I have looked through many pages trying to find this information but all I get is the backbone structure and how the SQL server runs. What I would like to know is the difference of commands. Which commands can you use in 2008 but are not supported in 2005 with or without adjusting the compatibility level. I design different queries and my clients differ in their database versions. So when I create something, I would like to know if it will work before I put the time in or start actually breaking my head over why the code doesn't work on the clients computer but it does on mine. An example would be Pivot where I have to change the compatibility.
So what commands have changed? Either a link to a page or if it's not much to type out, it would be greatly appreciated.
This technet article has a list of the new commands in SQL 2008 T-SQL
There is some info here but it's not a whole lot so I am suspect that it's complete listing
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143179(v=sql.100).aspx
Version control!
Usually lower version's commands are available and work well in higher versions. But not quite the other way around. Take a look at the following post.
Advantages of SQL Server 2008 over SQL Server 2005?
For each major version Microsoft does release improvements done or changes made under product info.
I'm trying to wean myself from SQL Prompt from Redgate because I'm now on a low low budget and I can't afford to go from 4 to 5. I haven't found anything nearly as good for SQL Server 2005.
Should I just save up, or has someone found a better tool or a way to exist without the intellisense features??
You can try out free SSMS and VS add-in, ApexSQL Complete
ApexSQL Complete provides snippets and syntax checking and a lot of code auto-complete features (context based predicting keywords, users, objects, autocompleting aliases, the Insert procedure parameters automatically option , the Insert full INSERT statement option and so on)
For code refactoring you could use ApexSQL Refactor, also a free add-in
Disclaimer: I work for ApexSQL as a Support Engineer
DevArt has a similar tool called SQL Complete which seems to support SQL Server 2005, and even offers a free Express edition.
Database.NET is basic, but pretty decent:
http://fishcodelib.com/Database.htm
Free for personal use, $19 commercial license, and works with SQL Server, Access (what I use it for, when I'm forced to deal with Access databases), and a number of others.
yesterday i went for an interview to be a sql / .net developer. my experience with sql is limited to basic pl/sql with oracle. they drilled me "do you know ssrs, do you know tsql, etc" well i kept saying no because i havent worked with them.
question: what do i have to learn in order to be able to work with microsoft sql? is it really that much different than oracle?
Grab a copy of SQL Server Express (see here) and start playing with it. There are sample databases that you can download to get you started.
SQL is the same, as it's a standard. T-SQL is an add on that has some flavors that are helpful to know. The way you setup procedures, functions, etc. is also different than PL-SQL, so that would be good to read up on. Outside the SQL Server engine and the various built-in tools, there are a lot of other MS products:
SSRS - SQL Server Reporting Services features a reporting engine, which are developed in Visual Studio.
SSIS - SQL Server Integration Services is a data import/export, etc. process, it's very handy to use for data import/export and other batch processing
SSAS - Analysis Services for OLAP
And so on. I don' tknow that SSAS helps you in this regard, but SSRS is pretty big so as a developer, reporting is a key feature and that would be handy to know something about. SSIS is good to know a little bit about, but might not be that handy, depending on what the org's needs are.
HTH.
SQL is pretty much SQL. There are some engine-specific differences but for most apps they're not significant. The management tools are obviously different. The OOB tools are vastly different.
SSRS is a reporting package (think Crystal reports on double steroids and you'd be close) not a DB engine. That should be listed as a separate job requirement.
I'd say get an MSDN license OR the free trial for SQL Server and install them all and try them out. Bookstore is a fairly generic app that you can extend forever and tryout new things.
Just keep in mind that someone hiring you is still going to want actual app experience, not your trials. If you can't get it at work, volunteer at an organization.
A good place to start is reading the MSDN SQL Server resource page. You'll find good information there about the whole MS SQL Ecosystem.
Then get a trial license, a virtual machine and start playing around.
It's kinda limited to their knowledge, as if you know basic ANSI sql then you can get almost all the basics running on SQL Server as they have a common base. As for SSRS, that is specific and will require reading and playing with it to learn. The SQL2008 Express with Advanced services should help you out.
With .net developer interviews I've been to they expect you to know the basics at minimum and be able to do joins and stuff in sql. Learning how to do temp tables and stored procedures as well as updates/selects/deletes and stuff should get you a bit further.
Potentially if they want that kinda experience either they are aiming the roll too low, or you've managed to slip through the net for a higher level role (which is sometimes a good thing) :-)
SSMS 2008 doesn't have SQL Intellisense when connected to SQL Server 2005! I know of 3 products which enable writing SQL with Intellisense. ApexSQL Edit, Red Gate's SQL Prompt Pro & SQL Assistant. However I am looking for a less expensive solution.
Any ideas?
Embrace Linq and use LinqPad.
Full intellisense using linq on sql servers, fully integrated with c# statements or expressions, for $27.
Those are pretty much the three choices.
If you don't want to pay for an add-in, you could always roll your own (although in the long run it may be cheaper to just pay for an existing solution). Jon Sayce has a good blog post on Building a SSMS Add-In if you want to give it a shot.
My Recommendation: Atlantis SQL Enywhere which is completely free. It works with SQL Server 2005 and 2008. I have been using it for a month now and I am really impressed with its features. Keyboard shortcuts are similar to VS, so makes the transition is really smooth to a new editor.
Some of the features that are worth mentioning.
Intellisense that actually works when using multiple tables and joins with aliases
Suggestion of joins when using multiple tables (reduces time on typing, really neat)
Rich formatting of sql code.
Better representation of SQL plans
Highlights variables declarations while they are used.
Table definition on mouse hover.
Productivity++.
Well, there is a freeware tool that works with SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008. Recently we have released dbForge SQL Complete, a free SQL autocomplete add-in for Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).
By the way, on Friday (21 January 2011), we have released a new version of SQL Complete that offers a bunch of new features. All new features are available in shareware Standard Edition (30-days free trial, $49.95).
You also can get all basic functionality, similar to v. 1.0, with Express Edition.
There are many options for editing and writing Stored Procedures in Oracle; what is the best tool for you and why? (one tool per answer.)
Tool for Oracle Application Developers (TOAD), from Quest Software (formerly TOADSoft) has an excellent Stored Procedure editor with syntax highlighting, some autocomplete support (e.g. type in 'TABLE.' and the columns will appear), a nice Execute Procedure option that will show the results in a Grid or show DBMS output, and will also focus on syntax errors when you hit compile.
Note: The Freeware edition only allows 2 concurrent connections to the same Database Instance (even though the website says 5) - that means only 2 developers or DBA's can use it at the same time on the same Database. It also expires every 3 months but they're good at releasing updates.
I recently found the free Oracle SQL Developer.
nice looking GUI (makes you not poke out your eyes like the usual Oracle tools)
has many nice features, like showing tables filtered
lets you connect to multiple oracle instances at once
you can use sane configuration like ip:port username/password and do not have to use those strange TNSNAMES.ORA file based settings
you can set breakpoints and step through the code of stored procedures.
PL/SQL Developer from Allaround Automations.
I happily paid the $200 or so price for this.
Excellent IDE (+ good Intellisense, + debugging capability) with easy creation and editing of PL/SQL packages, SPs, Triggers etc
So much better than Toad.
Toad, from ToadSoft.com -> http://www.toadsoft.com/toad_oracle.htm
For someone like me who likes to work with a DBA tool like Microsoft's SQL Management Studio, it's a life saver.
As a professional PL/SQL developer I use (heh) PL/SQL Developer from Allaround Automations.
I've worked with TOAD for quite a long time but now it is quite overpriced comparing with PL/SQL dev. It has some advantages like knowledge base or ability to work with other RDBMS like SQL server but that's not a necessity for me.
But Notepad++ will always help to make occasional fix.
I always use PL/SQL Developer from Allround Automations.
http://www.allroundautomations.com/plsqldev.html
But some at our place swear by Toad
Use Oracle's own SQL Developer. If you are mainly working with Oracle, it does everything you'll need.
I use TOAD with our Oracle reports development, and I think that it's a good development tool. I normally toggle back and forth between a number of different Oracle instances and schemae, and I like the way that TOAD can display multiple windows for each instance/schema, or even more than one per schema.
TOAD takes a little while to learn and customize, but it's a worthwhile investment. The layout is similar to the Visual Studio .NET IDE with sidebars that can be anchored or rolled away. Tabs display different aspects of the Oracle schema, including procedures, jobs, stats, etc. And when I'm writing SQL, the editor uses color-coding and the error messages are Oracle-specific.
Toolset for Oracle (TOra) is a free, Open Source Database Tool very similar in scope (and look and feel) to Quest's TOAD
Compared to the freeware edition of TOAD, TOra allows multiple connections to different database instances at the same time, and has no concurrent connection limit (so any number of TOra users can be working on the same database instance)
I just used a standard editor (vim which then gave me syntax highlighting).
/Allan
I like SQL Developer from Oracle. Oh and its free! :)
I like Rapid SQL, you can debug SQL too
Notepad++ stays my favourite editor. I had to use SQL Developer in the past, it's not so "bad", but I encountered many problems with it. It proved very unstable so I wouldn't recommend it, or maybe only to test your procedures.
I use JetBrains IDEA (a Java IDE) to edit and SQL*Plus to execute. The advantages of using a tool with local version control, seemless integration into Source Version Control, advanced find and highlighting, great editing, 'live templates' and so on for me outweighs any advantage of having it 'database aware' (which with plug-ins you can get anyway). If I was coding up a complicated query I might fire up SQL Developer, but generally I prefer great text editing features.
I use Oracle SQL Developer - the latest version also has support for CVS and Subversion.
It has the bonus of supporting other database providers, too.
I have used this tool for 2 years and it has now settled down to be reliable.
I've used RapidSQL by Embarcadero on several different DB platforms, and it's awesome. It has an integrated step debugger, too. I haven't actually used it with Oracle, but I know it's supported.
Another vote for Oracle SQL Developer. It's free, it's stable and it does all the basics that I require.
With the mentioned SQL Developer you can even set breakpoints and step through the code of the stored procedure.
Yet another vote for Oracle SQl Developer. But TOAD works too.
A really good text editor with syntax highlighting (e.g. Textpad from www.textpad.com) and SQL Plus.
For me its, Oracle SQL Developer. The learning curve is very minimal if you have worked on IDEs like Eclipse or VS. You can set break points, read live values when you debug stored procs as you would do to code in eclipse/VS.
Ofcourse the UI is a bit sluggish at times but given that its free compensates the sluggishness.
I use Textpad, Clipmate and Quest SQLNavigator. The newer versions of Quest's SQLNavigator and TOAD are crap -- they tend to crash easily and don't play nice with XP/Vista/Win7.
I've spent hours with their tech support and they don't have alternatives.
You get no access to Quest programmers, but rather you get bogged down in their
trouble ticket process.
Quest needs to focus less on integration of different tools into one and selling you
promises that the next version will solve the instability issues.
They need stability.
This means cleaning up their existing codebase or starting over.
More competent programmers, fewer salespeople, fewer tech support people.
Fix the damn problems.
They focus on sales and it's an idiotic business strategy.
This seems to be a problem across the industry.
Quest's TOAD and SQL Navigator have become bloatware and will soon become abandonware
if they don't turn them around and make them more stable.
I copy and paste frequently between Textpad and Quest SQLNavigator because SQLNavigator
crashes and I lose all my sql code up to the point of crash.
I'll probably dump SQLNavigator once I find something more stable.
SQL Developer from Oracle
We have replaced all other tools at our (large well known) enterprise that has over 150 databases and it works just fine. It's not as good as TOAD but it is getting there, and (unlike TOAD) it's free.
SQL Developer also works well enough connecting to SQL Server