Organization: The book is divided into 6 parts: Preparing to Develop with SQL Server; Building and Managing Databases with SQL Server; Managing Data with SQL Server; Implementing Business Rules with SQL Server; Monitoring and Performance Tuning with SQL Server; and Advanced Data Transfer and Analysis with SQL Server. Comprehensive coverage: This Bible covers both beginning and advanced topics. Topics covered include: installing and configuring SQL Server; using SQL server's development tools; securing databases; retrieving data; SQL Server transactions; working with XML; understanding transact SQL language extensions; developing stored procedures; tuning queries and indexes; and developing for English query. Sample database applications: The book builds on sample database applications to demonstrate topics/concepts. Sidebars: So as readers can focus on practical information, the author is using sidebars throughout to explain the best practices associated with the product and highlight material. ABOUT THE CD-ROM The CD-ROM contains the sample database applications and code examples in the book; SQL Server utilities; and links to Web sites, including the author's own SQL Server Web site (www.IsNotNull.com).

This book is written for SQL Server 2008. However, it does maintain roots going back a few versions and looks out for backward compatibility issues with SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000. These versions are old enough that there is little to no time spent on them except in passing. The book is oriented around developing on SQL server. Most of the concepts are agnostic to what client language you use although the examples that leverage a client language general do so in C#. For those who are migrating from early versions of SQL Server, some “gotchas” that exist any time a product has versions are discussed to the extent that they seem to be a genuinely relevant issue. This book assumes that you have some experience with SQL Server and are at an intermediate to advanced level. The orientation of the book is highly developer focused. While there is a quick reference-oriented appendix, there is very little coverage given to beginner level topics. It is assumed that you already have experience with data manipulation language (DML) statements and know the basics of the mainstream SQL Server objects (views, stored procedures, user defined functions, etc.). If you would like to brush up on your knowledge before diving into this book, the author recommends reading Beginning SQL Server 2008 Programming first. There is very little overlap between the Beginning and Professional books and they are designed to work as a pair.

Harness the power of SQL Server, Microsoft’s high-performance database and data analysis software package, by accesing everything you need to know in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Bible. Learn the best practices, tips, and tricks from this comprehensive tutorial and reference, which includes specific examples and sample code, with nearly every task demonstrated in both a graphical and SQL code method. Understand how to develop SQL Server databases and data connections, how to administer the SQL Server and keep databases performing optimally, and how to navigate all the new features of the 2008 release.

Provides information on the tuning and optimization features of SQL server 2005, covering such topics as query execution, plan caching, and concurrency problems.

Use this comprehensive tutorial and reference to increase productivity and write stored procedures using the language with which you're most familiar. The revised content covers new features such as XML integration, Web services, the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR), and security updates, making this book a must for any developer or database administrator transitioning to the new version of SQL Server. You'll learn to develop SQL Server database and data connections, administer SQL Server, and keep databases performing at their peak. In addition, you'll find dozens of specific examples in both a graphical format and as SQL code as well as numerous best practices describing the most effective way to accomplish a given task. A companion Web site provides all of the code examples found in the book.