SQL Server User Education : bol

Announcing SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP

SQLServerUE — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:10:00 GMT

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 Release Cadence

SQLServerUE — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:31:00 GMT

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

SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 and Documentation Released

SQLServerUE — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:51:00 GMT

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 Books Online Now Available

SQLServerUE — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:51:00 GMT

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

Annotating SQL Server Books Online

SQLServerUE — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:40:00 GMT

With Release Candidate (RC0) of SQL Server 2008, we have now enabled the Community Content feature on the SQL Server 2008 Books Online. This is the same feature that has been enabled on the SQL Server 2005 version of the documentation for about a year now.

While not intended as a means to ask questions and get answers (please use the Forums for that), if you want to add additional information, such as a sample, then by all means please do so!

Here is a really good blog posting from an MVP about how he uses the wiki and the value that can be derived from it: http://tfl09.blogspot.com/2008/06/msdn-wiki-1100-edits-later.html.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2008 Release Candidate Now Available!

SQLServerUE — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:22:00 GMT

We're getting very close to the final release of SQL Server 2008, and I am pleased to inform you all that as of today the Release Candidate (RC0) version is now available for download. SQL Server 2008 RC0 is available in the following languages:

Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Spanish

In addition to the product itself, there is also a Feature Pack which contains many useful tools such as the Upgrade Advisor, and the Books Online containing the latest updates to the documentation.

You may also want to review the Readme and Release Notes files to get started as well.

Entering the home stretch for release -- see you at the finish line!

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

Tagging SQL Server documentation

SQLServerUE — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:26:00 GMT

If you've ever happened to find a SQL Server documentation topic that you were looking for and wanted to be able to come back to it later, you very likely have created a Favorite or Bookmark to it. But if you do that very frequently, your list of Favorites will end up growing very large and it may become difficult to find specific items. Did you know that you also have the option to Tag the Books Online topics in the MSDN or TechNet Library? For example, if you frequently use Transact-SQL topics in the Books Online, you can tag them with tsql or t-sql or whatever you like. Then you can easily find them later, without having to create lots of separate Favorites to individual topics.

As more people tag topics, and certain tags grow in popularity, they will be shown more prominently in the Tag Cloud. Currently, the Tag Cloud is shown at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/tags-cloud.aspx, and it is for all of MSDN content. MSDN is working on having separate Tag Cloud lists for individual content sets, so in the future there will be a separate Tag Cloud for just the SQL Server documentation. Also, currently only the SQL Server 2005 Books Online is enabled for tagging. The next release of the SQL Server 2008 Books Online will have this functionality enabled as well.

So in the meantime, tag up the SQL Server documentation to get it more prominent in the all-up MSDN Tag Cloud!

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

New SQL Server 2008 Scoped Search Macro

SQLServerUE — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:21:00 GMT

Awhile back, I wrote about a SQL Server 2005 Scoped Search Macro that uses Windows Live Search to help you narrow your search to just the SQL Server 2005 Books Online documentation and eliminate extranneous results from other sources.

Now, we have created a new scoped Search macro that does the same thing for the SQL Server 2008 Books Online documentation. You can find this new macro at http://search.live.com/macros/sql_server_user_education/sql2008bolsearch/.

As I am sure everybody has heard by now, SQL Server 2008 is the next release of SQL Server, which is due to be released this year. Currently SQL Server 2008 is available as a Community Technology Preview (CTP) release, and the Books Online CTP documentation is available both in MSDN Library online and for download at the Microsoft Download Center.

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2008 February CTP Books Online Now Available

SQLServerUE — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:13:00 GMT

Hi everybody,

I realize it has been quite awhile since my last post, sorry about that. We on the SQL Server team have been very busy lately, with the joint SQL Server/Visual Studio/Windows Server Launch coming up next week. As part of that, we have been working on making improvements and updates to the CTP documentation that was released back in November. The February CTP update was released yesterday, so please download it and try it out! The English version of the SQL Server 2008 February CTP Books Online is available from the Microsoft Download Center at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=19db0b42-a5b2-456f-9c5c-f295cdd58d7a&DisplayLang=en.

To access other language versions, use the Change Language control on that page.

Thanks, and enjoy!

Tai Yee
SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2005 Books Online -- latest release now available for download

SQLServerUE — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:57:00 GMT

Well, it's been a long time coming. We finally got the technical issues resolved and have completed testing on the SQL Server 2005 Books Online release that we published to the MSDN and TechNet Libraries in September. The downloadable version is now available on the Microsoft Download Center at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=be6a2c5d-00df-4220-b133-29c1e0b6585f&DisplayLang=en. Next steps for us are to finish work on the localized versions and publish those to both MSDN/TechNet Libraries and the Download Center.

Happy Holidays!

Tai Yee
Microsoft SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2008 CTP (November 2007) Available Now

SQLServerUE — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:20:00 GMT

I am pleased to announce that the SQL Server 2008 Community Technology Preview (CTP) for November 2007 is now available. The SQL Server development team uses your feedback to help refine and enhance product features. Download the CTP today and share your feedback.

This CTP is available in two downloadable formats: an image file that you can use to burn your own DVD and a self-extracting executable file that will allow you to download and install without a DVD burner (the Express version of the package is only available in this format). All CTP software automatically expires after 180 days.

The SQL Server 2008 CTP release includes a CTP version of the Books Online product documentation. You can also download SQL Server 2008 CTP Books Online separately. And don't forget to check out the SQL Server 2008 CTP Readme file as well.

Tai Yee
Microsoft SQL Server User Education

Eliminate Extranneous Search Results

SQLServerUE — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:19:00 GMT

Ever gone to a search engine like Google or Live Search, and noticed there is a lot of clutter in your search results, making it difficult to find the content you really need? Now, with the SQL Server 2005 Books Online Scoped Search Macro, you can filter out all pages from the Search except for those in the Books Online. This is very useful to target your Search to just the SQL Server documentation, and not any other random Web pages that mention SQL Server. Try the Scoped Search today and be sure to send us feedback to let us know how you liked it!

You can find the SQL Server 2005 Books Online Scoped Search at: http://search.live.com/macros/sql_server_user_education/booksonline/.

Tai Yee
Microsoft SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2000 Books Online Update Now Available for Download

SQLServerUE — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 22:41:00 GMT

SQL Server 2000 Books Online was updated in June to correct technical inaccuracies that were found by customers in some topics. The June 2007 update was the first update to the SQL Server 2000 Books Online since 2004. Today localized versions of the Books Online are now also available.

You can download the updated SQL Server 2000 Books Online from the Microsoft Download Center. Use the Change Language dropdown list on that page to access other language versions that are available.

Tai Yee
Microsoft SQL Server User Education

Please Give Feedback on Documentation

SQLServerUE — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:49:00 GMT

We rely on your feedback to help define and improve our documentation. Please feel free to send feedback to the documentation team regarding any of the following issues:

· When you feel a topic is particularly effective or ineffective and why you felt that way. We look at feedback on effective topics to continue doing the things that make them effective (for example, good examples, screenshots, etc.) and feedback on ineffective topics in order to improve them.

· When the topic doesn't reflect the product behavior (i.e. there's a bug in the documentation).

· When an important use case or scenario is not covered or more documentation or examples are needed.

We receive feedback both from topics that you view through the local help viewer and on topics that you view in the MSDN/TechNet Library. However, the way that you send feedback via each of these mechanisms differs:

To provide feedback from a topic in the local help viewer:

1. In the topic about which you want to provide feedback, click the Send Feedback link at the top right of the page, select a rating (optional), and click Send Feedback. This creates a feedback email using you default mail program.

2. Enter your feedback in the body of the email message. Do not alter the subject line.

3. Send the email message.

Note: Feedback from local help is not anonymous, so please let us know if you do not want to be contacted.

To provide feedback from a topic in the MSDN Library or TechNet Library

1. In the topic about which you want to provide feedback, move your mouse over the Click to Rate and Give Feedback link at the top right of the page, and then enter your feedback in displayed area. MSDN feedback is anonymous, so include your name and email address if are willing to be contacted in case we need more information from you.

2. Select a star rating based on your perception of the topic, with 5 stars as best and 1 star as worst.

3. Click Send.

You can send us feedback on any of our documentation sets in the MSDN Library:

· SQL Server 2008 Books Online

· SQL Server 2005 Books Online

· SQL Server Express Books Online

· SQL Server Compact 3.5 Books Online

· SQL Server Compact 3.1 Books Online

· SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver 1.1 Documentation

· ADO.NET Entity Framework Beta 2 documentation

· Synchronization Services for ADO.NET documentation

Tai Yee

Microsoft SQL Server User Education

SQL Server 2005 Books Online (September 2007) Now Released in MSDN and TechNet Libraries

SQLServerUE — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:00:00 GMT

The Microsoft SQL Server documentation team is constantly updating and improving the SQL Server Books Online. Even while working on the next version of the documentation for SQL Server 2008, the team revises and releases updates to SQL Server 2005 topics based on customer feedback. We are now publishing the next update to the SQL Server 2005 Books Online: the September, 2007 update.

In the past, our processes for building the Books Online downloads have been faster than the processes for publishing the Web copies in the MSDN and TechNet Libraries. We therefore released the downloads before the Web versions were completed, and published the Web copies as soon as they were available. Because of recent changes in our Web publishing procedures, our time to publish to the Web is now faster than the time to build and test the Books Online download packages. We are publishing the September, 2007 Books Online update to the MSDN Library and TechNet Library* now. We will release downloadable versions of the SQL Server 2005 Books Online (September 2007) update on the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update as soon as they become available.

* Note: The MSDN Library and TechNet library contain the same documentation set; the only difference between them is the branding (MSDN or TechNet) and what other products appear in the left navigation pane.

Tai Yee

Microsoft SQL Server User Education