter if there are a hundred, a thousand, or a million rows. The statistics will say one. Which means the optimizer has a good chance of loosing when it picks the execution plan for that query.

Let’s Take a Look at the Bets

For my example, I have a simple query that returns 43 rows out of a Tally table. Notice that the index estimates 43 rows will be returned, which is great, because that is exactly on the money!

TSQLTuesday51_1

 

If we put that same query inside of a multi-line table function, we get an estimated number of rows of 1 (snake eyes!).

 

TSQLTuesday51_2

 

TSQLTuesday51_3

 

Double Down

An in-line table function will return the same result set, but there are some limitations on its construction. The entire query within the in-line table function needs to be done in only one statement.

Note: You can get very creative with Common Table Expressions (CTE) if need be.

There are two benefits to using an in-line Table Function. One, is that the Estimated Number of Rows will be accurate (or as accurate as the statistics on the table), and two, the “inside” of the in-line table function is not masked in the Execution Plan. It is plopped right into the middle of the calling query. (Yes, “plopped” is a technical term. )

 

TSQLTuesday51_4

 

TSQLTuesday51_5 

Last Call

SoRemember to double down on in-line table functions and don’t crap out on the snake eyes of the multi-line table function.

Thanks for all the fish

Thanks go out to Jason Brimhall for hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday blog party. Please visit his website at http://jasonbrimhall.info/, or better yet come to Las Vegas for their SQL Saturday and thank him in person.

SQL Advent Calendar 2013 – Day 11 – Snippet For a New Stored Procedure

AdventCalendar11First Post in this series: SQL Advent Calendar 2013-Day 1- Placeholders in SQL Prompt Snippets

As I was hanging our family Advent Calendar up, I thought I would make one for you, my readers. I’ll be sharing my scripts from two of my favorite products as well as tips on how to create your own.

Save the Key Strokes!

The snippet below has saved me from a ton of typing! Just three little letters and TAB.

  • I always have a comment block.
  • I never have to add my name or date to the comment block.
  • My error handler always looks the same.
  • I even have a place for my test parameters.

This snippet, called affectionately New, provides the outer shell for a new stored procedure. It is ideal for non-transactional stored procedures. (I will later share my latest snippet created for transactional stored procedures.) It’s set up as a DROP / CREATE, and the DROP is wrapped in an IF statement so that it doesn’t fail the first time. Your cursor is placed right where your query needs to go. CTRL+SHIFT+M will populate the other unique parts of the script like database name, stored procedure name, etc.

USE <DatabaseName,string,$DBNAME$>
GO

--Use Shift + Ctrl + M to set Template Parameters

IF EXISTS ( SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE	object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'<schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,>') AND type IN (N'P', N'PC') ) 
	DROP PROCEDURE <schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,>
GO
/* ***********************************************************************************
Purpose:    <purpose,string,[brief description]="">
Notes:      
Sample:    
            EXEC <schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,> [Parameters]
Author:     $USER$
Date:       $DATE$

Revision History
(Change Date)	(Author)		(Description of Change)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
************************************************************************************ */
CREATE PROCEDURE <schemaowner,string,dbo>.<sprocname,string,> 
(
	--Insert Parameters
)
AS 
BEGIN TRY
	SET NOCOUNT ON
----------------------------------------------------
-------           Test Parameters           --------
----------------------------------------------------
--DECLARE 
--		@StartDate datetime = '12/1/2010'
--		,@EndDate datetime = '12/5/2010'
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------

		$CURSOR$--[TSQL Statements]

END TRY
BEGIN CATCH

	DECLARE
	    @ErrorMessage AS nvarchar(3000)
	   ,@ErrorSeverity AS int

	SET @ErrorMessage = ISNULL(DB_NAME(DB_ID()) + N'.' + SCHEMA_NAME(SCHEMA_ID()) + N'.' + OBJECT_NAME(@@PROCID, DB_ID()),
						N'SQL Object Name Not Available') + N': Error: ' + CONVERT(nvarchar(10), ERROR_NUMBER()) + N' Line: ' 
						+ CONVERT(nvarchar(5), ERROR_LINE()) + N' - ' + ERROR_MESSAGE()   

	SET @ErrorSeverity = ERROR_SEVERITY()
	RAISERROR(@ErrorMessage, @ErrorSeverity, 1)
END CATCH

SET NOCOUNT OFF
GO
If You’re Brave…

Currently the $CURSOR$ placeholder is being used on line 37. This means you can immediately start typing your query. If you’re brave, you can change the placeholder to $PASTE$. This will put whatever is in your copy buffer directly in your new stored procedure. (I’m not that brave. Sometimes I have a lot of Excel Data hanging out, drinking spiked eggnog, and singing Karaoke in my copy buffer.)

 

AdventCalendar2013Day11_Img2

 

One of the cool features of this script, is the way the error handler is created. You can comment out lines 3 to 25 (the AS line)  and the error handler won’t fail. Instead of showing the stored procedure name (that you aren’t using) it will simply tell you, you are not in a stored procedure at the moment.

AdventCalendar2013Day11_Img1

 

I hope you enjoy this gem as much as I do.

Note: You can download this snippet from my Script Library under Resources. It’s called New.

Previous Post In Series: SQL Advent Calendar 2013 – Day 10 – Creating Change Tracking Domains (3 of 3)
Next Post In Series: SQL Advent Calendar–Day 12– And Neo Yelled

SQL Bacon Bits No. 2 – Dropping Temporary SQL Objects

Bacon file8121243652304This is my second SQL Tidbit and I have already decided to change the name to SQL Bacon Bits. Why? Because it’s my blog and I can. These quick posts are supposed to be simple and yummy, just like bacon.

Today’s featured product is ER/Studio Data Architect.

The Need

Whenever a change script is created from an ER/Studio Data Architect model, the original objects are kept with a date time stamp as part of their name. These original copies are then left for the developer to determine if they are still needed.

When I first came across these objects in my database, I was flummoxed. “Why would they leave such a mess?”, I asked myself. But they didn’t leave a mess. They were actually being considerate. Sometimes the SQL Objects have issues because of the changes being brought into the database. Since the original objects are kept as back up copies, you can go look at them before deleting them.

So how do you get rid of these objects once you have confirmed they are no longer needed?

Well, you create a script. This script is based on a version that my co-worker Chris Henry created. I’ve added to it and generalized it.

Let’s break it down

I found that ER/Studio Data Architect uses UTC as the time for the timestamp on the temporary objects. (That drove me nuts until I figured it out!). By using the GetUTCDate() function you’ll be able to programmatically create the date to filter the SQL objects that you want to get rid of.

DECLARE @Date AS varchar(10)

SELECT
    @date = '%' + CONVERT(varchar(2), MONTH(GETUTCDATE())) 
				+ ( CASE 
						WHEN DAY(GETUTCDATE()) < 10 THEN '0'
                        ELSE ''
                        END ) 
				+ CONVERT(varchar(2), DAY(GETUTCDATE())) 
				+ CONVERT(varchar(4), YEAR(GETUTCDATE())) + '%'

 

I then use UNION ALL to join the different types of objects with the proper DROP syntax.

SELECT
    'ALTER TABLE [' + s.name + '].[' + p.name + '] DROP CONSTRAINT  [' + o.name + ']' AS ItemToDrop
	,o.type

FROM
    sys.objects AS o
	JOIN sys.objects AS p ON o.parent_object_id = p.object_id
	JOIN sys.schemas AS s ON p.schema_id = s.schema_id
WHERE
    o.name LIKE @date
    AND o.type = 'F'

UNION ALL

SELECT
    'Drop Trigger [' + s.name + '].[' + o.name + ']' AS ItemToDrop
	,o.type
FROM
    sys.objects AS o
	JOIN sys.objects AS p ON o.parent_object_id = p.object_id
	JOIN sys.schemas AS s ON p.schema_id = s.schema_id
WHERE
    o.name LIKE @date
    AND o.type = 'TR'

UNION ALL

SELECT
    'drop table [' + s.name + '].[' + o.name + ']' AS ItemToDrop
	,o.type
FROM
    sys.objects AS o
	JOIN sys.schemas AS s ON o.schema_id = s.schema_id
WHERE
    o.name LIKE @date
    AND o.type  ='U'

UNION ALL

SELECT
    'drop proc [' + s.name + '].[' + o.name + ']' AS ItemToDrop
	,o.type
FROM
    sys.objects AS o
	JOIN sys.schemas AS s ON o.schema_id = s.schema_id
WHERE
    o.name LIKE @date
    AND o.type  ='P'
ORDER BY
	o.type

 

After it executes, I copy the statements out of the results pane and execute them.

Bonus Tip

Since this is a script you’ll use again and again…and again. You’ll want to turn it into a template. Two of the many ways to do that are as follows.

  • SSMS comes with a Template Browser. You can save your script in the Template Browser for future use. Each you need it, simply double click on the script in the Template Browser and copy will be created for you. By adding the following code at the top of the script, you can use Ctrl+M to pick which database you want to use.
USE <DatabaseName, string,>
GO

 

  • If you are a SQL Prompt addict like me, then  you can add your script as a snippet. Instead of adding the code I just showed you, add the following code and a default database name will appear as a default when you use Ctrl+M.
USE <DatabaseName, string,$DBNAME$>
GO

You can download full script from here.

SQL Bacon Bits

SQL Tidbits: No.1– Outputting from ER/Studio Data Architect Directly to SQL Server Management Studio

 

SQL Tidbits: No.1 – Outputting from ER/Studio Data Architect Directly to SQL Server Management Studio

I’ve been tossing around some ideas for my blog. One of which is to provide a quick tech tip… or a SQL Tidbit. The idea is to keep me writing until I get used to blogging EVERY week. Hopefully in a few months I’ll have more SQL Tidbits than there are Grape Leaves in this picture.

So let’s get started with the first SQL Tidbit.

In the beginning…

I’ve been using ER/Studio Data Architect for a few years now. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s used for modeling and maintaining database schemas. I love this product, but I’m not a big fan of the default application (Universal ISQL) that the change script is sent to. Mostly because Ctrl+A doesn’t work in the query window and I find it clunky.

At my previous company, one of my coworkers created an application that ran in the background. When it detected that a change script was ready to be deployed, it would capture it and open it in SSMS.

But there is an easier way

When I started at my current job, I was setting all the defaults that I like in ER/Studio Data Architect and I stumbled upon this setting that I didn’t know existed. This setting lets YOU pick the editor for the change scripts to be deployed to. I changed the path to SSMS and I didn’t have to see the default application any more. (WIN!)

To get to the setting, do the following.

1. Click on the Tools/Options menu item.

2. Click on the Tools tab on the right hand side of the dialog box.

3. Change the ISQL Path setting.

 

And that’s a wrap

In the next SQL Tidbit I’ll share a script for cleaning up temporary SQL objects.

Dev Connections – Demos and Slides Are Available

Thanks to all the Dev Connection attendees who came to my class. I have posted the slides, demos, and demo database on my Resources page.

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