Find All The Columns in Indexes with SQL Azure

In SQL Server on-premise, this query is often used to find all the columns that are currently participating in an index:

SELECT OBJECT_NAME(sysindexkeys.id) Table_Name,
            syscolumns.name Column_Name,
            sysindexes.name Index_Name,
    CASE WHEN
                INDEXKEY_PROPERTY(sysindexes.id, sysindexes.indid, sysindexkeys.keyno, 'IsDescending')=0
                THEN 'Ascending'
    ELSE    'Descending'
    END SORT_ORDER
    FROM sysindexkeys
            INNER JOIN syscolumns
            ON sysindexkeys.colid=syscolumns.colid
        AND sysindexkeys.id=syscolumns.id
            INNER JOIN sysindexes
            ON sysindexkeys.indid=sysindexes.indid
        AND sysindexkeys.id=sysindexes.id
            


In SQL Azure, we don't have sysindexes or sysindexkeys. Instead, we use sys.indexes and sys.index_columms. It looks like this:

SELECT OBJECT_NAME(sysindexkeys.OBJECT_ID) Table_Name,
            syscolumns.name Column_Name,
            sysindexes.name Index_Name,
    CASE WHEN is_descending_key = '0' THEN 'Ascending'
    ELSE 'Descending'
    END AS SORT_ORDER,
            type_desc AS indexType
    FROM sys.index_columns sysindexkeys
            INNER JOIN syscolumns
            ON sysindexkeys.index_column_id=syscolumns.colid
        AND sysindexkeys.OBJECT_ID=syscolumns.id
            INNER JOIN sys.indexes sysindexes
            ON sysindexkeys.index_id=sysindexes.index_id
        AND sysindexkeys.OBJECT_ID=sysindexes.OBJECT_ID
            

Father of the Year Candidate at Desert Code Camp 2011

As I was walking around the campus at Desert Code Camp last month, a man stopped me. This guy had tattoos riding up his arm, a flat-brim hat, baggy jeans, and looked like he just walked off the construction site...not your typical code camp attendee. Trailing him was a skinny 12-year-old boy wearing a pacman t-shirt.

"Excuse me, I have no idea what my son is saying. Can you please translate?"

His son wanted to go to a specific class. I found one close enough on the schedule and pointed them on their way. Later, as I was running around after my own sons, I saw the man walk out of the class his son was in. He found a chair by the door, sat down, and waited. As I walked around code camp that day, I saw the same sight over and over again. This guy was either walking his son to the next class, or waiting outside the door.

I wonder what he was thinking about with all that free time that day. Perhaps, "why doesn't my boy like to throw the football?" Or, "why can't we make furniture together?" I wonder how many super smart kids are born to parents that are not as generous and thoughtful as that man. I wonder how many brilliant minds the world has lost out on because of bad luck or circumstance.

On the flip side, maybe one of my sons was meant to be an NFL Quarterback, but we'll never know. They're stuck in code camp classes.

Outlook 2011 for Mac (OsX) Won't Open New Email Window and Reply All Doesn't Work

Today, none of my email buttons would work in Outlook. After some digging, I found this solution:

http://jimmyblake.com/2010/11/09/microsoft-outlook-2011-not-opening-e-mail-compose-window/

I reinstalled Safari and it finally fixed it.

Database Design Fundamentals - Louis Davidson's SQL Pass 2010 Talk

I've been watching old SQL Pass talks from last year's conference. Today I watched Louis Davidson's talk, found here:

http://sqlpass.eventpoint.com/topic/details/AD270S


He is an interesting speaker, who talks funny because he's from Tennessee. My favorite is the pronounciation of varchar(max) as vare care (max). That rhymes, by-the-way.

His presentation covers database normalization from first normal form through Boyce/Codd normal form. He also talks about de-normalization and offers tips and techniques for good design. Forty-nine minutes into his presentation, he has a brilliant slide:



He says that if you find a lot of parsing and function calls in queries, particularly on the same column over and over again, you have strong evidence of a design that needs to be revisited. I totally agree. As soon as he said it, it hit me like a ton of bricks. If you see parsing functions over and over again, you have opened yourself up to bad data and inconsistant results. You are overly-relying on report authors and developers to get the parsing formulas right every time they touch that data. That won't happen. The database needs to be refactored so that data is easy to retrieve and store.

I've thought about this specifically, but I've never considered it as a good general rule.

Here are links for Louis Davidson:

His Website
His Blog
His Latest Book on Database Design for SQL Server 2008
His Twitter: @SqlDr

The SQL MCM Might Not Be For Me

I've been thinking a lot about the Microsoft Certified Master Certification recently, trying to decide if it's worth it.

On one hand, I really like being identified as a smart guy, and perhaps MCM will help that effort. I can picture it now - I walk into SQL Pass, standing proud and tall in my scottish kilt, legs hairy, smiling brightly...and I hear hushed whispers of "There's Ike...the Microsoft Certified Master." Reverence on their faces as I stride into the room...right up to the point where I trip, legs sprawling and they realize I'm wearing that kilt as a true scotsman.

Also, I seem to learn better when I have a goal. It gives the learning purpose, context, and urgency, which I (and many people) require in order to learn.

On the other hand, my clients do not care about this certification. I doubt I would ever even mention it. My clients are not SQL DBAs. They are corporations and institutions that don't have great SQL knowledge in-house. Some of them are large software companies that just haven't found the right SQL resource. They've never heard of MCM and therefore, wouldn't add to my bill rate by a single dollar. MCM = time-consuming = expensive and <> cost-justified. Basically, I'd be going against the advice I constantly give my customers. If it doesn't make you more money, it's not worth it.

My clients employ me for one basic reason. I'm always concerned about their profitability, efficiency, and productiveness. Getting better at making them money will make me more money. I'm unconvinced that MCM helps me achieve that.

Is ego enough of a reason to pursue this?

EDIT - 3/31/2011: Joe Sack, acting PM for MCM:SQL, has been talking to me about this post for quite some time. He gave me the details of a study done to prove the value of MCM...the non-ego-driven value. Here is a link to the study:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/9/5/795B3672-1B65-49DE-9180-7B7BEB0E1F52/MCM_Research_and_Evidence.pdf

Looks like my SQL MCM journey is going to begin today.

Webcast for DevelopMentor - Top 5 Things for Developers to Know about SQL Azure

Thanks for coming, today. Here's the link for the slide deck:

Top 5 things to know about sql azure for developers

View more presentations from Ike Ellis.

One thing I wanted to cover, and didn't is that you can analyze query plans while using SQL Azure. Here's a photo to jog your memory:



Also, here are the links to the audio portions of the webcast:

Streaming Video (WMV):
http://developmentor.s3.amazonaws.com/webcasts/Top-5-Things-to-Know-About-SQL-Azure-for-Developers-by-Ike-Ellis-Feb-15-2011.wvx

Video Download for WMV:
http://developmentor.s3.amazonaws.com/webcasts/Top-5-Things-to-Know-About-SQL-Azure-for-Developers-by-Ike-Ellis-Feb-15-2011.zip

SSRS 2008 Execution Log - Report Auditing

I wrote this query to tell me how many times a report gets excecuted, who ran it last, and when it was ran last. It's a simple, but effective query:


USE reportserver;

WITH LastExecution
AS
(
   SELECT e.ReportID
       ,  MAX(e.timestart) AS LastExecution
       FROM ExecutionLog  e
       GROUP BY e.ReportID
)
,
ExecutionCount
AS
(
   SELECT e.ReportID
       ,  COUNT(*) AS ExecutionCount
       FROM ExecutionLog  e
       GROUP BY e.ReportID
)
SELECT c.Path
   , c.Name
   , le.LastExecution
   , ec.ExecutionCount
   , e.UserName AS LastExecutingUser
   FROM ExecutionLog e
   JOIN Catalog c
       ON e.ReportID = c.ItemID
   JOIN LastExecution le
       ON e.ReportID = le.ReportID AND e.TimeStart = le.LastExecution
   JOIN ExecutionCount ec
       ON e.ReportID = ec.ReportID;