Thursday, 11 June 2015

SQL Server 2016 - Installation

Today, I finally found time to install SQL Server 2016 - CTP2 on a Window 8.1 Desktop PC

The software can be found here

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/server-cloud/products/sql-server-2016/

Installation was just like every other installation of SQL Server so you shouldn't have any trouble installing it if you have installed SQL Server before.

The only extra thing I had to install on my desktop was Java SE Runtime Environment

At the time of writing the latest version can be found here

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jre8-downloads-2133155.html

Other than that, it should be straightforward.

Friday, 23 January 2015

SQL Server 2014 Comparisons

Want to know what is the difference between the different SQL Server 2014 editions, then click on the link below

SQL Server 2014 Comparisons

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

Download SQL Server 2014 Express


Download SQL Server 2014 Express

These links are quick and easy ways of downloading SQL Server Express 2014


Useful SQL Server Information.



This is an great SQL Script to find out loads of information about your SQL Server Instance and operating system. Click on the link below to download.

It works from SQL Server 2008 R2 onwards.

SQL Server Information Download Link

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Software Developer C# (Up to £45,000pa)


Software Developer C# (Up to £45,000pa)

Role: Permanent
Reporting To : Team Lead
Salary : Up to £45,000 Negotiable dependent on Experience – (We are recruiting at all levels junior and above)
Hours: Monday – Friday 9.00am – 5.30pm


What’s the Software Developer role all about?
As we are a leading online retailer, millions of customers each year.


What will you get from us……
  • We will give you the opportunity to learn and hone the best engineering practices including Continuous Integration, Test Driven Development and SOLID principles.
  • Career progression opportunities
  • Personal development paid for by ao.com (Guaranteed 5 days each year)
  • The opportunity for International project experience
What will my responsibilities be as a Software Developer?
We have dedicated teams who work together to deliver software across the entire journey for our customers.
We have vacancies across teams involved in building software for every area of the ecommerce business including logistics, order processing systems, websites, supply chain and more.

  • Uncovering non-functional requirements – (“How many of these need processing in an hour”)
  • Choosing technology tools – “Have you guys seen this new java test runner?”
  • Choosing the best solution for the problem – “A spread sheet is not the best tool for this task”
  • Designing the solution – “Time to get the CRC cards out”
  • Implementing the solution – “cutting code”
  • Building quality in – red/green/refactor – TDD
  • Constantly improving our software processes – “How could we get more value out of our daily stand up?”
  • Constantly improving our engineering processes – “Is this a suitable candidate for automation?”
What skills do I NEED to have as a Software Developer?
We are looking for developers with experience in web based technology and development of both front end and back end systems
  • A degree in computing science or related subject is an advantage but not compulsory
  • We use the following technologies a lot, so commercial experience with them is beneficial, although you don’t need to be a master at them:
C# .Net (This is the bread and butter of the role and you will need a strong knowledge of the syntax)
ASP.Net
MVC
Javascript
HTML5
WCF
NUnit, Moq, ReSharper, SpecFlow
MS SQL 2008

If you can offer the following or are chomping at the bit to work alongside other likeminded team mates, keep reading.
  • Solid understanding of the practical application of agile development methods
  • Significant software development and infrastructure architecture experience in designing and architecting enterprise web applications
  • You will be the heart of an autonomous delivery team, so you should be proactive and great at problem solving
  • We prefer close collaboration over long-winded documentation, so you need to be a great communicator and have solid interpersonal skills
  • Nurture a close relationship with your internal customer and helping elicit requirements
  • Be an inspiration of innovation to the client
  • Maintain strong expertise and knowledge of current and emerging technologies and products
  • Have a desire to improve as a developer and be lifelong learner

Wednesday, 23 July 2014

Grouping and Windowing - Part 3

So another part of Grouping and Windowing in SQL Server is Pivoting and Unpivoting

Pivoting 

I am going to use this dataset for this example



Using this query

WITH PivotData AS
(
SELECT
Type , -- grouping column
Column1, -- spreading column
Number -- aggregation column
FROM [dbo].[Pets]
)
SELECT Type, [DOGS], [CAT], [FISH]
FROM PivotData
PIVOT(SUM(Number) FOR Column1 IN ([DOGS],[CAT],[FISH]) ) AS P;

produces this result. By looking at the code above, you can work out what is going on from the comments.



Unpivoting 

Using this dataset from the previous section 


We can unpivot by using this code.

SELECT Column1,Number,[Type]
FROM PivotData2
UNPIVOT( Number FOR Column1 IN([DOGS],[CAT],[FISH]) ) AS U;

and it will produce these results




Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Orphaned users after a restore


When you restore a database, you can be left in a state where some users are orphaned from the server (even if there is a login with the same name)

Within SQL Server, there is a quick fix.

Step 1 - Run this in the newly restored database and it will show all the orphaned users

EXEC sp_change_users_login 'Report'


Step 2 - Run this and will assign the user to a login name 


EXEC sp_change_users_login 'UPDATE_ONE','',''

so for example

EXEC sp_change_users_login 'UPDATE_ONE','testuser','testuser'


And that's it.