SQL Server User Education

Announcing SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP

2009-11-12T19:10:00Z

I know I have been remiss is posting here lately, and I do apologize for that. I will try to do a better job of posting here more frequently. But, that doesn't mean we have not been busy! I'm pleased to announce that SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP has now been released and is available to try out.

The Data Platform Insider blog and What's New document describe new and enhanced features
Books Online in the MSDN Library is the official product documentation
Learn more and download the release from the SQL Server Web site on microsoft.com.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2008 Books Online Documentation Refresh 9 Now Available

2009-07-07T01:35:00Z

I am pleased to announce the availability of Documentation Refresh 9 (DR9) of SQL Server 2008 Books Online in the MSDN and TechNet Library. To see a list of the latest updates, please see the topic "New and Updated Topics in SQL Server 2008 Books Online (29 June 2009)".

As mentioned previously in this blog in the posting "SQL Server 2008 Books Online Release Cadence", updates to the SQL Server 2008 Books Online documentation set will be published montly to the MSDN/TechNet Library in English, and quarterly in the other supported languages.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

RSS Feeds Now Available on BI Technology Pages

2009-05-19T23:41:00Z

Continuously striving to help you find the best and latest content in the ever-growing pool of content, the SQL Server documentation team has not only redesigned our business intelligence (BI) technology pages (as I posted here earlier), but also has implemented RSS feeds on those pages:

Instead of having to check back to see if an update has been implemented, simply subscribe to the RSS feeds and be notified as updates are made. So, sign up for your RSS feeds today!

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 now released

2009-04-08T18:58:00Z

I'm pleased to announce the release of the first Service Pack of SQL Server 2008 is now available. Service Pack 1 (SP1) focuses on essential updates only, primarily roll-ups of cumulative updates 1 to 3 and fixes to issues reported through the SQL Server community. SP1 eases deployment and management of Service Packs by introducing Slipstream, Service Pack Uninstall, and Report Builder 2.0 Click Once capability.

You can download SQL Server 2008 SP1 from the Microsoft Download Center.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

Excel formula to hyperlink ms-help URLs to the Web

2009-03-06T22:16:00Z

This helpful tip comes courtesy of Matt Stroshane, a Writer on our team.

I made a little Excel formula that you might find useful when using Excel for researching or otherwise tracking help topics. This Excel formula displays the topic GUID as a hyperlink to the Web-based equivalent topic on MSDN Online. When there is no text in the ms-help URL cell, it just displays "-" as to avoid the bad reference "#VALUE!" error.

Procedure

1. Copy the ms-help URL out of Visual Studio Help or BOL and paste it to an Excel worksheet cell.

2. Reference the cell containing the ms-help URL from step #1 with the formula to get your hyperlink. (the example lists the formula)

Example

Let's say you have BOL open, and you want to note a topic in your spreadsheet. Copy the topic URL shown in the help program's "address bar." The URL will start with "ms-help://". Then, paste the URL to your spreadsheet, cell E5 in this example:

ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v10/s10cc_Main/html/674933a8-e423-4d44-a39b-2a997e2c2333.htm

Then, you decide you want the GUID hyperlink in cell D5. Select D5, then paste the following command into the cell:

=+IF(E5<>"",HYPERLINK("http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/" & MID(E5,LEN(E5)-39,36) & ".aspx", MID(E5,LEN(E5)-39,36)),"-")

After you hit enter, the cell should display a hyperlink that looks like this (in Outlook, hold down Ctrl+Click to follow the link):

674933a8-e423-4d44-a39b-2a997e2c2333

Note: It may not "look" like a hyperlink because the link is surrounded by the IF statement to avoid the ugly #VALUE! error. They say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder… if you find the "look" of a hyperlink more attractive, remove the IF statement, and instead use the formula:

=+HYPERLINK("http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/" & MID(E5,LEN(E5)-39,36) & ".aspx", MID(E5,LEN(E5)-39,36))

SQL Server 2008 SP1 CTP Now Available

2009-02-24T21:16:00Z

Just wanted to let everybody know that you can now download the Community Technology Preview (CTP) release of SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1). The download is available from the Microsoft Download Center. Try the CTP today and submit feedback on the Microsoft Connect site http://connect.microsoft.com/sqlserver to help improve the quality of the release.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2008 Books Online Release Cadence

2009-02-03T01:31:00Z

The January 2009 update to the SQL Server 2008 Books Online has now been published to the MSDN Library, TechNet Library, and the Microsoft Download Center. The lists of new topics and updated topics with significant changes are available at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd408738.aspx.

Although this release has been published to MSDN, TechNet, and the Download Center, the SQL Server documentation team has changed its processes to more quickly deliver documentation updates to the Web, so some updates will be delivered only to the MSDN Library and TechNet Library.

We plan to publish Web updates to the SQL Server 2008 Books Online every 4 to 8 weeks. Depending on the amount of critical content changes, these updates may be English-only. We will deliver translated updates to the different Books Online languages (German, Japanese, Spanish, and so on) only if a Web-only update contains critical content changes, such as important security information or content addressing issues that generate a lot of support calls.

We plan to publish our updates to the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update on a quarterly basis. Each of these quarterly updates will be a rollup of all Web-only releases since the last quarterly rollup. The quarterly updates will be translated to all languages, published to the Web, and published to both the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update.

The general pattern should look like this:

Books Online Update 1 – Web-only, translated if critical content.

Books Online Update 2 – Web-only, translated if critical content, includes all changes from Books Online Update1 .

Books Online Update 3 – Web + Microsoft Download Center + Microsoft Update, translated to all languages, includes all changes from Books Online Updates 1 and 2.

...Repeat

With our new processes, information in the Web-only updates will be available on the Web one or two months earlier than it would have been with our old processes. For SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005 we did not publish Books Online updates unless we could also deliver each update to local copies through the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update. In practice, the resources needed to build and test the download files limited us to, at best, quarterly updates.

We are carrying forward our conventions for marking new and updated topics. New topics and topics with significant changes are added to the list of New and Updated Topics. We add a line at the top of the topic saying either New: 23 January 2009 or Updated: 23 January 2009. We also add a change history table entry at the bottom of the topic. Topics with minor changes, such as a correction to a single word, are not marked as updated.

Browse the January 2009 update to SQL Server Books Online in the MSDN Library

Browse the January 2009 update to SQL Server Books Online in the TechNet Library

Download local copy of January 2009 Update to SQL Server 2008 Books Online from the Microsoft Download Center

It will also be available as an Optional download from Microsoft Update soon.

Thanks,

Tai Yee and Alan Brewer

SQL Server User Education

Using SQL Server 2008 Table-Valued Parameters (TVPs) from Access

2009-01-28T23:27:00Z

"Table-valued parameters (TVPs) in SQL Server 2008 provide an easy way to marshal multiple rows of data from a client application to SQL Server without requiring multiple round trips or special server-side logic for processing the data. TVPs come in handy when you want to code explicit transactions inside of stored procedures, performing multiple data operations as a single unit of work. You can encapsulate multiple rows of data in a single parameterized command. The incoming data rows are stored in a table variable that can then be operated on by using Transact-SQL."

To learn more, see the blog posting that one of our documentation Writers, Mary Chipman, has written.

About the Author
Mary Chipman is a programmer-writer for the Data Programmability team at Microsoft. She was recently profiled in Women in Technology for TechEd Online at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/events/teched/cc510243.aspx. You can find the online panel she hosted at TechEd 2008 by going to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/events/teched/cc676818.aspx and searching for: "Are we there yet? Successfully navigating the bumpy road from Access to SQL Server". Mary will also be presenting at TechEd 2009 (http://www.msteched.com) on the topic of working with SQL Server from Access.

SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 and Documentation Released

2008-12-16T20:51:00Z

Hi everybody!

here is a new Christmas present for you all -- the release of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (SP3), and supporting documentation, including:

SQL Server 2005 SP3 Download
Updated SQL Server 2005 Feature Pack
Updated SQL Server 2005 Books Online for download on the Microsoft Download Center
Updated SQL Server 2005 Books Online in the MSDN Library and TechNet Library
SQL Server 2005 SP3 Release Notes
SQL Server 2005 SP3 Readme

To see what is new in SP3, see the appropriately-tilted "What's New in SQL Server 2005 SP3" topic in Books Online.

Happy Holidays!

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide Now Available

2008-11-26T02:32:00Z

I am pleased to announce the availability of the SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide. This 490-page white paper covers the essential phases and steps to upgrade existing instances of SQL Server 2000 and 2005 to SQL Server 2008 by using best practices. These include preparation tasks, upgrade tasks, and post-upgrade tasks. It is intended to be a supplement to SQL Server 2008 Books Online.

In addition to the white paper, a companion list of other Upgrade related resources is also now available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc936623.aspx. This list and the Upgrade Technical Reference guide cross-link to each other.

We hope you find these resources useful in upgrading your earlier versions of SQL Server to SQL Server 2008! Feel free to Comment this blog post with any feedback or suggestions for improvement that you may have.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

Videos for Data Mining Add-Ins for Office 2007

2008-11-10T19:33:00Z

Think we're slowing down with the holidays right around the corner? Not so!

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Data Mining Add-ins for Microsoft Office 2007 (Data Mining Add-ins) helps you take advantage of SQL Server 2008 predictive analytics in Office Excel 2007 and Office Visio 2007. You can download the Data Mining Add-ins from the Microsoft Download Center at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=896A493A-2502-4795-94AE-E00632BA6DE7&displaylang=en.

We have also produced several videos on the new Data Mining Add-ins, which you can view on the SQL Server Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/data-mining-addins.aspx.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

Announcing New Technology Page Design

2008-11-04T04:13:00Z

The SQL Server Developer Center on MSDN and TechCenter on TechNet contain what are called "navigation pages" because their primary purpose is to navigate you to more information and resources. For example, one path you might take starting from the Developer Center home page is to click Versions under the home tab, then SQL Server 2008.

From this page, you might click one of the technology pages for a technology you were interested in (for example, Database Engine) to get a list of resources and content relating to Database Engine topics.

However, if you had selected Integration Services, you would see the newly updated navigation page design. This design has several great new features, including:

Scoped Search. This may be the most valuable new feature. The Get Help section allows you to enter your Search terms and the results returned to you will be automatically scoped to results that are part of the Integration Services documentation set in the Library.
Get Started. Resources linked from this section were hand-picked by one of our Integration Services Writers as being the "best" learning resources for a beginner.
Recent Releases and Downloads. A fairly self-explanitory section, this will be kept up-to-date with the latest items available.
Community Buzz. Find out what others in the Community are saying about or relating to Integration Services topics.
MVP Corner. This section will showcase an MVP member of the Community each month.
Other items. "Below the fold" you will find links to many other resources including:

More downloads
Technical articles and white papers
Videos
Podcasts and Webcasts
Documentation
Knowledge Base Search
Code Samples
Blog posts
Forums
External Web sites
Books

We on the documentation team are very excited about the new design, and we hope you like it. But even if you don't, or something is missing that you would like to see, please let us know. Our goal is to roll out similarly designed navigation pages for the other technologies, so Reporting Services, Database Engine, and so forth, would all get pages in this design.

To send your feedback on the Integration Services navigation page design, you can do either of the following:

Use the "Rate and Give Feedback" control on the top right of the page. First click one of the stars to give the page a Rating, then a box will open up where you can type your comments and send them in.

-or-
Comment this blog post.

Either way, we'll take the feedback, whether it is positive or negative.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

New SQL Server Videos from the Documentation team

2008-10-14T21:15:00Z

Hi all,

I am pleased to announce that the SQL Server User Education team has just published its first set of video content. You can find the initial eight videos in the MSDN Library at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc952928.aspx. We will publish more videos here over time as well. Feedback is very important, both positive (to let us know what we're doing right and what is working well) and negative (to let us know where we need to improve). Please feel free to use the Community Content section or the Ratings and Feedback control to provide any feedback you care to give on the videos.

thanks!

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

Social Bookmarking on MSDN and TechNet Now Available

2008-09-10T20:46:00Z

Hey everybody,

MSDN and TechNet have now released their v1 of social bookmarking technology. This is very cool and will help you find SQL Server documentation and content much more easily, as well as share your bookmarks with others in the community. The MSDN social bookmark site is at http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/ and the TechNet one is at http://social.technet.microsoft.com/. For all the details on this feature and how to use it to its maximum potential, read Chris Slemp's great blog post about it: http://blogs.msdn.com/cslemp/archive/2008/09/09/launched-social-bookmarking-v1-on-msdn-and-technet-video.aspx.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2008 Books Online Now Available

2008-08-06T21:51:00Z

I am very pleased to announce that SQL Server 2008 Books Online is now available for download on the Microsoft Download Center in 11 languages.

The final version of the documentation is now currently being published to the MSDN Library and TechNet Library, and should appear at those locations soon.

To read more about the release of SQL Server 2008, read David Powell's blog post.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education