Beginning SQL Server 2008 for Developers: From Novice to Professional

SQL Server 2008 is a first–rate database management system. It offers more capability than any previous release of SQL Server. More than just a classic relational database management system, SQL Server 2008 includes exciting and powerful features that make it useful for everything from large corporate data warehouses to ad hoc departmental databases. You’ll find enhanced support for XML, new support for spatial data, transparent data encryption, a policy–based management system, and more.

Author and developer Robin Dewson will show you the way from beginner to SQL Server 2008 professional. Learn to install SQL Server 2008 and navigate around Management Studio before getting right to the heart of mastering fundamental SQL Server 2008 tasks: creating tables, storing data, securing data, and retrieving it again. Dewson ensures you’ll be fully prepared to use all the basics and create a solid foundation for your own projects.

Don’t forget about backups! Your database will house important data, so backing up is essential to protect yourself from inevitable hardware failure. Dewson walks you through SQL Server 2008’s easy–to–use backup and recovery feature set, giving you the grounding that you need in order to set up a reliable plan for recovery in your own environment.

Learn to use Transact–SQL, a full–blown procedural language that is built right into the database system. Transact–SQL is the key to unlocking everything that SQL Server 2008 has to offer. Using Transact–SQL, you can write centrally encapsulated business logic through the use of stored procedures, automatically trigger processing through the use of triggers, and manipulate data within the server without having to move data back and forth across the network.

Finally, you’ll learn a bit about SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services, a powerful tool that allows enterprise reporting. Reporting Services enables you to develop and serve reports across your organization and even to business partners outside your company. Reporting Services also gives end users the ability to create their own reports, helping them transform business data into valuable, usable information to guide their day–to–day decisions.

What you’ll learn

• Install and manage SQL Server on your system.
• Create and secure tables.
• Store and query data; use indexes to improve query performance.
• “Sleep when the wind blows,” because you have a solid backup and recovery process.
• Run procedural code inside your database in the form of Transact–SQL procedures and triggers.
• Serve up business reports to in–house users and outside business partners via SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services.

Who is this book for?

Developers new to SQL Server 2008. If you are just beginning to develop software using SQL Server 2008, or if you are planning to do so in the near future, this book will set you on the road to success.

About the Author

ROBIN DEWSON has been hooked on programming ever since he bought his first computer, a Sinclair ZX80, in 1980. His first major application was a Visual FoxPro program that could be used to run a fantasy league system. It was at this point that he met someone who would become a great help in the development of his PC life, Jon Silver at Step One Technologies. In return for training, Robin helped Jon with some other Visual FoxPro applications. From there, realizing that the marketplace for Visual FoxPro was limited, Robin decided to learn Visual Basic and SQL Server.

Starting out with SQL Server 6.5, Robin soon moved to SQL Server 7, accessing the database via Visual Basic 5. He became involved in developing several applications for clients both in the UK and in the United States. From there, he moved through SQL Server 2000 and 2005 and through Visual Basic 6 and C#. Robin now specializes in using Visual Studio .NET to write C# applications against SQL Server 2008.

Robin has several Apress books on SQL Server available.