Home > Articles > Programming > Windows Programming

This chapter is from the book

SQL Server 2000

Compared to Visual Basic .NET, SQL Server 2000 is almost an old-timer. Still I think it's important to discuss some of its new features. Although you may think that the leap from SQL Server 7 to 2000 would be a big one, the real changes aren't all that dramatic. However, there are some interesting features for developers to consider, including XML support, user-defined functions, and distributed partitioned views, among others.

XML Support

I'm a geek, and so I love to use new technology. When XML came on the market a couple of years ago, I used it as the file format in a project for a customer of mine. (Hey, I know what you think, but my customer actually thought—and still thinks—it was a good solution!) However, I soon learned that XML—especially its tool support—was not the wonder technology I had first envisioned. The project worked out fine in the end, but I became reluctant to use XML for some time. Since then, the standards and tool support for XML have gone through tremendous development, and are sure to continue into the future.

I became re-interested in XML with SQL Server 2000. There is a lot of XML support in SQL Server 2000. The following are the most interesting features:

  • You can now pass XML documents to stored procedures and open them for further processing—That gives, for example, a very good solution for the problem of handing over several rows to a stored procedure in one call.

  • You can fetch results from SELECT statements as XML documents—In some situations, it will be a good solution to create the result in XML directly at the database server instead of converting it at the middle tier or at the client.

Perhaps the XML support is the reason that SQL Server 2000 now is called a .NET server. It's not written in managed code and nothing has changed since it only was called SQL Server 2000, but hey, it can talk XML! What can I say? Marketers...

User-Defined Functions

In SQL Server 2000, we finally had User-Defined Functions (UDFs). Since we have waited so long, Microsoft was kind enough to give us three different versions of UDFs:

  • Scalar Functions—These can be used for creating functions to be used the same way as columns in SELECT statements, similar to, for example, CONVERT().

  • Inline Table Valued Functions (ITVFs)—ITVFs are similar to views, but can take parameters. The result is created with one single SELECT statement.

  • Multistatement Table Valued Functions (MTVF)—In this case, the result can be created with multiple statements. MTVFs are, for example, a good solution in situations where you normally use temporary tables.

The UDF implementation in SQL Server 2000 is a typical first version, with several quirks. For example, it is not possible to use RAND() and GETDATE() in MTVFs. The same goes for touching temporary tables and calling stored procedures. Microsoft will probably fix some of the rough edges in an upcoming version.

Distributed Partitioned Views

With distributed partitioned views (DPVs), a table can be partitioned over several machines and it will be completely transparent to the clients. This is currently the technique Microsoft is using to achieve shared-nothing clustering with SQL Server.

NOTE

I will discuss DPVs more in Chapter 5, "Architecture."

Other Interesting New Features

The following are some other new features of SQL Server 2000, of high interest to developers:

  • Improved replication support—It is now possible to use queued updates with MSMQ. In addition, merge replication doesn't have to be reconfigured from scratch, for example, every time you need to change the structure of a table.

  • BIGINT and TABLE data types—The ordinary INT (32 bits) is sometimes too small a data type. The typical example is for primary keys. Two billion rows (assume only positive values) aren't enough in many cases. BIGINT (64 bits) will probably come in handy in these situations. The TABLE data type can be used instead of an ordinary temporary table to create a temporary table in memory instead of in the tempdb. By doing this, you can save overhead. This data type is also important for the UDFs. Unfortunately, the TABLE data type can't be used as a parameter between stored procedures. Another limitation is that a stored procedure can't be the source when adding rows to a variable of TABLE type.

  • Declarative cascading referential integrity—People have been waiting for this SQL92 feature a long time.

  • NOTE

    In my applications, declarative cascading referential integrity isn't very important. I prefer taking care of this explicitly in the stored procedures that are responsible for the deletions. I will discuss this more in Chapter 7, "Business Rules."

  • INSTEAD OF triggersINSTEAD OF triggers execute instead of a specific UPDATE operation, for example (in other words, the original UPDATE will not execute). This is the only kind of trigger you can use on a view.

  • Multiple instances—It's possible to have several SQL Server instances on a single machine. This is great for testing an application on several versions of SQL Server, on a single box. It is also very useful in consolidation scenarios.

  • Extended properties—Extended properties make it possible for you to add your own metadata to the schema, such as adding documentation for each column in each table, storing edit masks, and so on.

  • Indexed views—An indexed view will have an index of its own and not only a stored query definition as with an ordinary view. This can greatly enhance performance for some queries.

  • New built-in functions—These include GETUTCDATE() and SCOPE_IDENTITY(), which will return the last IDENTITY value that is created in the current scope, such as the stored procedure. This way, the problem with @@IDENTITY, in which a trigger could have added a row to another table with an IDENTITY that changed the value of @@IDENTITY, is avoided. (Once again, if you don't use triggers, this is not a problem anyway.)

  • Save TEXT, IMAGE, and so on in row value—Quite often, the data for a TEXT or IMAGE column is quite small. In these cases, it would be beneficial from a performance point of view to store that data with the rest of the row, instead of in its own structure, as was always the case in previous versions of SQL Server.

  • Several productivity enhancements in Query Analyzer—These include support for templates, object browser, and built-in debugging.

And, as is tried with every version, there have been a lot of improvements when it comes to performance and scalability. One example is that each connection is now consuming less memory than before.

Outstanding Problems with SQL Server 2000

Unfortunately, the T-SQL programming language still feels weak and old-fashioned. The following are some of the basic problems it still has:

  • You cannot directly define ordinary constants.

  • You can't use statements (such as @x + @y) as parameters.

  • You can't directly send arrays as parameters. (The XML support in SQL Server 2000 is one possible solution that partly solves the problem. I will discuss this further in Chapter 8, "Data Access.")

  • The error handling is very old-fashioned and has many quirks.

  • There are some hindrances for centralizing code.

Beyond SQL Server 2000

There hasn't been much talk about the next SQL server version yet, code named Yukon, but the following are the features that I've heard of so far:

  • The possibility to store XML documents in columns and being able to index the content

  • Better administrative support for DPV

  • The possibility to use the .NET languages to write the "stored procedures"

  • The possibility to let SQL Server store the file system

NOTE

Time will tell which or all of these features come to fruition.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020