Transact-SQL, or T-SQL, is Microsoft Corporation's powerful
implementation of the ANSI standard SQL database query language,
which was designed to retrieve, manipulate, and add data to
relational database management systems (RDBMS).
You may already have a basic idea of what SQL is used for, but
you may not have a good understanding of the concepts behind
relational databases and the purpose of SQL. This book will help
you build a solid foundation of understanding, beginning with core
relational database concepts and continuing to reinforce those
concepts with real-world T-SQL query applications.
If you are familiar with relational database concepts but are
new to Microsoft SQL Server or the T-SQL language, this book will
teach you the basics from the ground up. If you're familiar with
earlier versions of SQL Server, it will get you up-to-speed on the
newest features. And if you know SQL Server 2005, you'll learn
about some exciting new capabilities in SQL Server 2008.
Information Technology professionals in many different roles use
T-SQL. Our goal is to provide a guide and a reference for IT pros
across the spectrum of operational database solution design,
database application development, and reporting and business
intelligence solutions.
Database solution designers will find this book to be a thorough
introduction and comprehensive reference for all aspects of
database modeling, design, object management, query design, and
advanced query concepts.
Application developers who write code to manage and consume SQL
Server data will benefit from our thorough coverage of basic data
management and simple and advanced query design. Several examples
of ready-to-use code are provided to get you started and to
continue to support applications with embedded T-SQL queries.
Report designers will find this book to be a go-to reference for
report query design. You will build on a thorough introduction to
basic query concepts and learn to write efficient queries to
support business reports and advanced analytics.
Finally, database administrators who are new to SQL Server will
find this book to be an all-inclusive introduction and reference of
mainstream topics. This can assist you as you support the efforts
of other team members. Beyond the basics of database object
management and security concepts, we recommend Beginning SQL
Server 2005 Administration and Beginning SQL Server 2008
Administration from Wrox, co-authored in part by the same
authors.
This book introduces the T-SQL language and its many uses, and
serves as a comprehensive guide at a beginner through intermediate
level. Our goal in writing this book was to cover all the basics
thoroughly and to cover the most common applications of T-SQL at a
deeper level. Depending on your role and skill level, this book
will serve as a companion to the other Wrox books in the Microsoft
SQL Server Beginning and Professional
series..
This book will help you to learn:
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How T-SQL provides you with the means to create tools for
managing databases of different size, scope, and purpose
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Various programming techniques that use views, user-defined
functions, and stored procedures
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Ways to optimize query performance
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How to create databases that will be an essential foundation to
applications you develop later
Each section of this book organizes topics into logical groups
so the book can be read cover-to-cover or can be used as a
reference guide for specific topics.
We start with an introduction to the T-SQL language and data
management systems, and then continue with the SQL Server product
fundamentals. This first section teaches the essentials of the SQL
Server product architecture and relational database design
principles. This section (Chapters 1-3) concludes with an
introduction to the SQL Server administrator and developer
tools.
The next section, encompassing Chapters 4 through 9, introduces
the T-SQL language and teaches the core components of data
retrieval, SQL functions, aggregation and grouping, and multi-table
queries. We start with the basics and build on the core structure
of the SQL SELECT statement, progressing to advanced
forms of SELECT queries.
Chapter 10 introduces transactions and data manipulation. You
will learn how the INSERT, UPDATE, and
DELETE statements interact with the relational
database engine and transaction log to lock and modify data rows
with guaranteed consistency. You will not only learn to use correct
SQL syntax but will understand how this process works in simple
terms.
More advanced topics in the concluding section will teach you to
create and manage T-SQL programming objects, including views,
functions, and stored procedures. You learn to optimize query
performance and use T-SQL in application design, applying the query
design basics to real-world business solutions. Chapter 15 contains
a complete tutorial on using SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services to
visualize data from the T-SQL queries you create.
The book concludes with a comprehensive set of reference
appendixes for command syntax, system stored procedures,
information schema views, file system commands, and system
management commands.
The material in this book applies to all editions of Microsoft
SQL Server 2005 and 2008. To use all the features discussed, we
recommend that you install the Developer Edition, although you can
also use the Enterprise, Standard, or Workgroup editions.
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition or SQL Server 2008 Developer
Edition can be installed on a desktop computer running Windows
2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista. You can also use Windows 2000
Server, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2008 with the
Enterprise or Standard edition. The SQL Server client tools must be
installed on your desktop computer and the SQL Server relational
database server must be installed on either your desktop computer
or on a remote server with network connectivity and permission to
access.
Consult www.microsoft.com/sql
for information about the latest service packs, specific
compatibilities, and minimum recommend system requirements.
The examples throughout this book use the following sample
databases, which are available to download from Microsoft: the
sample database for SQL Server 2005 is called
AdventureWorks, and the sample database for SQL Server
2008 is called AdventureWorks2008. Because the structure
of these databases differs significantly, separate code samples are
provided throughout the book for these two version-specific
databases.
An example using the AdventureWorks2008DW database for SQL
Server 2008 is also used in Chapter 15.