TRAINING & REFERENCE murach‘s SQL Server 2012 for developers Bryan Syverson Joel Murach i MIKE Muracn & Associates, INc. snEditorial team Authors: Bryan Syverson Joel Murach Editor: Anne Boehm Cover design: Zylka Design Production: Maria Pedroza David-Spera Books for application developers using SQL Murach’s SOL Server 2012 for Developers Murach’s Oracle SQL and PLISOL Murach's MySQL Books for .NET 4 developers Murach’s Visual Basic 2010 Murach’s ASP.NET 4 Web Programming with VB 2010 Murach’s ADO.NET 4 Database Programming with VB 2010 Murach’s C# 2010 Murach’s ASP.NET 4 Web Programming with C# 2010 Murach’s ADO.NET 4 Database Programming with C# 2010 Books for web developers Murach’s HTMLS and CSS3 Murach’s JavaScript and DOM Scripting Murach’s PHP and MySQL Books for Java developers Murach’s Java Programming (4 Edition) Murach’s Java Servlets and JSP (2 Edition) For more on Murach books, please visit us at www.murach.com © 2012, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 10987654321 ISBN-13: 978-1-890774-69-1Contents Introduction Section 1 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Section 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Section 3 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Section 4 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Section 5 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Section 6 Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C An introduction to SQL An introduction to relational databases and SQL How to use the Management Studio The essential SQL s! How to retrieve data from a single table How to retrieve data from two or more tables How to code summary queries How to code subqueries How to insert, update, and delete data How to work with data types How to use functions Database design and implementation How to design a database How to create and maintain databases, tables, and sequences with SQL statements How to use the Management Studio for database design Advanced SQL skills How to work with views How to code scripts How to code stored procedures, functions, and triggers How to work with cursors How to manage transactions and locking How to manage database security How to work with XML How to work with BLOBs CLR integration ‘An introduction to CLR integration How to code CLR stored procedures, functions, and triggers How to code aggregate functions and user-defined types, Appendixes How to install the required software for this book How to install the files and databases used in this book Coding and syntax conventions xvii 49 85 125 159 183 215 239 261 387 409 447 499) 523 549) 601 633 663 693 731 159 167 773Expanded contents Expanded contents Section 1 An introduction to SQL Chapter 4 Chapter 2 An introduction to relational databases and SQL An introduction to client/server systems ... ‘The hardware components ofa clienvserver system ‘The software components ofa client/server system. Other client/server system architectures An introduction to the relational database model .. How a database tate is organized How the tables in a relational database are related How the columns ina table ae defined How relational databases compare to other data models An introduction to SQL and SQL-based systems. A brief history of SQL A comparison of Oracle, DB2, MySQL, and SQL Server 20 The Transact-SQL statements .. An introduetion to the SQL statements ‘Typical statements for working with database objects 24 How to query a single table 26 How to join data from two or more tables. 28 How to add, update, and delete data in a table 30 SOL coding guidelines How to work with other database objects .. How to work wih views How to work with stored procedures, triggers and user-defined functions 36 How to use SQL from an application program .. Common data access models How to use ADO.NET from a .NET application 40 Visual Basic code that retrieves data from a SQL Server database 2 C# cove that retrieves data from a SQL Server database 4 How to use the Management Studio An introduction to SQL Server 2012 A summary of the SQL Server 2012 tools How to start and stop the database engine How to enable emote connections ‘An introduction to the Management Studio How to connect toa database server. How to navigate through the database objects How to managethe databasefiles How to attacha database How to detach a database 58 How to back up a database 0 How to restore a database 60 How to set the compatibility level fora database 62 vvi Expanded contents Section 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 How to view and modify the database How to view the database diagrams How to view the column definitions of a table How to modify the column definitions How to view the data of a table How to modify the data ofa table How to work with queries .... How to enter and execute a query How to handle syntax enor. How to open and save queries An introduction to the Query Designer How to use Books Online How to display Books Online How to look up information The essential SQL skills How to retrieve data from a single table An introduction to the SELECT statement ‘The basie syntax of the SELECT statement SELECT statement examples How to code the SELECT clause... How to code column specifications How to name the columns ina result set How to code string expressions How to code arithmetic expressions How to use functions How to use the DISTINCT keyword to eliminate duplicate rows, 100 How to use the TOP clause to return a subset of selected rows 102 How to code the WHERE clause. How to use comparison operators How to use the AND, OR, and NOT logical operators 106 How to use the INoperator, How to use the BETWEEN operator. How to use the LIKE operator How to use the IS NULL clause How to code the ORDER BY clause How to sort a result set by a column name How to sort a result set by an alas, an expression, ora column number 118 How to retrieve a range of selected rows 120 How to retrieve data from two or more tables How to work with inner joins How to code an inner join ‘When and how to use correlation names, 128 How to work with tables from different databases 130 How to se compound join conditions 132 How to use ase join 134 Taner joins that join more than two tables 136 How to use the implicit inner join syntax. 138Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Expanded contents How to work with outer join How to code an outer join Outer join examples ‘Outer joins that join more than two tables. Other skills for working with joins How to combine inner and outer joins How to use cross joins How to work with unions .. ‘The syntax of a union Unions that combine data from different tables, 150 Unions that combine data from the same table 152 How to use the EXCEPT and INTERSECT operators 134 How to code summary queries How to work with aggregate functions How to code aggregate functions ‘Queries that use aggregate functions How to group and summarize data How to code the GROUP BY and HAVING claus: Queries that use the GROUP BY and HAVING clauses How the HAVING clause compares to the WHERE clause How to code complex search conditions. How to summarize data using SQL Server extensions. How to use the ROLLUP operator How to use the CUBE operator How to use the GROUPING SETS operator. How to use the OVER clause How to code subqueries An introduction to subqueries .. How to use subqueries How subqueries compare to joins How to code subqueries in search conditions. How to use subqueries withthe IN operator How to compate the result of asubquery with an expression 190 How to use the ALL keyword 192 How to use the ANY and SOME keywords, 194 How to code correlated subqueries How to use the EXISTS operator Other ways to use subqueries. How to code subqueries in the FROM clause How to code subqueries in the SELECT clause Guidelines for working with complex queries. A complex query that uses subqueries A procedure for building complex queries How to work with common table expressions How to code a CTE How to code a recursive CTE How to insert, update, and delete data How to create test tables .. How to use the SELECT INTO statement. 216 How to use a copyof the database 216 viiviii Expanded contents Chapter 8 How to insert new rows How to insert a single row How to insert multiple rows How to insert default values and nul values How to insert rows selected from another table How to modify existing rows... How to perform a basie update operation How to use subqueries in an update operation How to use joins in an update operation How to delete existing rows How to perform a basic delete operation How to use subqueries and jins in a delete operation How to merge rows . How to perform a basie merge operation How to code more complex merge operations How to work with data types A review of the SQL data types .. Datatype overview ‘The numeric datatypes ‘The sting datatypes ‘The datetime datatypes ‘The large value datatypes, How to convert data How data conversion works, How to convert data using the CAST function How to convert data using the CONVERT function How to use the TRY_CONVERT function How to use other data conversion functions How to use functions How to work with string data ‘A summary of the string functions How to solve common problems that occur with tring data 266 How to work with numeric data.. A summary ofthe numeric functions How to solve common problems that oceur with numeri data 270 How to work with date/time data... A summary of the datetime functions How to parse dates and times How to perform operations on dates and times How to perioem a date search How to perform a time search Other functions you shouldknow about .. How to use the CASE function How to use the IF and CHOOSE functions How to use the COALESCE and ISNULL finetions. How to use the GROUPING function How to use the ranking functions Howto use the analytic functionsExpanded contents Section 3 Database design and implementation Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 How to design a database How to design a data structure ‘The basie steps for designing a data structure 304 How to identify the data elements 306 How to sublvide the data elements 308, How to identify the tables and assign columns 310 How to identify the primary and foreign keys 312 How to enforce the relationships between tables 3i4 How normalization works How to identify the columns to be indexed How to normalizea data structure ‘The seven normal forms How to apply the frst normal form How to apply the second normal form How to apply the third normal form ‘When and how to denormalize a data structure. How to create and maintain databases, tables, and sequences with SQL statements An introduction to DDL ‘The SQL statements for data definition. Rales for coing object names How to create databases, tables, and indexes How to create a database How to create a table How to create an index How to use snippets to create database objects How to use constraints ... Aan introduction to constraints How to use check constants How to use foreign key constants How to changedatabases and tables How to delete an index, table, or database How to alter a table. How to work with sequences. How to create a sequence How to use a sequence How to delete a sequence How to altera sequence The script used to create the AP database How the script works How the DDL statements wrk How to use the Management Studio for database design How to work with a database. How to create a database How to delete adatabaseExpanded contents Section 4 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 How to work with tables...... 370 How to create, modify,or delete a table 370 How to work with foreign key relationships 372 How to work with indexes and keys. 374 How to work with check constraints 316 How to examine table dependencies 378 How to generate scripts How to generate scripts for databases and tables, 380 How to generate a change script when you modify a table 382 Advanced SQL skills How to work with views An introduction to views... How views work 388 Benefits of using views 390 How to create and manage views. How to create a view 302 Examples that eeat views 394 How to create an updatable view 396 How to delete or modify a view 398 How to use views How to update ows through a view 400 How to insert rows through a view 402 How to delete rows through view How to use the catalog views How to use the View Designer How to create or modify a view How to delet a view How to code scripts An introduction to scripts. 410 How to work with serps 410 The Transact-SQL statements for serpt processing 412 How to work with variables and temporary tables 414 How to work with scalar variables 44 How to work with tble varies 416 How to work with temporary tables 418 A comparison of the five types of Transact SQL table objects 420 How to control the execution of a script How to perform conditional processing 422 How to test for the existence ofa database object 424 How to perfocm repetitive processing 426 How to handle errors 428 How to use surround-with snippets 4830 Advanced scriptingtechniques .. 432 How to use the system functions 42 How to change the session settings ce) How to use dynamic SQL. 436 A script that summarizes the structure of a database 438 How to use the SQLCMD utility 442Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Expanded contents How to code stored procedures, functions, and triggers Procedural programming options in Transact-SQL Secipts 448 Stored procedures, userlefined functions, and triggers 448: How to code stored procedures... An introduction to stored procedures 450 How to create a stored procedure 452 How to declare and work with parameters How to call procedures with parameters How to work with return values How to validate data and raise erors A stored procedure that manages insert operations How to passa table as a parameter How to delete or change a stored procedure How to work with system stored procedures How to code user-defined functions. An introduction to user-defined functions. How to create a scalar-valued function. How to create a simple table-valued function How to create a mult-statement table-valued funetion 480 How to delete or change a function 482 How to code triggers How to create a tigger How to use APTER triggers 486 How to use INSTEAD OF triggers 488 How to use triggers to enforce data consistency 490 How to use triggers to work with DDL statements 492 How to delete or change a trigger 494 How to work with cursors How to use cursors in SQL Server An introduction to cursors ‘The seven types of SQL Server cursors SQL statements for cursor processing How to use cursors to retrieve data... How to declare a cursor How to retrieve a row using a cursor. How to use the @@FETCH_STATUS system function 510 How to use the @@CURSOR_ROWS system function 512 How to modify data through a cursor How to use the cursor concurrency options How to update or delete data through a cursor Additional cursor processing techniques. How to use cursors with dynamic SQL How to code Transact-SQL cursos for use by an application program 520 How to manage transactions and locking How to work with transactions How transactions maintain data integrity 504 SQL statements for handling transactions 526 xixii Expanded contents Chapter 18 Chapter 19 How to work with nested transactions How to work with save point An introduction to concurrency and locking . How concurrency and locking are rated ‘The four concurrency problems that locks can prevent How tose the transaction isolation level How SQL Server manages locking . Lockable resources and lock escalation Lock modes and lock promotion Lock mode compatibility How to prevent deadlocks .. ‘Two transactions that deadlock. Coding techniques that prevent deadlocks How to manage database security How to work with SQL Server login IDs.. ‘An introduction to SQL Server security How to change the authentication mode How to create login IDs How to delete or change login IDs or passwords How to work with database users How to work with schemas. How to work with permissions. How to grant or revoke object permissions ‘The SQL Server object permissions How to grant or revoke schema permissions How to grant or revoke database permission How to grant or revoke server permissions. How to work with rol How to work with the fied server roles How to work with user-defined server roles. How to display information about server roles and role members How to work with te fixed database roles .. How to work with user-defined database roles... How to display information about database roles and role members How to deny permissions granted by ole membership How to work with application roles How to manage security usingthe Management Studio. How to work with login IDs.. How to work with the server roles for a login ID. How to assign database access and roles by login ID How to assign user permissions to database objects How to work wit database permission How to work with XML An introduction to XML. ‘An XML document... ‘An XML schem: How to work with the xml data type How to store data in the xan data type How to work with the XML EditorChapter 20 Section 5 Chapter 21 Expanded contents How to use the methods ofthe xml datatype 610 An example that parses the xml data type 614 Another example that parses the xml data type 616 How to work with XML schemas How to add an XML schema to a database How to use an XML schema to validate the xml data type How to view an XML schema How to drop an XML schema ‘Two more skills for working with XML. How to use the FOR XML clause of the SELECT statement How to use the OPENXML statement How to work with BLOBs An introduction to BLOBs Pros and cons of storing BLOBS in files Pros and cons of storing BLOBS in a column ‘When to use FILESTREAM storage for BLOBS How to use SQL to work with a varbinary(max) column How to create a table witha varbinary(max) column, How to insert, update, and delete binary data How to retrievebinary data A.NET application that uses a varbinary(max) column .. ‘The user interface forthe application ‘The event handlers forthe form AAdata access class that reads and writes binary data How to use FILESTREAMSstorage. How to enable FILESTREAM storage on the server How to create a database with FILESTREAM storage How to create a table with a FILESTREAM column How to insert update, and delete FILESTREAM data How to rettieve FILESTREAM data ‘A data access clas that uses FILESTREAM storage CLR tegration An introduction to CLR integration An introduction to CLR integration How CLR integration works ‘The five types of CLR objects, ‘When to use CLR objects How to enable CLR integration How to use Visual Studio to work with CLR objects How to start a SQL Server Database project How to specify the type of CLR object How to enter and edit the code for CLR objects ‘The code for a CLR object How to create a database for testing How to compile and deploy CLR objects How to test and debug a CLR object. xiiixiv Introduction Chapter 22 Chapter 23 How to use SQL to work with CLR objects .. How to deploy an assembly 688 How to deploy a CLR object 688 How to drop an assembly 688 How to code CLR stored procedures, functions, and triggers How to work with CLR stored procedures ... How to use the SqlTypes namespace to map data types 4 How to declare a stored procedure 696 How to create a connection 698 How to use the SqPipe object to return data 698 How to use output parameters to return data 700 How to return an integer value 02 How to raise an enor 702 A stored procedure that manages insert operations 704 ‘A script that calls the stored procedure 708 How to work with CLR functions... 710 How to declare a function 710 How to work wit the SqlFunction attribute m2 A scalar-valued function that retums an amount due 74 A table-valued function that returns a table with two columns. 716 How to work with CLR triggers .. L718 How to declare a trigger 118 How to work with the SqlTrigger attribute 720 A trigger that updates a column How to use the SqlTriggerContext abject m4 A trigger that works with DDL statements 76 How to code aggregate functions and user-defined types How to work with aggregate functions How to declare an aggregate 32 How to work withthe SqlUserDefinedA geregate attribute TM An aggregate that retums a trimmed average 76 An aggregate that returns a comma-delimited string 740 How to work with user-defined types .. . How to declare a user-defined type m4 How to work with the SqlUserDefinedType atibute 146 ‘A.userefined type for an email address 748 SQL that works with a use lefined type 754Introduction If you want to learn SQL, you've picked the right book. And if you want to learn the specifics of SQL for SQL Server 2012, you’ve made an especially good choice. Along the way, you'll lam a lot about relational database management systems in general and about SQL Server in particular. ‘Why learn SQL? First, because most programmers would be better at database programming if they knew more about SQL. Second, because SQL programming is a valuable specialty in itself. And third, because knowing SQL is the first step toward becoming a database administrator. In short, knowing SQL makes you more valuable on the job. book is for This book is the ideal book for application developers who need to work with a SQL Server database. It shows you how to code the SQL statements that you need for your applications. It shows you how to code these statements 50 ‘they run efficiently. And it shows you how to take advantage of the most useful advanced features that SQL Server has to offer. This book is also a good choice foranyone who wants to learn standard SQL. Since SQL is a standard language for accessing database data, most of the SQL code in this book will work with any database management system. As a result, once you use this book to learn how to use SQL to work with a SQL Server database, you can transfer most of what you have learned to another database management system such as Oracle, DB2, or MySQL. This book is also the right firstbook for anyone who wants to become a database administrator. Although this book doesn’t present all of the advanced skills that are needed by a top DBA, it will get you started. Then, when you have finished this book, you'll be prepared for more advanced books on the subject.xvi Introduction 4 reasons why you’ learn faster with this book Unlike most SQL books, this one starts by showing you how to query an existing database rather than how to create a new database. Why’ Because that’s what you're most likely to need to do first on the job. Once you raster those skills, you can learn how to design and implement a database, whenever you need to do that. Or, you can learn how to work with other database features like views and stored procedures, whenever you need to do that. Like all our books, this one includes hundreds of examples that range from the simple to the complex. That way, you can quickly get the idea of how a feature works from the simple examples, but you'll also see how the feature is used in the real world from the complex examples. Like most of our books, this one has exercises at the end of each chapter that give you hands-on experience by letting you practice what you've learned, These exercises also encourage you to experiment and to apply what you've learned in new ways. If you page through this book, you'll see that all of the information is presented in “paired pages,” with the essential syntax, guidelines, and examples on the right page and the perspective and extra explanation on the left page. This helps you learn more with less reading, and itis the ideal reference format when you need to refresh your memory about how to do something, What you'll learn in this book In section 1, you'll learn the concepts and terms you need for working with any database. You'll also learn how to use Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and the Management Studio to run SQL statements on your own PC. In section 2, you'll learn all the skills for retrieving data from a database and for adding, updating, and deleting that data. These skills move from the simple to the complex so you won't have any trouble if you're a SQL novice. And they present skills like using outer joins, summary queries, and subqueries that will raise your SQL expertise if you already have SQL. experience, In section 3, you'll learn how to design a database and how to implement that design by using either SQL statements or the Management Studio. ‘When you're done, you'll be able to design and implement your own databases. But even if you're never called upon to do that, this section will give you perspective that will make you a better SQL programmer. In section 4, you'll lear the skills for working with database features like views, scripts, stored procedures, functions, triggers, cursors, and transactions. You'll also learn how to manage database security. Finally,Introduction Vii you'll learn how to use the features for working with XML and BLOB data, including how to use FILESTREAM storage to work with BLOBs. ‘These are the features that give database management system much of its power, So once you master them, you'll have a powerful set of SQL skills. # In section 5, you'll learn how to usethe CLR integration feature along with anew feature of SQL Server 2012 called SSDT (SQL Server Data Tools) to create database objects using the C# or Visual Basic programming language. That includes database objects such as stored procedures, functions, and triggers that can be created using SQL, as well as user- defined types and aggregate functions that can't be created using SQL. Prerequisite: Although you will progress through this book more quickly if you have some development experience, everything you need to know about databases and SQL is presented in this book. As a result, you don’t need to have any programming background to use this book to learn SQL. However, if you want to use C# or Visual Basic to work with a SQL Server database as described in chapters 20 through 23, you need to have some experience using C# or Visual Basic to write ADO.NET code. For example, these chapters assume you can understand the code that’s presented in chapter 20 of Murach’s C# 2010 or chapter 16 of Murach’s Visual Basic 2010. What software you need for this book For chapters | through 19 of this book, you can download all the software you need from Microsoft’s website for free. That includes: The Express Edition of SQL Server 2012 The Express Edition of the SQL Server Management Studio In appendix A, you'll find complete instructions for installing these items on your PC, And in chapter 2, you'll learn how to use them. For chapter 20, you can use an Express Edition of Visual C# or Visual Basic. These products are also available from Microsoft's website for free. However, for chapters 21 through 23, you'll need to purchase and install one of the full editions of Visual Studio. In addition, you'll need to download and install SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), which is available for free from Microsoft's website. “Appendix A provides instructions for installing the 2010 versions of these products, When the 2012 versions are released, we'll add instructions for installing them to our website if we notice any differences that affect this book. To find these instructions, you can check the FAQs for this book.XViii Introduction What you can download from our web site ‘You can download all the source code for this book from our web site. That includes: ‘© Script files that create the databases used by the examples in this book The source code for all of the examples in this book The solutions for all the exercises in this book In appendix B, you'll find complete instructions for downloading and installing these items on your PC. Support materials for trainers and instructors If you're a corporate trainer or a college instructor who would like to use this book for a course, we offer an Instructor's CD that includes: (1) a complete set of PowerPoint slides that you can use to review and reinforce the content of this book; (2) instructional objectives that describe the skills a student should have upon completion of each chapter; (3) test banks that measure mastery of those skills; (4) additional exercises for each chapter that aren’t in this book; and (5) solutions to those exercis To learn more about this Instructor’s CD and to find out how to get it, please visit our website at wwwmurach.com and click on the Trainers link or the Instructors link. Or, if you prefer, you can call Kelly at 1-800-221-5528 or send an email to [email protected]. Please let us know how this book works for you ‘When we started working on this book, our goal was (1) to provide a SQL Server book for application developers that will help them work more effectively; (2) to cover the database design and implementation skills that application developers are most likely to use; and (3) to do both in a way that helps you learn faster and better than you can with any other SQL Server book. Now, if you have any comments about this book, we would appreciate hearing from you, If you like this book, please tell a friend. And good luck with your SQL Server projects! Mural, Chine Bock. Joel Murach Anne Boehm: Author: Editor el murach@ yahoo.com [email protected]An introduction to SQL Before you begin to learn the fundamentals of programming in SQL, you need to understand the concepts and terms related to SQL and relational databases. That’s what you'll lea in chapter 1. Then, in chapter 2, you'll learn about some of the tools you can use to work with a SQL Server database. That will prepare you for using the skills you'll learn in the rest of this book.An introduction to relational databases and SQL Before you can use SQL to work with a SQL Server database, you need to be familiar with the concepts and terms that apply to database systems. In particular, you need to understand what a relational database is and the benefits relational databases offer over other data models. That's what you'll learn in the first part of this chapter. Then, you'll earn about some of the basic SQL. statements and features provided by SQL Server. An introduction to client/server systems ..... ‘The hardware components of a client/server system ‘The software components ofa clienvserver system. Other clienvserver system architectures. An introduction to the relational database model ..... How a database table is organized en How the tables in a relational database are related. How the columns ina table are defined How relational databases compare to other data models An introduction to SQLand SQL-based systems ..... A brief history of SQL ‘A compatison of Oracle, DB2, MySQL, and SQL Server The Transact-SQL statements ......... An introduction to the SQL statements ‘Typical statements for working with database objects How to query’a single table... How to join data from two or more tables. How to add, update, and delete data in a table SQL. coding guidelines How to work withether database objects How to work with views How to work with stored procedures, tigers, and user-defined functions How to use SQL from an application program smi. ‘Common data access models. How to use ADO.NET froma NET application ‘Visual Basic code that retrieves data from a SQL Server database C# code that retrieves data from a SQL Server database Perspective.Section | An introduction to SQL An introduction to client/server systems In case you aren’t familiar with client/server systems, the first two topics that follow introduce you to their essential hardware and software components. These are the types of systems that you're most likely to use SQL with, Then, the last topic gives you an idea of how complex client/server systems can be. The hardware components of a client/server system Figure 1-1 presents the three hardware components of a client/server system: the clients, the network, and the server. The clientsare usually the PCs that are already available on the desktops throughout a company, And the networks the cabling, communication lines, network interface cards, hubs, routers, and other components that connect the clients and the server. The server, commonly referred to as a database server, is a computer that has enough processor speed, internal memory (RAM), and disk storage to store the files and databases of the system and provide services to the clients of the system, This computer is usually a high-powered PC, but it an also be a midrange system like an IBM System x or Unix system, or even a mainframe system. When a system consists of networks, midrange systems, and mainframe systems, often spread throughout the country or world, it is commonly referred to.as an enterprise system, To back up the files of a client/server system, a server usually has a tape drive or some other form of offline storage. It often has one or more printers or specialized devices that can be shared by the users of the system. And it can provide programs or services like e-mail that can be accessed by all the users of the system, Ina simple client/server system, the clients and the server are part of a local «area network (LAN), However, two or more LANs that reside at separate geographical locations can be connected as part of a larger network such as a wide area network (WAN). In addition, individual systems or networks can be connected over the Internet.Chapter | An introduction to relational databases and SQL A simple client/server system Database server Client The three hardware components of a client/server system # Theclients are the PCs, Maes, or workstations of the system. «The serveris a computer that stores the files and databases of the system and provides services to the clients, When it stores databases, it’s often referred to as a database server. # The nerwork consists of the cabling, communication lines, and other components that connect the clients and the servers of the system. Client/server system implementations Ina simple client/server system like the one shown above, the server is typically a high-powered PC that communicates with the clients over a local area network (LAN). The server can also be a midrange system, like an IBM System x or a Unix system, or it can be a mainframe system. Then, special hardware and software components are required to make it possible for the clients to communicate with the midrange and mainframe systems. © A client/server system can also consist of one or more PC-based systems, one or more midrange systems, and a mainframe system in dispersed geographic: locations. This type of system is commonly referred to as an enterprise system, «Individual systems and LANs can be connected and share data over larger private networks, such as a wide area network (WAN), or a public network like the Internet. Figure 1-1 The hardware components of a client/server system 5Section 1 An introduction to SOL The software components of a client/server system Figure 1-2 presents the software components of a typical client/server system, In addition to a network operating system that manages the functions of the network, the server requires a database management system (DBMS) like Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. This DBMS manages the databases that are stored on the server. In contrast to a server, each client requires application scftware to perform useful work. This can be a purchased software package like a financial account- ing package, or it can be custom software that’s developed for a specific appli- cation. Although the application software is run on the client, it uses data that’s stored on the server. To do that, it uses adata access API (application program- ‘ming interface) such as ADO.NET, Since the technique you use to work with an API depends on the programming language and API you're using, you won't learn those techniques in this book. Instead, you'll lear about a standard language called SQL, or Structured Query Language, that lets any application communicate with any DBMS, (In conversation, SQL is pronounced as either S-Q-Lor sequel.) Once the software for both client and server is installed, the client commu- nicates with the server via SOL queries (or just queries) that are passed to the DBMS through the API. After the client sends a query to the DBMS, the DBMS. interprets the query and sends the results back to the elient. As you can see in this figure, the processing done by a client/server system is divided between the clients and the server. In this case, the DBMS on the server is processing requests made by the application running on the client. Theoretically, at least, this balances the workload between the clients and the server so the system works more efficiently, In contrast, ina file-handling system, the clients do all of the work because the server is used only to store the files that are used by the clients.Chapter | An introduction to relational databases and SQL Client software, server software, and the SQL interface C) S Server software ‘© Tostore and manage the databases of the client/server system, each server requires adatabase management system (DBMS) like Microsoft SQL Server. ‘© The processing that’s done by the DBMS is typically referred to as back-end processing, and the database server is referred to as the back end. Client software ‘© The application scftware does the work that the user wants to do, This type of software can he purchased or developed. © The data access API (application programming interface) provides the interface between the application program and the DBMS. The newest Microsoft API is ADO.NET, which can communicate directly with SQL Server. Older APIs required a data access model, such as ADO or DAO, plus a driver, such as OLE DB or ODBC. ©The processing that’s done by the client software is typically referred to as front-end processing, and the client is typically referred to as the front end. The SQL interface «The application software communicates with the DBMS by sending SOL queries through the data access API. When the DBMS receives a query it provides a service like returning the requested data (the query results) to the client. © SQLstands for Structured Query Language, which is the standard language for working with a relational database. Client/server versus file-handling systems «Ina client/server system, the processing done by an application is typically divided between the client and the server. Ina file-handling system, all of the processing is done on the clients. Although the clients may access data that’s stored in files on the server, none of the processing is done by the server. As a result, a file-handling system isn’t a clienvserver system. Figure 1-2 The software components of a client/server system 7Section 1 An introduction to SOL Other client/server system architectures In its simplest form, a client/server system consists of a single database server and one or more clients, Many client/server systems today, though, include additional servers. In figure 1-3, for example, you can see two client/ server systems that include an additional server between the clients and the database server. The first illustration is for a simple Windows-based system, With this system, only the user interface for an application runs on the client. The rest of the processing that’s done by the application is stored in one or more business components on the application server. Then, the client sends requests to the application server for processing. If the request involves accessing data in a database, the application server formulates the appropriate query and passes it on to the database server. The results of the query are then sent back to the application server, which processes the results and sends the appropriate response back to the client. Similar processing is done by a web-based system, as illustrated by the second example in this figure. In this case, though, a web browserrunning on the client is used to send requests to a web application running on aweb server somewhere on the Internet. The web application, in tur, can use web services to perform some of its processing. Then, the web application or web service can pass requests for data on to the database server. Although this figure should give you an idea of how client/server systems can be configured, you should realize that they can be much more complicated than what's shown here, In a Windows-based system, for example, business components can be distributed over any number of application servers, and those components can communicate with databases on any number of database servers. Similarly, the web applications and services in a web-based system can be distributed over numerous web servers that access numerous database servers, In most cases, though, it’s not necessary for you to know how a system is configured to use SQL. Before I go on, you should know that client/server systems aren’t the only systems that support SQL. For example, traditional mainframe systems and newerhin client systems also use SQL. Unlike client/server systems, though, most of the processing for these types of systems is done by a mainframe or another high-powered machine. The terminals or PCs that are connected to the system do little or no work.Chapter | An introduction to relational databases and SQL A Windows-based system that uses an application server S A simple web-based system S Description ‘¢ Inaddition to a database server and clients, a client/server system can include additional servers, such as application servers and web servers. ‘© Application servers are typically used to store business components that do part of the processing of the application. In particular, these components are used to process database requests from the user interface running on the client. ‘© Web servers are typically used to store web applications and web services. Web applications are applications that are designed to run on a web server. Web services are like business components, except that, like web applications, they are designed to run ona web server. # Ina web-based system, a web browserrunning on a client sends a request to a web server over the Internet. Then, the web server processes the request and passes any requests for data on to the database server. More complex system architectures can include two or more applica web servers, and database servers. ion servers, Figure 1-3 Other client/server system architectures 910 Section | An introduction to SQL An introduction to the relational database model In 1970, Dr. E. F. Codd developed a model for a new type of database called a relational database. This type of database eliminated some of the problems that were associated with standard files and other database designs. By using the relational model, you can reduce data redundancy, which saves disk storage and leads to efficient data retrieval. You can also view and manipulate data in a way that is both intuitive and efficient. Today, relational databases are the de facto standard for database applications. How a database table is organized ‘The model for a relational database states that data is stored in one or more tables. It also states that each table can be viewed as a two-dimensional matrix consisting of rows and columns, This is illustrated by the relational table in figure 1-4. Each row in this table contains information about a single vendor. In practice, the rows and columns of a relational database table are often referred to by the more traditional terms, records and fields. In fact, some software packages use one set of terms, some use the other, and some use a combination, In this book, I use the terms rows and columns because those are the terms used by SQL Server. In general, each table is modeled after a real-world entity such as a vendor or an invoice. Then, the columns of the table represent the attributes of the entity such as name, address, and phone number. And each row of the table represents one instance of the entity, A value is stored at the intersection of each row and column, sometimes called a cell. Ifa table contains one or more columns that uniquely identify each row in the table, you can define these columns as the primary Key ofthe table, For instance, the primary key of the Vendors table in this figure is the VendorID column, In this example, the primary key consists of a single column, However, a primary key can also consist of two or more columns, in which case it’s called a composite primary key. In addition to primary keys, some database management systems let you define additional keys that uniquely identify each row in a table. If, for example, the VendorName column in the Vendors table contains unique data, it can be defined as anon-primary key. In SQL Server, this is called a unique key. Indexes provide an efficient way of accessing the rows in a table based on the values in one or more columns. Because applications typically access the rows in a table by referring to their key values, an index is automatically created for each key you define, However, you can define indexes for other columns as well. If, for example, you frequently need to sort the Vendor rows by zip code, you can set up an index for that column, Like a key, an index can include one or more columns.Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL 1 The Vendors table in an Accounts Payable database Primary key Columns ‘enters Tertanaia Wearictea? oy] tat TUS Posal Serice ‘Ait: Supt. Window Services PO Bax 7005 Madson | 23" ina oman esr i 5621 nu oti 33 Paget apie Le Cans mu atin ta wa vesteee Bde 260 MULL les roses 55 Neve Bk te is smsiere anzarasonono) sis | a i i , Concepts The tables ina relational database are related to each other through their key columns, For example, the VendorlD column is used to relate the Vendors and Invoices tables above. The VendorID column in the Invoices table is called a {foreign key because it identifies a related row in the Vendors table. A table may contain one or more foreign keys. When you define a foreign key fora table in SQL Server, you can’t add rows to the table with the foreign Key unless there’s a matching primary key in the related table. The relationships between the tables in a database correspond to the relationships between the entities they represent. The most common type of relationship is a ‘one-to-many relationship as illustrated by the Vendors and Invoices tables. A table n also have a one-to-one relationship or a many-to-many relationship with another table. Figure 1-5 How the tables in a relational database are related 1314 Section 1 An introduction to SOL How the columns in a table are defined ‘When you define a column in a table, you assign properties to it as indi- cated by the design of the Invoices table in figure 1-6. The most critical prop- erty fora column is its data type, which determines the type of information that can be stored in the column. With SQL Server 2012, you typically use one of the data types listed in this figure. As you define each column ina table, you generally try to assign the data type that will minimize the use of disk storage because that will improve the performance of the queries later. In addition to a data type, you must identify whether the column can store a null value. A null represents a value that’s unknown, unavailable, or not appli cable. If you don’t allow null values, then you must provide a value for the column or you can’t store the row in the table. ‘You can also assign a default value to each column. Then, that value is assigned to the column if another value isn’t provided. You'll learn more about how to work with nulls and default values later in this book. Each table can also contain a numeric column whose value is generated automatically by the DBMS. In SQL Server, a column like this is called an identity column, and you establish it using the Is Identity, Identity Seed, and Identity Increment properties. You'll learn more about these properties in chapter 11. For now, just note that the primary key of both the Vendors and the Invoices tables—VendorID and InvoicelD—are identity columns.Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL 15 The columns of the Invoices table [5 BRE RCRRERTR oan teen ne Hore Dawe) ee) {Pram stat {ES ne tt Berm er mt dapat yma 1 cuatanimaey ncn {Somibm revenah Beer tng bona tm Common SQL Server data types bit A value of I or O that represents a True or False value: int, bigint, smallin,tinyint Integer values of various sizes, money, smallmoney Monetary values that are accurate to four decimal places, decimal, numeric Decimal values that are accurate tothe least significant digit. The values can contain an integer portion and a decimal portion float, real Floating-point values that contain an approximation of a decimal value. datetime, smalldatetime Dates and times. char, varchar AA string of letters, symbols, and numbers in the ASCII character set nha, varchar A string of letters, symbols, and numbers in the Unicode character st. Description ‘© The data type that’s assigned to a column determines the type and size of the information that can be stored in the column. ¢ Each column definition also indicates whether or not it can contain null values. A ‘null value indicates that the value of the column is unknown. © Accolumn can also be defined with a default value. Then, that value is used if another value isn’t provided when a row is added to the table. © Accolumn can also be defined as an identity column. An identity column is a ‘numeric column whose value is generated automatically when a row is added to the table. Figure 1-6 How the columns in a table are defined16 Section 1 An introduction to SOL How relational databases compare to other data models Now that you understand how a relational database is organized, you're ready to learn how relational databases differ from other data models, Specifi- cally, you should know how relational databases compare to conventional file systems, hierarchical databases, and network databases. Figure I-7 presents the most important differences. To start, you should realize that because the physical structure of a rela- tional database is defined and managed by the DBMS, it’s not necessary to define that structure within the programs that use the database. Instead, you can simply refer to the tables and columns you want to use by name and the DBMS will take care of the rest. In contrast, when you use a conventional file system, you have to define and control the files of the system within each application that uses them. That's because a conventional file system is just a collection of files that contain the data of the system. In addition, if you modify the structure of.a file, you have to modify every program that uses it. That's not necessary with a relational database. The hierarchical and network database models were predecessors to the relational database model. The hierarchical database model is limited in that it can only represent one-to-many relationships, also called parenw/child relation- ships. The network database model is an extension of the hierarchical model that provides for all types of relationships. Although hierarchical and network databases don’t have the same draw- backs as conventional file systems, they still aren't as easy to use as relational databases. In particular, each program that uses a hierarchical or network database must navigate through the physical layout of the tables they use. In contrast, this navigation is automatically provided by the DBMS in a relational database system. In addition, programs can define ad hoc relationships hetween the tables of a relational database. In other words, they can use relationships that aren’t defined by the DBMS. That's not possible with hierarchical and network databases. ‘Another type of database that’s not mentioned in this figure is the ol ject database. This type of database is designed to store and retrieve the objects that are used by applications written in an object-oriented programming language such as C#, C+, or Java, Although object databases have some advantages over relational databases, they also have some disadvantages, In general, object databases have not yet become widely used. However, they have acquired a niche in some areas such as engineering, telecommunications, financial ser- vices, high energy physics, and molecular biology.Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL A comparison of relational databases and conventional file systems Een sn) GEEIeneIene Es Each program that uses the file must Tables, rows, and columns are define the file and the layout of the defined within the database and ean records within the file be accessed by name Maintenance Ifthe definition of afile changes, Programs can be used without cach program that uses the file must modification when the definition of a be modified table changes ‘Validity checking Each program that updates a file must Can include checks for valid data include code to check for valid data Relationships Each program must provide for and Can enforce relationships between enforce relationships between files tables using foreign keys; ad hoc telationships ean also be used Data access Each UO operation targets.a specific A program can use SQL to aceess record in a fle based on its relative selected data in one oF more tables of position in the fle or its key value database Acomparison of relational databases and other database systems acre Laird ersIIR che sks SS a AS database LXE GIG Ss Supported One-to-many only One-to-many, one-to-one, One-to-many, one-to-one, relationships and many-to-many ‘and many-to-many; ad hoe relationships can also be used Data access Programs must include Programs must include Programs can access data code to navigate through code to navigate through without knowing its the physical structure of the physical structure of physical structure the database the database Maintenance — New and modified New and modified Programs can be used relationships can be without modification when ito implement in difficult to implement in the definition ofa table application programs application programs changes Description To work with any of the data models other than the relational database model, you rust know the physical structure of the data and the relationships between the files or tables. ‘© Because relationships are difficult to implement in a conventional file system, redundant data is often stored in these types of files. © The hierarchical database model provides only for one-to-many relationships, called pareni/child relationships. # The network database model can accommodate any type of relationship. Conventional files, hierarchical databases, and network databases are all more efficient than relational databases because they require fewer system resources. However, the flexibility and ease of use of relational databases typically outweigh this inefficiency. Figure 1-7 How relational databases compare to other data models 1718 Section | An introduction to SQL An introduction to SQL and SQL-based systems In the topes that follow, you'll learn how SQL and SQL-based database ‘management systems evolved. In addition, you'll lam how some of the most popular SQL-based systems compare. A brief history of SQL Prior to the release of the first relational database management system (RDBMS), each database had a unique physical structure and a unique program- ming language that the programmer had to understand. That all changed with the advent of SQL and the relational database management system. Figure 1-8 lists the important events in the history of SQL. In 1970, Dr. E. F. Codd published an article that described the relational database model he had been working on with a research team at IBM. By 1978, the IBM team had developed a database system based on this model, called SystenvR, along with a query language called SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language). Although the database and query language were never officially released, IBM remained committed to the relational model. The following year, Relational Software, Inc. released the first relational database management system, called Oracle. This RDBMS ran on a minicom- puter and used SQL as its query language. This product was widely successful, and the company later changed its name to Oracle to reflect that success. In 1982, IBM released its first commercial SQL-based RDBMS, called SQLIDS (SOL/Data System). This was followed in 1985 by DB2 (Database 2). Both systems ran only on IBM mainframe computers. Later, DB2 was ported to other systems, including those that ran the Unix and Windows operating sys- tems. Today, it continues to be IBM’s premier database system. During the 1980s, other SQL-based database systems, includ Server, were developed. Although each of these systems used SQL as its query language, each implementation was unique. That began to change in 1989, when the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) published its first set of standards for a database query language. These standards have been revised a few times since then, most recently in 2011. As each database manufacturer has attempted to comply with these standards, their implementations of SQL have become more similar. However, each still has its own dialect of SQL that includes additions, or extensions, to the standards. Although you should be aware of the SQL standards, they will have little effect on your job as a SQL programmer. The main benefit of the standards is that the basic SQL statements are the same in each dialect. As a result, once you've learned one dialect, it’s relatively easy to lear another. On the other hhand, porting applications that use SQL from one database to another isn’t as easy as it should be. In fact, any non-trivial application will require at least modest modifications.Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL Important events in the history of SQL 1970 1978 1979 1982 1985 1987 1989 1992 Dr. E. F. Codd developed the relational database model. IBM developed the predecessor o SQL, called Structured English Query Language (SEQUEL). This language was used on a database system called Systen/R, but neither the system nor the query language was ever released Relational Software, Ine. (later renamed Oracle) released the first relational DBMS, Oracle. IBM released their frst relational database system, SQLIDS (SQL/Data System) IBM released DB2 (Database 2, Microsoft released SQL Server. ‘The American National Standards Insitute (ANSI) published the first set of standards for a database query language, called ANSU/ISO SQL-89, or SQL. Because they were not stringent standards, most commercial products could claim adherence. ANSI published revised standards (ANSVISO SQL-92, or SQL2) that were more stringent than SQL! and incorporated many new features. These standards introduced levels of compliance that indicated the extent to which a dialect met the standards, ANSI published SQL3 (ANSISO SQL:1999). These standards incorporated new features, including support for objects. Levels of compliance were dropped and were replaced by a core specification along with specifications for nine additional packages. ANSI published SQL:2003. These standards introduced XML-related features, standardized sequences, and identity columns ANSI published SQL:2006, which defined how SQL can be used with XML. The standards also allowed applications to integrate XQuery into their SQL code. ANSI published SQL:2008, These standards introduced INSTEAD OF triggers and the ‘TRUNCATE statement Information on these standards isnot yet freely available. Description © SQL-92 initially provided for three levels cf compliance, or levels cf corformance: entry, intermediate, and full, A transitional level was later added between the entry and intermediate levels because the jump between those levels was too great. © SQL:1999 includes a core specyfication that defines the essential elements for compliance, plus nine packages. Each package is designed to serve a specific market niche. # Although SQL is a standard language, each vendor has its own SQL dialect, or variant, that may include extensions to the standards, SQL Server's SQL dialect is called Transact-SQL How knowing “standard SQL” helps you ‘¢ The most basic SQL statements are the same for all SQL dialects. © Once you have leamed one SQL dialect, you can easily lear other dialects. How knowing “standard SQL” does not help you ‘© Any non-trivial application will require modification when moved from one SQL database to another. Figure 1-8 A brief history of SQL 1920 Section 1 An introduction to SOL A comparison of Oracle, DB2, MySQL, and SQL Server Although this book is about SQL Server, you may want to know about some of the other SQL-hased relational database management systems, Figure 1-9 compares three of the most popular, Oracle, DB2, and MySQL, with SQL Server. Oracle has a huge installed base of customers and continues to dominate the marketplace, especially for servers running the Unix operating system. Oracle ‘works well for large systems and has a reputation for being extremely reliable, but also has a reputation for being expensive and difficult to use. DB2 was originally designed to run on IBM mainframe systems and continues to be the premier database for those systems. It also dominates in hybrid environments where IBM mainframes and newer servers must coexist. Although it has a reputation for being expensive, it also has a reputation for being reliable and easy to use. MySQL runs on all major operating systems and is widely used for web applications. MySQL is an epen-source database, which means that any developer can view and improve its source code, In addition, the MySQL Community Server is free for most users, although Oracle also sells an Enter- prise Edition of MySQL that has advanced features. SQL Server was designed by Microsoft to run on Windows and is widely used for small-to medium-sized departmental systems, It has a reputation for being inexpensive and easy to use. However, it also has a reputation for being unreliable and for not scaling well for systems with a large number of users. One of the main differences between SQL Server and the other database ‘management systems is that SQL Server runs only under the Windows operat- ing system. In contrast, Oracle, DB2, and MySQL run under most operating systems, including Unix, Windows, Mac OS, and IBM's z/OS. Since many developers consider 7/08 and Unix to be more stable and secure than Windows, ‘most large companies use 2/0S or Unix as the operating system for the servers that store the databases for mission-critical applications. As a result, they can’t use SQL Server and must use Oracle, DB2, or MySQL. If you search the Internet, you'll find that dozens of other relational data~ base products are also available, These include proprietary databases like Informix, Sybase, and Teradata, And they include open-source databases like PostgreSQL.Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL 24 A comparison of Oracle, DB2, MySQL, and SQL Server Os DSCs Released 1985 Platforms (08/390, 2/0S, and AIX Unix Windows Mac OS Description ‘Oracle is typically used for large, mission-critical systems that run on one or more Unix servers. « DB2 is typically used for large, mission-critical systems that run on legacy IBM mainframe systems using the 2/0S or OS/390 operating system. MySQL is a popular open-source database that runs on all major operating sys- tems and is commonly used for web applications. © SQL Server is typically used for small- to medium-sized systems that run on one or more Windows servers. Figure 1-9 A comparison of Oracle, DB2, MySQL, and SQL Server22 Section 1 An introduction to SOL The Transact-SQL statements In the topics that follow, you'll earn about some of the SQL statements provided by SQL Server. As you'll see, you can use some of these statements to ‘manipulate the data in a database, and you can use others to work with database objects. Although you may not be able to code these statements after reading these topics, you should have a good idea of how they work. Then, you'll be better prepared to learn the details of coding these statements when they're presented in sections 2 and 3 of this book. An introduction to the SQL statements Figure 1-10 summarizes some of the most common SQL statements, As you can see, these statements can be divided into two categories. The statements that work with the data in a database are called the data manipulation language (DML), These four statements are the ones that application programmers use the most, You'll see how these statements work later in this chapter, and you'll Jearn the details of using them in section 2 of this book. ‘The statements that work with the objects in a database are called the data definition language (DDL). On large systems, these statements are used exclu- sively by database administrators, ot DBAs, It’s the DBA’s job to maintain existing databases, tune them for faster performance, and create new databases, On smaller systems, though, the SQL programmer may also be the DBA. You'll see examples of some of these statements in the next figure, and you'll learn how to use them in chapter 11,Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL 23 SQL statements used to work with data (DML) SELECT Retrieves data from one or more tables. INSERT Adds one or more new rows to a table. UPDATE, Changes one or more existing rows in a table. DELETE, Deletes one or more existing rows from a table. SQL statements used to work with database objects (DDL) CREATE DATABASE Creates new database. CREATE TABLE Creates. a new table in a database. CREATE INDEX Creates a new index fora table ALTER TABLE Changes the structure ofan existing table. ALTER INDEX ‘Changes the structure of an existing index. DROPDATABASE —_Deletesan existing database. DROPTABLE Deletes an existing table. DROP INDEX Deletes an existing index Description The SQL statements can be divided into two categories: the data manipulation Janguage (DML) that lets you work with the data in the database and the data definition language (DDL) that lets you work with the objects in the database. © SQL programmers typically work with the DML statements, while database ‘administrators (DBAs) use the DDL statements. Figure 1-10 An introduction to the SQL statements24 Section 1 An introduction to SOL Typical statements for working with database objects To give you an idea of how you use the DDL statements you saw in the previous figure, figure 1-11 presents five examples. The first statement creates an accounts payable database named AP. This is the database that's used in many of the examples throughout this book. ‘The second statement creates the Invoices table you saw earlier in this chapter. If you don’t understand all ofthis code right now, don’t worry. You'll learn how to code statements like this later in this book. For now, just realize that this statement defines each column in the table, including its data type, whether or not it allows null values, and its default value if it has one. In addition, it identifies identity columns, primary key columns, and foreign key columns. The third statement in this figure changes the Invoices table by adding a column to it. Like the statement that created the table, this statement specifies all the attributes of the new column. Then, the fourth statement deletes the column that was just added. ‘The last statement creates an index on the Invoices table. In this case, the index is for the VendorlD column, which is used frequently to access the table. Notice the name that's given to this index. This follows the standard naming conventions for indexes, which you'll learn about in chapter 1.Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL 25 A statement that creates a new database CREATE DATABASE AP; A statement that creates a new table CREATE TABLE Invoices (invoicerD nr NOT NULL IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY, VendorID INT NOT NULL REFERENCES Vendors (Vendor1D) , TnvoiceNunber VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, InvoiceDate SMALLDATETIME NOT NULL, InvoiceTotal, MONEY NOT NULL, Payment Total MONEY NOT NULL DEFAULT 0, credit total, MONEY NOT NULL DEFAULT 0, ‘TermsID INT No? NULL REFERENCES Terms(TermsID), InvoiceDueDate SMALLDATETIME NOT NULL, PaymentDate SMALLDATETIME NULL); A statement that adds a new column to the table ALTER TABLE Invoices ADD BalanceDue MONEY NOT NULL; A statement that deletes the new column ALTER TABLE Invoices DROP COLUMN BalanceDue; A statement that creates an index on the table CREATE INDEX 1X Invoices VendorzD ON Invoices (VendorID); Description The REFERENCES clause for a column indicates that the column contains a foreign key, and it names the table and column that contains the primary key. Because the Invoices table includes foreign keys to the Vendors and Terms tables, these tables must be created before the Invoices table. Because default values are specified for the PaymentTotal and CreditTotal col- umns, these values don’t need to be specified when a row is added to the table. «Because the PaymentDate column accepts nulls, a null value is assumed if a value isn’t specified for this column when a row is added to the table. Figure 1-11 Typical statements for working with database objects26 Section 1 An introduction to SOL How to query a single table Figure 1-12 shows how to use a SELECT statement to query a single table ina database. At the top of this figure, you can see some of the columns and rows of the Invoices table. Then, in the SELECT statement that follows, the SELECT clause names the columns to be retrieved, and the FROM clause names the table that contains the columns, called the base table. In this case, six columns will be retrieved from the Invoices table. Notice that the last column, BalanceDue, is calculated from three other columns in the table. In other words, a column by the name of BalanceDue doesn’t actually exist in the database. This type of column is called a calculated value, and it exists only in the results of the query. In addition to the SELECT and FROM clauses, this SELECT statement includes a WHERE clause and an ORDER BY clause. The WHERE clause gives the criteria for the rows to be selected. In this case, a row is selected only if it has a balance due that’s greater than zero, And the retuned rows are sorted by the InvoiceDate column, This figure also shows the result table, or result set, that’s returned by the SELECT statement. A result set is a logical table that’s created temporarily within the database. When an application requests data from a database, it receives a result set.The Invoices base table Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL " 2 2 14 5 Trace VendadD fvcoclimbar 1m “1 ma re) 1m 1B a 8 a 1m Py 6 9% 115 a 920519457 2as0532¢1 osu 2002388 962259251 958053261 asus 1288201 788 255053250, secasue? rrngot ‘rrazr 10086 250227 PORSADTIST TreseDae zoiv-2ce000000 zoit-72-10000000 zo1-123.000000 zoi-2. 16000000 apie Te000000 zoi1-7216000000 2031-1221 000000 anu-1224 000090 zon-224000000 zoit-7224000000 2011-1225000000 zi-226000000 zoi-2s0000000 zoiz01-1 000000 2020142000000 TroseTea) 261330 on 1878 a0 1550 an 120 600 cogs 257 2m 200 162 en 256.92 PaymedTeta GediToal Et) an 000 1875000 a) 1550 000 an 000 1250 (000 600 000 ws 00 257 000 aon 000 20 0m 16 000 an 000 eee 000 Tem A SELECT statement that retrieves and sorts selected columns and rows from the Invoices table SELECT InvoiceNumber, InvoiceDate, InvoiceTotal, PaymentTotal, CreditTotal, Invoicetotal - PaymentTotal - CreditTotal AS BalanceDue FROM Invoices WHERE InvoiceTotal - PaymentTotal - CreditTotal > 0 ORDER BY InvoiceDate; The result set defined by the SELECT statement Traeolue:_fraeelaefrateoToal PamatToal Geil BaonmDoe 1 39104 7} 2012931000000 9531 0.00 0.00 05.31 2S Dovzans00mo0 5225 m0 1m «2a 2 new — moaeazionoo se ooo om sma 4 mum = azmaoome 6897 000 om m7 5 mun = emzzmame 6792 m0 om as smn dreezomo 075 000 1m 0% i Concepts «You use the SELECT statement to retrieve selected columns and rows from a base table, The result of a SELECT statement is a result table, or result set, like the one shown above. ¢ A result set can include calculated values that are calculated from columns in the table. ‘© The execution of a SELECT statement is commonly referred to as a query. Figure 1-12 How to query a single table 2728 How to j Section | An introduction to SQL data from two or more tables Figure 1-13 presents a SELECT statement that retrieves data from two tables, This type of operation is called a join because the data from the two tables is joined together into a single result set. For example, the SELECT statement in this figure joins data from the Invoices and Vendors tables. ‘An inner joins the most common type of join, When you use an inner join, rows from the two tables in the join are included in the result table only if their related columns match, These matching columns are specified in the FROM clause of the SELECT statement. In the SELECT statement in this figure, for example, rows from the Invoices and Vendors tables are included only if the value of the VendorlD column in the Vendors table matches the value of the VendorID column in one or more rows in the Invoices table, If there aren’t any invoices for a particular vendor, that vendor won't be included in the result set. Although this figure shows only how to join data from two tables, you should know that you can extend this idea to join data from three or more tables. If, for example, you want to include line item data from a table named InvoiceLineltems in the results shown in this figure, you can code the FROM clause of the SELECT statement like this: FROM Vendors INNER JOIN Invoices ON Vendors.VendorID = Invoices. vendorzD INNER JOIN InvoiceLineItems ON Invoices.InvoiceID = InvoiceLineItems.InvoiceID Then, in the SELECT clause, you can include any of the columns in the InvoiceLineltems table. In addition to inner joins, SQL Server supports outer joins and cross joins. You'll learn more about the different types of joins in chapter 4.A SELECT statement that joins data from the Vendors and Invoices tables SELECT VendorNane, InvoiceNumber, InvoiceDate, InvoiceTotal FROM Vendors INNER JOIN Invoices ON Vendors. VendorID Chapter I WHERE InvoiceTotal >= 500 ORDER BY VendorName, InvoiceTotal DESC; Invoices. VendorID The result set defined by the SELECT statement An introduction to relational databases and SQL Werden Treoeslunber Preselio FroceTeed : 1 [eelrann sey Sce"| 0876 | 2orotzrecoanea 634025 i 2 “Gores icin Corea” S656 zurz-enz900.0000 210450 3. Contents wemay oz ONDE 245300 4 DaeRepecucioe Cem 0212 20120201 000090 2181200 5 Daan Wits Reais weomeet — ar202 1100000 136750 5 Dial ares paes7e — 0r20121 000000 712524 7. FededlGvressConorton SE3253230 201242407000000 72820 iL 8 Fa No CestGoroam 882771 2012032400000 50320 9 Frrches Tar Boa RTR72662... 2072012500000 1e0009 10 FemreCouty TatCalecer PO28O77S7 2012010300000 88682 oem asso aor2aaeponceda 100959 12 bon STS7ED——201240203000000 157500 Bo hyn Somes aorzo3.21a00000 =7942 14 ty Lregaprg nc SE —=«012aT ZBOEOOD 3735519 15 thy Legephrg nc PRE===«T2gB T9OEOGO zeBETAD 15 thy Lrepephrg nc 2060——=«TzaB2AEOD ZIEI752 17 Moy Ltouenbnal: PEND eas z3n60O AIST | Concepts A joinlets you combine data from two or more tables into a single result set. ¢ The most common type of join is an inner join. This type of join returns rows from both tables only if their related columns match. =Anouter join returns rows from one table in the join even if the other table doesn’t contain a matching row. Figure 1-13 How to join data from two or more tables 2930 Section 1 An introduction to SOL How to add, update, and delete data in a table Figure 1-14 shows how you can use the INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements to modify the data in a table, The first statement in this figure, for example, uses the INSERT statement to add a row to the Invoices table. To do that, the INSERT clause names the columns whose values are supplied in the VALUES clause. You'll learn more about specifying column names and values in chapter 7. For now, just realize that you have to specify a value for a column unless it’s an identity column, a column that allows null values, ora column that’s defined with a default value. The two UPDATE statements in this figure illustrate how you can change the data in one or more rows of a table. The first statement, for example, assigns a value of 35.89 to the CreditTotal column of the invoice in the Invoices table with invoice number 367447, The second statement adds 30 days to the invoice due date for each row in the Invoices table whose TermsID column has a value of 4. To delete rows froma table, you use the DELETE statement, The first DELETE statement in this figure, for example, deletes the invoice with invoice number 4-342-8069 from the Invoices table, The second DELETE statement deletes all invoices with a balance due of zero. Before I go on, you should know that INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements are often referred to as action queries because they perform an action on the database. In contrast, SELECT statements are referred to as queries since they simply query the database, When I use the term queryin this book, then, I’m usually referring to a SELECT statement.Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL 31 A statement that adds a row to the Invoices table INSERT INTO Invoices (VendorID, InvoiceNunber, InvoiceDate, Invoicetotal, TermsID, InvoiceDueDate) VALUES (12, '3289175', '4/18/2012', 165, 3, 15/18/2012"); A statement that changes the value of the CreditTotal column for a selected row in the Invoices table UPDATE Invoices SET CreditTotal = 35.89 WHERE InvoiceNumber = '367447'; A statement that changes the values in the InvoiceDueDate column for all invoices with the specified TermsID UPDATE Invoices SET InvoiceDueDate = InvoiceDueDate + 30 WHERE TermsID A statement that deletes a selected invoice from the Invoices table DELETE FROM Invoices WHERE InvoiceNumber = '4-342-8069'; A statement that deletes all paid invoices from the Invoices table DELETE FROM Invoices WHERE InvoiceTotal - PaymentTotal - CreditTotal = Concepts # You use the INSERT statement to add rows to a table. # You use the UPDATE statement to change the values in one or more rows of a table based on the condition you specify. «You use the DELETE statement to delete one or more rows from a table based on the condition you specify. ‘The execution of an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement is often referred to as anaction query. Warning Until you read chapter 7 and understand the effect that these statements can have ‘on the database, do not execute the statements shown above. Figure 1-14 Howto add, update, and delete data in a table32 Section 1 An introduction to SOL SQL coding guidelines SQL is a freeform language. That means that you can include line breaks, spaces, and indentation without affecting the way the database interprets the code. In addition, SQL is not case-sensitive like some languages. That means that you can use uppercase or lowercase letters or a combination of the two. without affecting the way the database interprets the code. Although you can code SQL statements with a freeform style, we suggest that you follow the coding recommendations presented in figure 1-15. First, you should start each clause of a statement on a new line. In addition, you should continue long clauses onto multiple lines and you should indent the continued lines. You should also capitalize the first letter of each keyword in a statement to make them easier to identify, you should capitalize the first letter of each word in table and column names, and you should end each statement with a semicolon. Although the semicolon isn’t currently required in most cases, it will be ina future version of SQL Server. So you should get used to coding it now. Finally, you should use comments to document code that’s difficult to under- stand. ‘The examples at the top of this figure illustrate these coding recommenda- tions, The first example presents an unformatted SELECT statement. As you can see, this statement is difficult to read. In contrast, this statement is much easier to read after our coding recommendations are applied, as you can see in the second example. ‘The third example illustrates how to code a block comment. This type of ‘comment is typically coded at the beginning of a statement and is used to document the entire statement. Block comments can also be used within a statement to describe blocks of code, but that’s not common, ‘The fourth example in this figure includes a single-line comment. This type of comment is typically used to document a single line of code. A single-line comment can be coded on a separate line as shown in this example, or it ean be coded at the end of a line of code. In either case, the comment is delimited by the end of the line. Although many programmers sprinkle their code with comments, that shouldn’t be necessary if you write your code so it’s easy to read and under- stand. Instead, you should use comments only to clarify portions of code that are hard to understand, Then, if you change the code, you should be sure to change the comments too. That way, the comments will always accurately represent what the code does.Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL 33 A SELECT statement that’s difficult to read select invoicenumber, invoicedate, invoicetotal, invoicetotal - paymenttotal - credittotal as balancedue from invoices where invoicetotal - paymenttotal - credittotal > 0 order by invoicedate A SELECT statement that’s coded with a readable style Select InvoiceMunber, InvoiceDate, Invoicerotal, InvoiceTotal - PaymentTotal - CreditTotal As BalanceDue From Invoices Where Invoicetotal - PaynentTotal - Credittotal > 0 order By Invoicedate; A SELECT statement with a block comment i” Author: Bryan Syverson Date: 8/22/12 +7 SELECT InvoiceNunber, InvoiceDate, Invoicerotal, InvoiceTotal ~ PaynentTotal - CreditTotal AS BalanceDue FROM Invoices; A SELECT statement with a single-line comment SELECT InvoiceNunber, InvoiceDate, Invoicerotal, InvoiceTotal ~ Paynent Total - CreditTotal AS BalanceDue == The fourth colunn calculates the balance die for each invoice FROM Invoices; Coding recommendations Start each new clause on a new line. ¢ Break long clauses into multiple lines and indent continued lines. ‘© Capitalize the first letter of each keyword and each word in column and table names. «End cach statement with a semicolon (:). ‘© Use comments only for portions of code that are difficult to understand. How to code a comment © Tocode a block comment, type /* at the start of the block and #/ at the end. To code a single-line comment, type ~ followed by the comment. Description ‘© Line breaks, white space, indentation, and capitalization have no effect on the operation of a statement. ‘© Comments can be used to document what a statement does or what specific parts of a statement do. They are not executed by the system. Note © Throughout this book, SQL keywords are capitalized so they're easier to identity. However, it’s not necessary or customary to capitalize SQL keywords in your own code. Figure 1-15 SQL coding guidelines34 Section | An introduction to SQL How to work with other database objects In addition to the tables you've already leamed about, relational databases can contain other objects. Inthe two topics that follow, you'll be introduced to four of those objects: views, stored procedures, triggers, and user-defined functions. Then, in section 4, you'll earn more about how to code and use these objects. How to work with views A viewis.a predefined query that’s stored in a database. To create a view, you use the CREATE VIEW statement as shown in figure I-16. This statement causes the SELECT statement you specify to be stored with the database, In this case, the CREATE VIEW statement creates a view named VendorsMin that retrieves three columns from the Vendors table. Once you've created the view, you can refer to it instead ofa table in most SQL statements. For this reason, a View is sometimes referred to as a viewed table, For example, the SELECT statement inthis figure refers to the VendorsMin view rather than to the Vendors table, Notice that this SELECT statement makes use of the * operator, which causes all three of the columns defined by the view to be returned. If you choose to, you can let a user query certain views but not query the tables on which the views are based. In this way, views can be used to restrict, the columns and rows of a table thatthe user can see. In addition, you can simplify a user’s access to one or more tables by coding complex SELECT queries as views.Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL A CREATE VIEW statement for a view named VendorsMin CREATE VIEW VendorsMin AS SELECT VendorName, VendorState, VendorPhone FROM Vendors; The virtual table that's represented by the view Tears Verdetiste | VandePrane 1 UB Fost Sonic yw (20g 555-1205, 2 “Tira cmraton Bie Ce 0 (ann 555.950 3 Resier of Coprsits oc NULL 2 circ a (np sssa725 5 Newbige Book Cube N (eap sss.se0| 5 Calta Cranber OF Commerce Ch (916) 5555570 7. Tonme Advetisre Mating Sves CA NULL 3 BF ndaties 7 (6 555151 9 Panic Gas & Bec a enn 5555061 - A SELECT statement that uses the VendorsMin view SELECT * FROM VendorsMin WHERE Vendorstate = 'CA' ORDER BY VendorNane; The result set that’s returned by the SELECT statement Teietone Verdatide Varian [ible Oe Enioes “7 77] cA ss s5sem00 Sa) hee ce cA conn sssame 3 ASCSors ca NUL 4 Ate Lab ca mig 553000 5 etalran ry Sie. Fe Ck a9 s5s058e § Bilndation ca (556551651 7 Bldones cA NULL 2 Bann Bet ne cA iss9sssi06 9. Barca cn Asoites CA 98559807 p Description # A view consists of'a SELECT statement that’s stored with the database. Because views are stored as part of the database, they can be managed independently of the applications that use them. «A view behaves like a virtual table, Since you can code a view name anywhere you'd code a table name, a view is sometimes called a viewed table. Views can be used to restrict the data that a user is allowed to access orto present data in a form that’s easy for the user to understand, In some databases, users may be allowed to access data only through views. Figure 1-16 How to work with views 3536 © Section 1 An introduction to SOL How to work with stored procedures, triggers, and user-defined functions stored procedure is a set of one or more SQL statements that are stored together in a database, To create a stored procedure, you use the CREATE PROCEDURE statement as shown in figure 1-17. Here, the stored procedure contains a single SELECT statement. To use the stored procedure, you send a request for it to be executed. One way to do that is to use the Transact-SQL EXEC statement as shown in this figure, You can also execute a stored proce- dure from an application program by issuing the appropriate statement. How you do that depends on the programming language and the API you’re using to access the database. ‘When the server receives the request, it executes the stored procedure. If the stored procedure contains a SELECT statement like the one in ths figure, the result set is sent back to the calling program. If the stored procedure contains INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements, the appropriate processing is performed. Notice that the stored procedure in this figure accepts an input parameter named @State from the calling program. The value of this parameter is then substituted for the parameter in the WHERE clause so that only vendors in the specified state are included in the result set. When it’s done with its processing, a stored procedure can also pass output parameters back to the calling program. In addition, stored procedures can include control-cf flow language that deter- mines the processing that’s done based on specific conditions. You'll learn more about how to code stored procedures in chapter 15. ‘Atriggeris a special type of stored procedure that’s executed automatically when an insert, update, or delete operation is executed on a table or when a DDL statement is executed on a database. Triggers are used most often to validate data before a row is added or updated, but they can also be used to maintain the relationships between tables or to provide information about changes to the definition of a database. ‘Auuser-defined function, ot UDF, is also a special type of procedure. After it performs its processing, a UDF can return a single value or an entire table to the calling program. You'll learn how to code and use user-defined functions and triggers in chapter 15.Chapter 1 An introduction to relational databases and SQL 37 A CREATE PROCEDURE statement for a procedure named spVendorsByState CREATE PROCEDURE spVendorsByState @State char(2) AS SELECT VendorName, VendorState, VendorPhone FROM Vendors WHERE VendorState = @state ORDER BY VendorNane; A statement that executes the spVendorsByState stored procedure EXEC spVendorsByState 'CA'; The result set that's created when the stored procedure is executed Tendon Veuaae _VePhare : 1 (bey Oc Rains" ca 595550000 cE 2 resem Bere a on sss 2 ASS a NULL 4 Aik abe a (79885900 5 Betcanenn sty Ses he CA (05 5550504 5 Bendre ca (559 285151 7 fenee a NULL 2 Bivona Bete ns a 559 8855106, 3. Benched dhs Ascees CA 198853587, | Concepts # Astored procedureis one or more SQL statements that have been compiled and stored with the database. A stored procedure can be started by application code on the client. «Stored procedures can improve database performance because the SQL statements in each procedure are only compiled and optimized the first time they're executed. In contrast, SQL statements that are sent from a client to the server have to be compiled and optimized every time they're executed. # Inaddition to SELECT statements, a stored procedure can contain other SQL statements such as INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE. It can also contain control- Microsoft SQL Server 2012 program group. To start one of these tools, just select it from that program group. ‘The easiest way to start Books Online is to use the Management Studio. See figure 2-15 for details. Figure 2-1 The SQL Server 2012 tools52 Section | An introduction to SOL How to start and stop the database engine If you've installed SQL Server Express on your own system, you can use the SQL Server Configuration Manager to start and stop the database engine as. described in figure 2-2. By default, the database engine starts automatically when the operating system starts, which is usually what you want. However, you may occasionally need to stop and then restart the engine. For example, some changes you make to the database server won't go into effect until you restart the engine. By the way, if you simply want to find out if the database engine is running, you can do that by selecting SQL Server 2012 Services in the left pane. Then, you can look at the State column in the right pane. In this figure, for example, the Configuration Manager shows that the SQL Server Express database engine is running. How to enable remote connections When you install SQL Server 2012, remote connections are disabled by default, This is a security precaution that prevents other computers from con- necting to this instance of SQL Server before it has been properly secured. As a result, if you have installed SQL Server 2012 and you want to allow other computers to be able to access this instance of SQL Server, you must enable remote connections. To do that, you can use the SQL Server Configuration Manager tool as described in figure 2-2. Of course, if databases that contain sensitive data are running under this instance of SQL Server, you'll want to secure the database properly before you enable remote connections.Chapter 2. How to use the Management Studio The SQL Server Configuration Manager (Services) Basectremtioe Tec Wen_ Feb Coser ors 19 evergreen ne gene’ ff Settee never cogeten ‘B satunecnetacatgusin The SQL Server Configuration Manager (Network Configuration) Basec creme Tie icon View Feb lee) 2/5 318 95 ene ceniguan inp Uecd| pctre Sat “Feed Morey tne FheretFice Date BSR tame chow Cotgetin Description After you install SQL Server Express, the database server will start automatically each time you start your PC by default. ‘* To display the Configuration Manager, select Start-All Programs Microsoft SQL Server 2012-XContiguration Tools SQL Server Configuration Manager. ‘To start or stop a service, select the service in the right pane, and use the buttons in the toolbar to start or stop the service. «To change the start mode for a service, right-click on the service in the right pane, select the Properties command to display the properties for the service, select the Service tab, and select the start mode you want from the Start Mode combo box. «By default, remote connections are disabled for SQL Server 2012, To enable them, expand the SQL Server Network Configuration node and select the Protocols node for the server. Then, right-click on the protocol you want to enable and select the Enable command. Figure 2-2 How to work with the database server 5354 Section | An introduction to SQL An introduction to the Management Studio Once the SQL Server database engine is installed, configured, and running, you can use the Management Studio to connect to an instance of the SQL Server database engine, Then, you can use the Management Studio to work with the SQL Server database engine as described throughout this chapter. How to connect to a database server When you start the Management Studio, a dialog box like the one in figure 2-3 is displayed. This dialog box lets you select the instance of SQL Server you want to connect to, and it lets you enter the required connection information, As you can see in this figure, you can use one of two types of authenti to connect to a server. In most cases, you can select the Windows Authentica- tion option to let Windows supply the appropriate login name and password for you. However, if you aren’t able to use Windows Authentication, you can use SQL Server authentication, For example, you may need to use SQL Server authentication if you're accessing your school’s or company's server. In that case, you can contact the database administrator to get an appropriate SQL Server login name and password, For more information about both types of authentication, please refer to chapter 18.Chapter2 How touse the Management Studio 85 How to connect using SQL Server authentication ieee YP Bi Servers cs ecco semi (ieee = 2 = ee = 1 haber Ca) [ort] (—] Description ‘© When you start the Management Studio, it displays a dialog box that allows you to specify the information that’s needed to connect to the appropriate database server. ‘To connect to a database server, you use the Server Name combo box to enter or select a path that specifies the database server. You begin by entering the name of the computer, followed by a backslash, followed by the name of the SQL Server database server. «To connect to the SQL Server Express database engine when it’s running on your PG, you can use the localhost keyword to specify your computer as the host machine, and you can use “SqlExpress” to specify SQL Server Express as the database engine. Ifyou select Windows authentication, SQL Server will use the login name and password that you use for your computer to verify that you are authorized to connect to the database server. # Ifyou select SQL Server authentication, you'll need to enter an appropriate login name and password, This type of authentication is typically used only with non- Windows clients. Figure 2-3 How to connect to a database server56 Section 1 An introduction to SOL How to navigate through the database objects Figure 2-4 shows how to use the Management Studio to navigate through the database objects that are available from the current database server. By default, the Object Explorer window is displayed on the left side of the Man- agement Studio window. If it isn’t displayed, you can use the View menu to display it This window displays the instance of SQL Server that the Management Studio is connected to, all of the databases that are attached to this instance of SQL Server, and all objects within each database, These objects include tables, columns, keys, constraints, triggers, indexes, views, stored procedures, func tions, and so on. To navigate through the database objects displayed in the Object Explorer, you can click on the plus (+) and minus (-) signs to the left of each node to expand or collapse the node. In this figure, for example, I expanded the Data- bases node. That way, all databases on the server are shown. Then, I expanded the node for the database named AP to browse through all of the objects for this database, and I expanded the Tables node for the AP database to view all of the tables for this database. Finally, I expanded the Vendors table node to show the types of database objects that are available for a table. To work with a specific object, you can right-click on it to display a short- cut menu. To view or modify the design of a table, for example, you can right- click on the table and select the Design command. You'll learn how to use this command later in this chapter. ‘When you're working with the Management Studio, you may occasionally ‘want to free up more space for the pane that’s displayed to the right of the Object Explorer. To do that, you can click on the AutoHlide button that’s dis- played in the top right of the Object Explorer. This bution looks like a pushpin, and it automatically hides the Object Explorer when you click on it. Then, a tab for the Object Explorer is displayed on the left side of the Management Studio, and you can display the window by pointing to this tab, You can turn off the AutoHlide feature by displaying the window and clicking on the AutoHide button again, Before I go on, I want to point out the qualifier that’s used on all of the table names in this figure: dbo, This qualifier indicates the schema that the tables belong to. In SQL Server, a schema is a container that holds objects. If you don’t specify a schema when you create an object, it's stored in the default schema, dbo. As you'll learn in chapter 18, you can use schemas to make it easier to implement the security for a database. For now, you can assume that all the objects you work with are stored in the dbo schema.Chapter2 How to use the Management Studio «57 The SQL Server Management Studio Fak sn tae = 2 ca Sytem Tater © Gs tae (Ga Panay Fd sevcebotr Eh Ste | senee Description «The Management Studio is a graphical tool that you can use to work with the objects in a SQL Server database. «Ifthe Object Explorer isn’t displayed, you can use the View menu to display it, You can close this window by clicking the Close button at the top of the window. © Tonavigate through the database objects displayed in the Object Explorer, click on the plus (+) and minus (-) signs to the left of each node to expand or collapse the node. To display a menu of commands for working with an object, right-click on the object. ‘If you want to automatically hide the Object Explorer, you can click on the AutoHide button at the top of the Object Explorer. Then, you can display the ‘window by pointing to the Object Explorer tab that’s displayed along the left side of the Management Studio window. Figure 2-4 Howto navigate through the database objects58 Section | An introduction to SOL How to manage the database files Before you can work with the objects that are stored within a database, you need to create the database and its objects. If you have the files for an existing SQL Server database, the easiest way to create the database is to attach those files to the database server. How to attach a database Figure 2-5 shows how to use the Management Studio to attach the database files for a SQL Server database to an instance of the server. A SQL Server database consists of two types of files. The first file is the main data file, and it has an extension of mdf. The second file is the log file, and it has an extension of ldf. If you have the data file for a database, the easiest way to attach the data- base is to use the existing data file. To do that, you right-click on the Databases folder and select the Attach Database command to display the Attach Databases dialog box. Then, you can click on the Add button and use the resulting dialog box to select the maf file for the database, This should add both the datafile and the log file for the database to the Database Details pane at the bottom of the dialog box. In this figure, for example, the Attach Databases dialog box shows both the mdf and ldf files for the database named AP, Finally, click OK to attach the database. If you want to attach a database that doesn’t have a log file, or if you want to create a new log file for a database, you can remove the log file for the database before you click the OK button. To do that, select the log file in the Database Details pane and click the Remove button. Then, when you click the OK button, the Management Studio will create a new log fle for the database. Before you attach database files, you need to decide where you'd like to store them, In most cases, you'll store them in the default directory shown in this figure. This is the directory where SQL Server 2012 stores the database files for databases you create from scratch, For example, when you run the script that creates the databases for this book as described in appendix B, SQL Server will store the database files in this directory. If you want to store the files for a database in a different location, though, you can do that too. You just need to remember where you store them. How to detach a database After you attach a database file, you will sometimes need to detach it. I, for example, you try to move a databasefile that’s attached to a server, you'll getan error message that indicates thatthe file isin use. To get around this, you can detach the database file as described in figure 2-5. Then, you can move the database file and reattach it to the server later.Chapter2 How to use the Management Studio 59 The Attach Databases dialog box Sn hue (testo ans [__MOFFieacsin abo Nae Asche Owner) Fe Tipe Gree Ae Pah Pagan Fn Mot SOL Sve. The default directory for SQL Server 2012 databases C:\Program Files\wicrosoft SQL Server 2012\MSSQLL1 .SQUEKPRESS\MSSQL\DATA Description © Toattach a database, right-click on the Databases folder and select the Attach Database command to display the Attach Databases dialog box shown above. Then, click on the Add button and use the resulting dialog box to select the mdf file for the database. This should add both the data file and the log file forthe database to the Database Details pane at the bottom of the dialog box. Finally, click OK to attach the database. Ifyou want to attach a database that doesn’t have @ log file, or if you want to create a new log file for a database, you can remove the log file for the database before you click the OK button, To do that, select the log file in the Database Details pane and click the Remove button. To detach a database, right-click on its icon and select the Tasks->Detach com- mand to display the Detach Database dialog box. Then, click on the OK button. Figure 2-5 Howto attach or detach a database60 Section 1 An introduction to SOL How to back up a database ‘Whenever you're working with a database, and especially before you begin experimenting with new features, it’s a good idea to back up the database as shown in figure 2-6. Then, if you accidentally modify or delete data, you can easily restore it. By default, the Management Studio creates a full backup of the database and it stores the file for this database in the Backup directory shown in this figure. The file for the backup is the name of the database with an extension of bak. In this figure, for example, the backup file for the AP database is named APbak. By default, the backup is set to expire in zero days, which means that the backup file will be saved on disk until the backup is run again, Then, the old backup file will be replaced by the new backup. For the purposes of this book, those settings are usually adequate, However, if they aren’t, you can use an ineremental backup, or you can set the number of expiration days for the backup. How to restore a database If you need to restore a database from the backup copy, you can use the procedure described in figure 2-6, Although the Restore Database dialog box isn’t shown in this figure, you shouldn't have any trouble using it. By default, the Restore Database dialog box restores the current database to the most recent backup of the database, which is usually what you want. How ever if you want to restore the database to a specific point in time, you can use the Restore Database dialog box to specify a date and time. Then, when you click OK, SQL Server will use the log files to restore the database to the specific point in time.Chapter How to.use the Management Studio 61 The Back Up Database dialog box oP 4 Datos Eason The default directory for SQL Server 2012 database backups C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server 2012\NSSQLL1.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\Backup Description To back up a database, right-click on the database and select the Tasks->Back Up command to display the Back Up Database dialog box. For the purposes of this book, the default settings are usually adequate for backing up the database. As a result, you can usually click OK to back up the database. # To restore a database, right-click on the database and select the Tasks-Restore-)Database command to display the Restore Database dialog box. Then, click OK to restore the database. This replaces the current database with the ‘most recent backup of the database. Figure 2-6 How to back up and restore a database62 Section | An introduction to SOL How to set the compatibility level for a database ‘The SQL Server 2012 database engine is backwards compatible and can run older versions of SQL Server databases as if they were running under an older version of the SQL Server database engine. As a result, after you attach a database, you may want to change the compatibility level for the database so it's appropriate for your purposes as described in figure For example, if you attach database files that were originally created under SQL Server 2008 to the SQL Server 2012 database engine, the compatibility level will remain set to SQL Server 2008, As a result, you will still be able to use most SQL Server 2008 features, even ones that have been deprecated, and you won't be able to use new SQL Server 2012 features. If that’s ‘vant, you can leave the compatibility level set as itis. However, i try using new SQL Server 2012 features with this database, you need to change the compatibility level to SQL Server 2012.Chapter How touse the Management Studio 63 The Options page of the Database Properties dialog box Gommanee ls He | Pomsaens Cnty ve [Fence | oe te ee Bula fa oe AS eas To Og ex Gre Saesaoeess Ser sin Ese ye - FILESTREAM Ner-Tresacied Acces Wevceecicoms | (mana pereteren ic hat ‘Mow Sede elon Description The SQL Server 2012 database engine is backwards compatible and can run older versions of SQL Server databases just as if they were running under an older version of the SQL Server database engine. ‘© To set the compatibility level for a database to SQL Server 2012, right-click the database, select the Properties command, click on the Options item, and select SQL Server 2012 from the Compatibility Level drop-down lis. Figure 2-7 Howto set the compatibility level for a database64 Section | An introduction to SQL How to view and modify the database Before you use SQL to query a database, you need to know how the data- base is defined. In particular, you need to know how the columns in each table are defined and how the tables are related. In addition, you may need to modify the database definition so it works the way you want. How to view the database diagrams The easiest way to view the relationships between the tables in a database is to display a database diagram for the database as described in figure 2-8, In this figure, for example, the database diagram shows the relationships between five of the tables in the AP database. In addition, this diagram shows the names of each column in each table. For a database that doesn’t contain many tables, like the AP database, a single database diagram may be adequate for the database. However, for a database that contains a large number of tables, it may be helpful to use several database diagrams. Then, each diagram can focus on a subset of related tables within the database. ‘When you first display a database diagram for a database, the tables may be placed in an illogical order, and the lines that indicate the relationships between the tables may be tangled, This makes the diagram difficult to read. To fix this, you can use standard Windows techniques to move and size the tables in the diagram, For example, you can drag the title bar of a table to move it, you can drag the edge ofa table to resize it,and you can right-click anywhere in the diagram to get a context-sensitive shortcut menu. You can use these menus to add or remove tables from the diagram, or to automatically size a table. With a bit of fiddling around, you should be able to organize your diagram so it’s easy to see the relationships between the tables. ‘When you display a database diagram, the relationships between tables are displayed as links as shown in this figure. You can tell what type of relationship exists between two tables by looking at the endpoints of the link. The “one” side is represented by a key, and the “many” side is represented by an infinity symbol. In this diagram, al of the relationships are one-to-many. For example, one row in the Vendors table can be related to many rows in the Invoices table. As you review this diagram, notice that you can’t tell which columns in each table form the relationship. However, you can see which columns are defined as primary key columns. As you may remember from chapter 1, these are the columns that are typically used on the “one” side of the relationships. From that information, you should be able to figure out which columns identify the foreign keys by reading the names of the columns. For example, it’s fairly obvious that the DefaultAccountNo column in the Vendors table is related to the AccountNo column in the GLAccounts table. If you can’t determine the rela- tionships just by reading the column names, you can review the primary and foreign keys for each table by using the Object Explorer as described in the next figure.Chapter2 How touse the Management Studio 65 The relationships between the tables in the AP database TNE PESGLPASAP” GRGIRNET- MesoaR EQ Ene Waragenen Sua Bane Tie ER View Pee Deg TleGeigrer OnsteeDigren Tock Wasow Hep id |B Nevdoey Uy eb Z| ha | ib |Taevew” [o/ 8 8 [dS osc, 2 Ga seve Ones 3 Becton GtAccounte 1 scout InvoiceLinettems 1 Prceiguce IrrscinehenDecinion Description # Database diagrams can be used to illustrate the relationships between the tables in a database. # To view a database diagram, expand the Database Diagrams node for the database, and double-click on the diagram you want to display, If you get a dialog box that says that the database doesn’t have one or more of the required support objects for database diagramming, you can select Yes to create the support objects. ‘© The relationships between the tables in the diagram appear as links, where the endpoints of the links indicate the type of relationship. A key indicates the “one” side of a relationship, and the infinity symbol (cc) indicates the “many” side of a relationship. ‘©The primary key fora table appears as a key icon that’s displayed to the left of the column or columns that define the primary key. You can use standard Windows techniques to move and size the tables in a database diagram to make the diagram easier to understand. Figure 2-8 Howto view the relationships between tables66 Section | An introduction to SQL If necessary, you can use a database diagram to add columns, to remove columns, or to change the names of existing columns. However, these changes actually modify the definition of the database. Asa result, you'll only want to use them if the database is under development and you're sure that existing code doesn’t depend on any existing columns that you delete or modify. To view the column definitions of a table, you can use the Object Explorer to expand the Columns node for a table as shown in figure 2-9. In this figure, for example, the Object Explorer shows the columns for the Vendors table. This, shows the name and data type for each column, along with an indication of whether or not it can contain null values. In addition, the columns that define keys are marked with a key icon, Here, the first key icon indicates that the VendorID column is the primary key (PK), and the next two key icons indicate that the DefaultermsID and DefaultAccountNo columns are foreign keys (FK). How to modify the column definitions If you want to modify the columns in a table, or if you want to view more detailed information about a column, you can display the table in a Table Designer tab. To do that, right-click on the table and select the Design com- mand, In this figure, for example, you can see that the Table Designer tab for the Vendors table is displayed on the right side of the Management Studio. The Table Designer tab is divided into two parts. The top of the tab shows three columns that display the name and data type for the column as well as whether the column allows null values. Ifyou want, you can use these columns to modify these values. For example, if you don’t want to allow null values for a column, you can remove the appropriate check mark from the Allow Nulls column. If you want to display additional information about a column, you can select the column by clicking on its row selector. Then, additional properties are displayed in the Column Properties tab that’s displayed at the bottom of the window. In this figure, for example, the properties for the DefaultTermsID column are displayed. As you can see, these properties indicate that this column has a default value of 3, Note that the properties that are available change depending on the data type of the column, For a column with the varchar data type, for example, the properties also indicate the length of the column. You'll Jeam more about that in chapter 8.Chapter 2 The columns in the Vendors table How to use the Management Studio 67 RN POGLPASSAP da Nears Wasa Saver Norognen Soa Rani) ee ew Pot Deby TleDeigner Took Winton Hp El Sperber BS iketactate = vendercey vetted {Penden at at) &Bveraonsne ate et eras w l 2 erase all ence rea eta) vente nat SB endopcodrhu nl) &B veranhone aa nl Bence 2 venancomuctName el) 4 Seaniamad cme etna 4 cetacean Caann pein ca) ca chs) ua) a) ca) cs) vie) a Descripti ion ‘To view the columns fora table, expand the Tables node, expand the node for the table, and expand the Columns node. This displays the columns in the Object Explorer. «To modify the columns for a table, expand the Tables node, right-click on the table, and select the Design command to display the table in a Table Designer tab, Then, you can click on the row selector to the left of the column name to display the properties for the column in the Column Properties tab at the bottom of the win- dow, Ifnecessary, you can use the Table Designer tab or the Column Properties tab to modify the properties for a column, Figure 2-9 How to view or modify the column definitions of a table68 = Section | An introduction to SOL How to view the data of a table If you want to quickly view some data fora table, you can right-click on the table and select the Select Top 1000 Rows command. This automatically generates and executes a query that displays the top 1000 rows of the table in a Results tab that’s displayed below the generated query. This works similarly to entering and executing a query as shown in figure 2-1, but it’s faster since the query is automatically generated and executed. How to modify the data of a table For tables that have more than 200 rows, you'll need to use SQL statements to modify the data for the table. However, for smaller tables such as the Terms table, the Management Studio provides an easy way to modify the data for the table, To do that, you can right-click on the table and select the Edit Top 200 Rows command. This displays the top 200 rows of the table in an editable grid. In figure 2-10, for example, the Terms table is shown after the Edit Top 200 Rows command has been executed on it. Since this table has fewer than 200 rows, this allows you to edit the entire table. Once you execute the Edit Top 200 Rows command on a table, you can insert, update, or delete the data for the table For example, you can insert a new row by entering it in the row at the bottom of the grid that contains NULL values, You can update existing data by clicking on the data you want to update and editing the data, And you can delete an existing row by right-clicking on the row selector to the left of the row and selecting the Delete command. ‘When you update the data for an existing row, the changes aren’t committed to the database until you move the cursor to a different row. In this figure, for example, I have changed the number of days for the fifth row from 90 to 80. However, the changes haven’t been committed to the database yet. That's why a red warning icon is displayed after the data for the second and third columns in this row. AS a result, you can press the Esc key to roll back these changes. Or, you can move the cursor to another row to commit the changes to the database.Chapter How touse the Management Studio 69 The data in the Terms table with a row being modified (TN PEG LPASSAP a Tern Moe SQ Sar Mange Sa Ban) Redeye 30 Medway 2 nesweays 3 1 Ga Date ayae Neda 3 eonstan Ned dy® 9 Description ‘To view the data fora table, expand the Tables node, right-click on the table, and select the Select Top 1000 Rows command. This automatically generates and executes a query that displays the top 1000 rows of the table. ‘To modify the data fora table, expand the Tables node, right-click on the table, and select the Edit Top 200 Rows command, This displays the top 200 rows of the table in an editable grid, Then, you can use the grid to insert, update, or delete data from the table. Figure 2-10 How to view or modify the data of a table70 Section 1 An introduction to SOL How to work with que Now that you know how to use the Management Studio to attach a database and view the definition for that database, you're ready to learn how to use this tool to enter and execute queries. You can use this tool to test the queries that are presented throughout this book. As you will see, the Management Studio is powerful tool that makes it easy to work with queries. How to enter and execute a query To enter and edit queries, the Management Studio provides a Query Editor window like the one in figure 2-11. The Query Editor is specifically designed for writing Transact-SQL statements, but it works like most text editors, To begin, you can open a new Query Editor window by clicking on the New Query button in the toolbar. Or, you can open an existing query in a Query Editor window by clicking on the Open button in the toolbar as described in figure 2-13, Once the Query Editor is open, you can use standard techniques to enter or edit the statement in this window. As you enter statements, you'll notice that the Query Editor automatically applies colors to various elements. For example, keywords are displayed in blue by default, and literal values are displayed in red. This makes your statements easier to read and understand and can help you identify coding errors. In addition, you'll notice that the Query Editor uses the IntelliSense feature to automatically display completion lists that you can use to enter parts of the SQL statement. In this figure, for example, one of these lists is being used to enter the InvoiceDate column. As you gain experience with the Management Studio, you'll find that IntelliSense can help you enter most types of SQL statements, even complex ones. ‘When using IntelliSense, you'll want to be sure that you identify the database the query uses before you start entering the query. That way, IntelliSense can include the names of the tables the database contains in the completion lists. To identify the database, you can select it from the Available Databases combo box in the toolbar. In addition, it’s often helpful to enter the table name before you enter the columns, That way, IntelliSense can include the column names for the table in the completion lists. By default, the IntelliSense feature is on, Since this feature can save you a lot of typing and reduce errors in your code, that’s usually what you want. However, it’s possible to turn some or all parts of this feature off. In addition, the IntelliSense feature isn’t able to work correctly if you aren’t connected to the correct SQL Server database engine or if your SQL statement contains some types of errors. As a result, if IntelliSense isn’t working properly on your system, you should make sure that it’s turned on, that you're connected to the database, and that your statement doesn’t contain errors. To execute a query, you can press F5 or click the Execute button in the toolbar, If the statement returns data, that data is displayed in the Results tab atChapter2 How touse the Management Studio 71 A SELECT statement with a completion list Available Databases Execute Query Editor combo box button window eating att SA al Neh Sve Mahe Se | Fe Ge vex qouy Peas Dat. Taae ee fe ai dS novcney 5b Bk 2B oo =o hla > ia: as tal wt tele » Den 8 v3) 2h Gomes 4131 8 EE 5 Of vhost SQLS Sever 92= ‘rte Dts [mace a, SF tmaeebcdse [Pods [gnc Description To open a new Query Editor window, click on the New Query button in the toolbar. To open a saved query in a Query Editor window, click on the Open button in the toolbar as described in figure 2-13. # Toselect the database that you want to work with, use the Available Databases combo box in the toolbar. # Toentera SQL statement, type it into the Query Editor window. # As you enter a SQL statement, the IntelliSense feature automatically displays completion lists that help you complete the statement. To select an item from a list, use the Up or Down arrow key to select the item and press the Tab key. To hide a list, press the Ese key. To manually display a list, press Alt+Right-arrow or Ctrl4J. # Toexecute a SQL statement, press the F5 key or click the Execute button in the toolbar, Ifthe statement retrieves data, the data is displayed in the Results tab that’s displayed at the bottom of the Query Editor. Otherwise, a message is displayed in the Messages tab that’s displayed at the bottom of the Query Editor. Figure 2-11 How to enter and execute a query72 Section 1 An introduction to SOL the bottom of the Query Editor. In this figure, for example, the result set that’s returned by the execution of a SELECT statement is displayed in the Results tab, If you execute an action query, the Messages tab is displayed instead of the Results tab, This tab will contain an indication of the number of rows that were affected by the query. The Messages tab is also used to provide error informa- tion, as you'll see in figure 2-12. How to handle syntax errors ‘When you are entering a SQL statement, the IntelliSense feature will display wavy red underlining beneath any parts of the SQL statement that contain errors, In figure 2-13, for example, wavy red underlining is displayed beneath the first column in the SELECT statement, the InvoiceNum column. ‘The reason for this error is that there isn’t a column with this name in the Invoices table of the AP database, which is the selected database. As a result, you can correct this error by entering a valid column name, such as InvoiceNumber. Ifan error occurs during the execution of a SQL statement, an error mes- sage is displayed in the Messages tab of the Query Editor. In this figure, for example, the error message indicates that InvoiceNum column is invalid, This, of course, is the same error that was detected by the IntelliSense feature. One common error when working with SQL statements is to forget to select the correct database from the Available Databases combo box. In this figure, the AP database is selected, which is the comect database for the statement that’s entered. However, if the ProductOrders database was selected, this statement would contain many errors since the Invoices table and its columns don't exist in that database. To correct this mistake, you can simply select the appropriate database for the statement. This figure also ists some other common causes of errors. As you can see, these errors are caused by incorrect syntax. When an error is caused by invalid syntax, you can usually identify and correct the problem without much trouble. In some cases, though, you won't be able to figure out the cause of an error by the information that’s provided by IntelliSense or the Messages tab. Then, you can get additional information about the error by looking in Books Online. Or, you can search the Internet to see if someone else has encountered a similar error and posted the solution for it.Chapter How touse the Management Studio 73 How the Management Studio displays an error message se aes SEES mone BF Mw ne Men Sud ane) He SE Her Gey Fost Bg Toh Win dl DNevoy 425 S) kG) 6 Gl 1 Ga Spee (Gramma Fd sect Eh Ste (Ga sees a (APstOMe Common causes of errors ‘Forgetting to select the correct database from the Available Databases combo box Misspelling the name of a table or column Misspelling a keyword Omitting the closing quotation mark for a character string Description «Before you execute a statement, IntelliSense may display wavy red underlining, beneath the parts of a SQL statement that contain errors. ‘¢ If an error occurs during the execution of a SQL statement, the Management Studio displays an error message in the Messages tab of the Query Editor, ‘© Most errors are caused by incorrect syntax and can be detected and corrected without any additional assistance. If not, you can get more information about an error by looking it up in Books Online. Figure 2-12 How to handle syntax errors74 Section 1 An introduction to SOL How to open and save queries After you get a query working the way you want it to work, you may want to save it. Then, you can open it and run it again later or use it as the basis for a new query. To do that, you use the techniques in figure 2-13. If you've used other Windows programs, you shouldn’t have any trouble opening and saving query files. To save a new query, for example, or to save a modified query in the original file, you use the standard Save command. To save modified query in a new file, you use the standard Save As command. And to ‘open a query, you use the standard Open command, Note that when you save a query, it’s saved with a file extension of sq]. This is illustrated in the Open File dialog box in this figure. As you work with queries, you may find it helpful to open two or more queries at the same time. To do that, you can open additional Query Editor windows by starting a new query or by opening an existing query. After you open two or more windows, you can switch between the queries by clicking on the appropriate tab. Then, if necessary, you can cut, copy, and paste code from one query to another. If you open many queries and not all tabs are visible, you can use the Active Files list to switch between queries. To display this list, click on the drop-down. arrow that’s displayed to the right of the Query Editor tabs. Then, select the {query you want from the list of active files.Chapter 2. How to use the Management Studio The Open File dialog box ( settopackl- aan re Gl Mani Sores Mauger) aNerQiey beh 3 aS] ‘awe Doce Sree 2 Pence: | cae case Sen bite hoc) as SB nstng ve) remem) > Description © Tosave a query, click the Save button in the toolbar or press Ctrl+S. Then, if necessary, use the Save File As dialog box to specify a file name for the query. To open a query, click the Open button in the toolbar or press Ctrl+O. Then, use the Open File dialog box shown above to locate and open the query. ‘¢ To save all open queries, click the Save All button in the toolbar. Then, if necessary, use the Save File As dialog box to specify a file name for any queries that haven't already been named. To switch between open queries, click on the tab for the query you want to display. If you can’t see the tab, click on the drop-down arrow that’s displayed to the right of the Query Editor tabs, and select the query from the list of active files. ‘¢ Tocut, copy, and paste code from one query to another, use the standard Windows, techniques. Figure 2-13 How to open and save queries 7576 Section 1 An introduction to SOL An introduction to the Query Designer Figure 2-14 presents the Query Designer, a tool that can help you create queries using a graphical interface, In the Diagram pane, you select the tables and columns that you want to use in the query. Then, the columns you select are listed in the Criteria pane, and you can use this pane to set the criteria and sort sequence for the query. As you work in the Diagram and Criteria panes, the Query Designer generates a SQL statement and displays it in the SQL pane. ‘When you have the statement the way you want it, you can click the OK button to insert the query into the Query Editor, From the Query Editor, you can edit the text for the query and run it just as you would any other query. ‘When you first start working with a database, the Query Designer can help you become familiar with the tables and columns it contains. In addition, it can help you build simple queries quickly and easily. If you analyze the SQL stateinents that it generates, it can also help you learn SQL. Keep in mind, though, that the best way to learn SQL is to code it yourself. ‘That's why this book emphasizes the use of the Query Editor. Plus, it can be difficult, and sometimes impossible, to create certain types of complex queries using the Query Designer. Because of that, you're usually better off using the Query Editor to enter complex queries yourself. Although this figure shows how to use the Query Designer to create a SELECT statement, you should know that you can also use it to create INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements, To start one of these queries, you can right- click anywhere in the Query Designer window, select the Change To submenu, and select the type of query that you want to create.Chapter2 How touse the Management Studio 77 The Query Designer window ee —+— Diagram pane [tenon [Simeciowe of a eT Veda non ening 1 rE tier noice + tniadate bneis —— Criteria pane base cncacbwenstansty SQL pane (ae) (see) The three panes in the Query Designer window Diagram pane Displays the tables used by the query and lets you select the columns ‘you want to include i the query, Criteria pane Displays the columns selected in the Diagram pane and lets you specify the sort order and the criteria you want to use to select the rows, for the result set. You can also use this pane to selector deselect the columns that are included in the output and to create calculated values, splays the SQL statement built by the Query Designer based on the formation in the Diagram and Criteria panes. SQL pane Description You can use the Query Designer to build simple queries quickly and easily. How- ever, you may not be able to create more complex queries this way. ¢ To display the Query Designer, right-click on a blank Query Editor window and select the Design Query in Editor command. Then, you can use the Query Designer window to create the query, When you click the OK button, the query will be inserted into the Query Editor where you can edit and run it just as you would any other query. To modify a query with the Query Designer, select the query, right-click on the selection, and select the Design Query in Editor command. Figure 2-14 An introduction to the Query Designer78 Section | An introduction to SQL How to use Books Online Figure 2-15 shows how to use another useful client tool: Books Online, You can use this tool to quickly look up a wide variety of information on SQL and SQL Server. For example, you can use it to look up information about SQL statements and functions or to get more information about an error message that’s retumed by SQL Server. How to display Books Online To display Books Online, you can select the View Help command from the Help menu in the Management Studio. You can also sometimes start Books Online from the Management Studio by pressing FI or by clicking on a Help button within a dialog box. When you use any of these techniques, Books Online is displayed in your default web browser. How to look up information Once you display Books Online, you can use the full-text search feature or the table of contents that are available from the left pane of the Help Viewer to locate and display the information you need. To display the topic on the SELECT statement shown in this figure, for example, I clicked several links in the table of contents until I found the topic I wanted. I could also have located this topie by entering the statement name in the Search text box, pressing the Enter key to display a list of topics on that statement in the right pane, and then clicking the appropriate topic. Because the help information is displayed in your web browser, you can work with it just as you would any other web page. To jump to a related topic, for example, you can click on a hyperlink in the current topic. To move forward and backward through previously displayed topics, you can use the Forward and Back buttons, As a result, with a litle practice, you shouldn’t have much trouble using the Help Viewer. In addition to the Help Viewer, you can use the Help Library Manager to manage your help content. For example, you can use it to install Books Online locally so you can access it without using the Internet. If you do that, you should realize that Books Online is displayed in the Local Help Viewer instead of in your web browser. Because this viewer is similar to the viewer that’s available online, though, you shouldn't have any trouble using it. One advantage of using local help is that it’s always available even if you don’t have access to the Internet. On the other hand, local help may not always be up-to-date like online help is. Because of that, you may want fo occasionally update your local help. The Help Library Manager lets you do that too. Ita lets you choose whether you want to use online help or local help.Books Online information for co Chapter 2. How to use the Management Studio g the SELECT statement Fie Gt Ver Foote Teck Hp Foie SGC ones : SELECT (Transact-SQL) -émsdrv — Resor m chrono | okays san ee Seeradznere oontrmet —? peinesoustomte db nee sci fone cry os orcas tom [I sew bean tnen sr a eta tn Se ene np Sse ato fa cnn fr SO ee 22 (ei rome aseseon ape pualtaien) eae rar Ge edict a exo. rey y-expresson | Ler Couette: SQU) ins seer condo | of0eR yard eres [SCO paras The UN OLE and INTERSECT operas an eed teen uss combine ot =a ‘orp ess mora rasa) NTO Case anc) brace sar syaarcomeners roeker Ce ane 9 (eR cane rma sa syntax Community Content cor ere Pe ie expected Description SQL Server 2012 uses the Microsoft Help Viewer to display Books Online in your default web browser. To display Books Online, select Help->View Help from the Management Studio. The left pane of the Help Viewer displays the controls for performing a full-text search along with the table of contents, The right pane displays the last help topic that you accessed. To use full-text search, enter the text into the Search text box and then click on the magnifying glass or press the Enter key. A list of topics that contain the search text will be displayed in the right pane, and you can click on the topic you want to display. To use the table of contents, click on a topic to display it in the right pane. Ances- tors of the topic, the topic’s peers, and peers of the topic’s parent topic are dis- played in the left pane. You can also install help content locally. Then, the content is displayed by the Local Help Viewer, which works like the Books Online application in previous versions of SQL Server. You can use the Help Library Manager to choose local or online help, to check for updates, and to install or remove local content. To display this manager, choose Manage Help Settings from the Help menu. Figure 2-15 How to use Books Online 7980 Section 1 An introduction to SOL Perspective In this chapter, you leamed how to use the tools that you need to begin learning about SQL. To hegin, you learned how to start and stop the database server. Then, you learned how to use the Management Studio to connect to the database server, to attach a database, to view the definition of a database, and to execute SQL statements against that database. Finally, you learned how to use Books Online to get information about SQL Server. With that as back- ground, you're ready to go on to the next chapter where you'll start learning the details of coding your own SQL statements. Before you go on to the next chapter, though, I recommend that you install SQL Server Express and the Management Studio on your system as described in appendix A. In addition, I recommend that you download and install the databases and sample code that come with this book as described in appendix B, That way, you can begin experimenting with these tools. In particular, you can enter and execute queries like the ones described in this chapter. Or, you can open any of the queries shown in this chapter, view their code, and execute them, Finally, if this hands-on experimentation raises any questions that aren't answered by this chapter, you can use Books Online to try to answer these questions. For now, though, focus on the mechanics of using the Management Studio to enter and execute queries, and don’t worry if you don’t understand the details of how the SQL statements are coded. You'll learn the details for coding SQL statements in the chapters that follow. In the next chapter, for example, you'll learn the details for coding a SELECT statement that retrieves data froma single table. Terms database server Books Online client tools schema) database engine attach a database SQL Server 2012 Express detach a database Edition restore a database SQL Server Express database diagram SQL Server Management Studio Query Editor SQL Server Configuration IntelliSense feature ‘Manager completion list SQL Server Surface Area Query Designer ConfigurationChapter 2 How to use the Management Studio 81 Before you do the exercises for this chapter If you're working on your own PC, you'll need to set up your system as described in appendixes A and B before you can do these exercises. In particular, you'll need to install SQL Server Express and the Management Studio Express as described in appendix A. In addition, you'll need to download and install the files that come with this book as described in appendix B. Exercises 1, Use the Management Studio to view all of the databases that are available from the server. Ifthe AP database isn’t available, follow the procedure in appendix B to create it. Then, view the tables that are available from the AP database. Finally, view the columns that are available from the Invoices table. Note the primary and foreign keys of this table and the definition for each column, 2. Right-click on the Vendors table and select the Design command to display the Vendors table in a Table Designer tab, Review the properties for each column in this table. In particular, note that the VendorID column is defined as an identity column. Use the Management Studio to view the diagram for the AP database. Then, organize the tables and connecting lines in the diagram so they are easy to read. (Hint: You can use the Autosize Selected Tables button and the Arrange Tables button in the toolbar to help you do this.) Finally, review the information that’s contained in each table, note the primary key of each table, and try to identify the relationships between the tables. 4, Open a new Query Editor window and then enter this SELECT statement: SELECT VendorNane, Vendorstate FROM Vendors WHERE Vendorstate = ‘CA'; Press F5 to execute the query and display the results. If an error is displayed, correct the problem before you continue, (Hint: If you get an error message that indicates that *Vendors’ isn’t a valid object, the AP database isn’t the current database. To fix this error, select the AP database from the Available Databases combo box.) Then, save the query with a name of VendorsInCA. and close it. 5. Open the query named VendorsInCA that you saved in exercise 4, Then, click the Execute Query toolbar button to execute it. 6. Display Books Online and look up information about the Query Editor. The easiest way to do this is to use the full-text search to look up “query editor” and then select the appropriate topic. Then, click on some links in the topic, navigate to some related topics, and use the Back button to return to the original topic. Continue experimenting until you feel comfortable,The essential SQL skills This section teaches you the essential SQL coding skills for working with the data in a SQL Server database. The first four chapters in this section show you how to retrieve data from a database using the SELECT statement. In chapter 3, you'll learn how to code the basic clauses of the SELECT statement to retrieve data from a single table. In chapter 4, you'll learn how to get data fom two or more tables. In chapter 5, you'll learn how to summarize the data that you retieve. And in chapter 6, you'll learn how to code subqueries, which sre SELECT statements coded within other statements. Next, chapter 7 shows you how to use the INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements to add, update, and delete rows in a table. Chapter 8 shows you how to work with the various types of data that SQL Server supports, And finally, chapter 9 shows you how to use some of the SQL Server functions for working with data in your SQL statements, When you complete these chapters, you'll have the skills you need to code most any SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement.How to retrieve data from a single table In this chapter, you'll learn how to code SELECT statements that retrieve data from a single table. You should realize, though, that the skills covered here are the essential ones that apply to any SELECT statement you code...no matter ‘how many tables it operates on, no matter how complex the retrieval. So you'll ‘want to be sure you have a good understanding of the material in this chapter before you go on to the chapters that follow. An introduction to the SELECT statement. ‘The basie syntax of the SELECT statement. SELECT statement examples “ How to code the SELECT clause .... How to code column specications... How to name the columns ina result set How to code string expressions How to code arithmetic expressions How to use functions How to use the DISTINCT keyword to eliminate duplicate rows How to use the TOP clause to return a subset of selected rows How to code the WHERE claus How to use comparison operator wu... How to use the AND, OR, and NOT logical operators How to use the IN operator ~ How to use the BETWEEN operator How to use the LIKE operator How to use the IS NULL clause How to code the ORDER BY clause. How to sort a result set by a column name How to sort a result set by an alias, an expression, ora column number How to retrieve a range of selected rows Perspective. geessS 22886 Section 2 The essential SQL skills An introduction to the SELECT statement To help you learn to code SELECT statements, this chapter starts by presenting its basic syntax. Next, it presents several examples that will give you an idea of what you can do with this statement. Then, the rest of this chapter will teach you the details of coding this statement. The basic syntax of the SELECT statement Figure 3-1 presents the basic syntax of the SELECT statement. The syntax summary at the top of this figure uses conventions that are similar to those used in other programming manuals, Capitalized words are keywords that you have to type exactly as shown, In contrast, you have to provide replacements for the lowercase words. For example, you can enter a list of columns in place of select_list, and you can enter a table name in place of table_source, Beyond that, you can choose between the items in a syntax summary that are separated by pipes (I) and enclosed in braces ({ }) or brackets ({]). And you can omit items enclosed in brackets. If you have a choice between two or more optional items, the default item is underlined, And if an element can be coded multiple times in a statement, it's followed by an ellipsis (..). You'll see examples of pipes, braces, default values, and ellipses in syntax summaries later in this chapter. For now, if you compare the syntax in this figure with the coding examples in the next figure, you should easily see how the two are related. The syntax summary in this figure has been simplified so that you can focus on the four main clauses of the SELECT statement: SELECT, FROM, WHERE, and ORDER BY. Most of the SELECT statements you code will contain all four of these clauses. However, only the SELECT and FROM clauses are required. ‘The SELECT clause is always the first clause in a SELECT statement. It identifies the columns that will be included in the result set. These columns are retrieved from the base tables named in the FROM clause. Since this chapter focuses on retrieving data from a single table, the FROM clauses in all of the statements shown in this chapter name a single base table. In the next chapter, though, you'll learn how to retrieve data from two or more tables. ‘The WHERE and ORDER BY clauses are optional, The ORDER BY clause determines how the rows in the result set are sorted, and the WHERE clause determines which rows in the base table are included in the result set. The WHERE clause specifies a search condition that's used to filterthe rows in the base table. This search condition can consist of one or more Boolean expres- sions, ot predicates. A Boolean expression is an expression that evaluates to True or False. When the search condition evaluates to True, the row is included in the result set. In this book, I won't use the terms “Boolean expression” or “predicate” because I don’t think they clearly describe the content of the WHERE clause. Instead, I'l just use the term “search condition” to refer to an expression that evaluates to True or False.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data froma single table 87 The simplified syntax of the SELECT statement SELECT select list FROM table source (WHERE search_condition] [ORDER BY order_by list] The four clauses of the SELECT statement Cam Deseaie SELECT Describes the columns that wil be included inthe result set. FROM [Names the table from which the query will retrieve the data, WHERE Specifies the conditions that must be met for a row to be included in the result set, This clause is optional. ORDER BY Specifies how the rows in the result set will be sorted, This clause is optional Description You use the basic SELECT statement shown above to retrieve the columns speci fied in the SELECT clause from the base table specified in the FROM clause and store them ina result set. «The WHERE clause is used to flterthe rows in the base table so that only those rows that match the search condition are included in the result set. If you omit the WHERE clause, all of the rows in the base table are included. ‘© The search condition of a WHERE clause consists of one or more Boolean expres- sions, orpredicates that result in a value of True, False, or Unknown, If the combination of all the expressions is True, the row being tested is included in the result set. Otherwise, it's not. ‘Ifyou include the ORDER BY clause, the rows in the result set are sorted in the specified sequence. Otherwise, the rows are returned in the same order as they appear in the base table, In most cases, that means that they're returned in primary key sequence. Note The syntax shown above does not include all of the clauses of the SELECT state- ment. You'll learn about the other clauses later in this book. Figure 3-1 The basic syntax of the SELECT statementSection 2 The essential SQL skills SELECT statement examples Figure 3-2 presents five SELECT statement examples. All of these state- ments retrieve data from the Invoices table. If you aren’t already familiar with this table, you should use the Management Studio as described in the last chapter to review its definition. The first statement in this figure retrieves all of the rows and columns from the Invoices table. Here, an asterisk (*) is used as a shorthand to indicate that all of the columns should be retrieved, and the WHERE clause is omitted so that there are no conditions on the rows that are retrieved. Notice that this statement doesn’t include an ORDER BY clause, so the rows are in primary key sequence. You can see the results following this statement as they're displayed by the Management Studio. Notice that both horizontal and vertical scroll bars are displayed, indicating that the result set contains more rows and columns than can be displayed on the screen at one time. The second statement retrieves selected columns from the Invoices table. As you can see, the columns to be retrieved are listed in the SELECT clause. Like the first statement, this statement doesn’t include a WHERE clause, so all the rows are retrieved, Then, the ORDER BY clause causes the rows to be sorted by the InvoiceTotal column in ascending sequence. The third statement also lists the columns to be retrieved. In this case, though, the last column is calculated from two columns in the base table, CreditTotal and PaymentTotal, and the resulting column is given the name ‘TotalCredits. In addition, the WHERE clause specifies that only the invoice whose InvoicelD column has a value of 17 should be retrieved. ‘The fourth SELECT statement includes a WHERE clause whose condition specifies a range of values. In this case, only invoices with invoice dates between 01/01/2012 and 05/31/2012 are retrieved. In addition, the rows in the result set are sorted by invoice date. ‘The last statement in this figure shows another variation of the WHERE clause. In this case, only those rows with invoice totals greater than 50,000 are retrieved, Since none of the rows in the Invoices table satisfy this condition, the result set is empty.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table A SELECT statement that retrieves all the data from the Invoices table SELECT * FROM Invoices; Traced VerdaiD _ hwoeelirber _IovceDae Tnecetad PameiTad GeitTad 1 re sassiess?— aoreeaponoom sea e000 Bal? 1 assent ort2tnonorgo 40204020, 00 =o 1 esse arta ogoROD TET aR a4 1 _zo299 —avivei6oaonw 70 woo A SELECT statement that retrieves three columns from each row, sorted in ascending sequence by invoice total SELECT InvoiceNumber, InvoiceDate, InvoiceTotal FROM Invoices ORDER BY InvoiceTotal; Traore: _imoebee TraweTaa 2 1 fenton oom 60 2 Heese” zoizo119000000 600 3 umeosi2 — i2e222000000 600 4 nasa zovzarrsonmnn 995 u A SELECT statement that retrieves two columns and a calculated value for a specific invoice FROM Invoices WHERE InvoiceID = 17; SELECT InvoiceID, InvoiceTotal, CreditTotal + PaymentTotal aS TotalCredits TracelD feoslaal ToaGedte 17 om to A SELECT statement that retrieves all invoices between given d: SELECT InvoiceNumber, InvoiceDate, InvoiceTotal FROM Invoices WHERE InvoiceDate BETWEEN '2012-01-01' AND '2012-05-31' ORDER BY InvoiceDate; jates Fractirbe: pene? Pooean 7s? pire sz12506 Trvoeetre 1 aorast ono orev 000000 2oreora5 000000 2oreor- 45 on0000 TaeeTaa 600 5652 995 a0 A SELECT statement that returns an empty result set SELECT InvoiceNumber, InvoiceDate, InvoiceTotal FROM Invoices WHERE InvoiceTotal > 50000; Trrselinber InvceDse _hvekelo Figure3-2 SELECT statement examples90 Section 2 The essential SQL skills How to code the SELECT clause Figure 3-3 presents an expanded syntax for the SELECT clause. The keywords shown in the first line allow you to restrict the rows that are returned by a query. You'll lean how to code them in a few minutes. First, though, you'll lear various techniques for identifying which columns are to be included in a result set. How to code column specifications Figure 3-3 summarizes the techniques you can use to code column specifi- cations. You saw how to use some of these techniques in the previous figure. For example, you can code an asterisk in the SELECT clause to retrieve all of the columns in the base table, and you can code a list of column names sepa- rated by commas. Note that when you code an asterisk, the columns are retumed in the order that they occur in the base table. You can also code a column specification as an expression. For example, you can use an arithmetic expression to perform a calculation on two or more columns in the base table, and you can use a string expression to combine two or more string values, An expression can also include one or more functions. You'll learn more about each of these techniques in the topics that follow. But first, you should know that when you code the SELECT clause, you should include only the columns you need, For example, you shouldn't code an asterisk to retrieve all the columns unless you need all the columns. That's because the amount of data that’s retrieved can affect system performance. This is particularly important if you’re developing SQL statements that will be used by application programs.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data froma single table 91. The expanded syntax of the SELECT clause SELECT [ALL |DISTINCT] [TOP n [PERCENT] [WITH TIES}] column_specification [[AS] result_column] L, column_specification [[AS] result_column]] ... Five ways to code column specifications Basetable value All columns Column name column_name Calculated value Resultofacaleulation _Arithmetic expression (see figure 3-6) Result of aconcatenation String expression (see figure 3-5) Result ofa function Function (se figure 3-7) Column specifications that use base table values The * is used to retrieve all columns SELECT * Column names are used to retrieve specific columns SELECT VendorName, VendorCity, Vendorstate Column specifications that use calculated values An arithmetic expression is used to calculate BalanceDue SELECT InvoiceNumber, InvoiceTotal - PaymentTotal - CreditTotal AS BalanceDue Asstring expression is used to calculate FullName SELECT VendorContactFlane + ' ' + VendorContactLNane AS FullNane A function is used to calculate CurrentDate SELECT InvoiceNunber, InvoiceDate, GETDATE() AS CurrentDate Description © Use SELECT * only when you need to retrieve all of the columns from a table. Otherwise, list the names of the columns you need. Anexpression is a combination of column names and operators that evaluate to a single value. In the SELECT clause, you can code arithmetic expressions, string expressions, and expressions that include one or more functions. # After each column specification, you can code an AS clause to specify the name for the column in the result set. See figure 3-4 for details. Note The ALL and DISTINCT keywords and the TOP clause let you control the number of rows that are returned by a query. See figures 3-8 and 3-9 for details. Figure 3-3 How to code column specifications92 Section 2 The essential SQL skills How to name the columns in a result set By default, a column in a result set is given the same name as the column in the hase table, However, you can specify a different name if you need to, You can also name a column that contains a calculated value. When you do that, the new column name is called a column alias. Figure 3-4 presents two techniques for creating column aliases. The first technique is to code the column specification followed by the AS keyword and the column alias. This is the ANSI-standard coding technique, and it’s illustrated by the first example in this figure, Here, a space is added between the two words in the name of the InvoiceNumber column, the InvoiceDate column is changed to just Date, and the InvoiceTotal column is changed to Total, Notice that because a space is included in the name of the first column, it's enclosed in brackets ({J). As you'll learn in chapter 11, any name that doesn’t follow SQL Server's rules for naming objects must be enclosed in either brackets or double quotes. Column aliases can also be enclosed in single quotes. ‘The second example in this figure illustrates another technique for creating a column alias. Here, the column is assigned to an alias using an equal sign. This technique is only available with SQL Server, not with other types of databases, and is included for compatibility with earlier versions of SQL Server. So although you may see this technique used in older code, I don’t recommend it for new statements you write. ‘The third example in this figure illustrates what happens when you don’t assign an alias to a calculated column, Here, no name is assigned to the column, which usually isn’t what you want, That’s why you usually assign a name to any column that’s calculated from other columns in the base table.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from asingle table 98 Two SELECT statements that name the columns in the result set A SELECT statement that uses the AS keyword (the preferred technique) SELECT TavoiceNunber AS [Invoice Number], InvoiceDate AS Date, InvoiceTotal AS Total FROM Invoices; A SELECT statement that uses the equal operator (an older technique) SELECT [Invoice Number] = InvoiceNumber, Date = InvoiceDate, ‘Total = Invoicetotal FROM Invoices; The result set for both SELECT statements Treeline te Taal 1 [BRBRISAST 7 anrt-osoo0n00 3613333 2 was amterooom80 oan 3 Somme aterm) 1887 z 5 pamozses — an-z-160D0000 14470 saasnasi__ami-z16000000 1550 = A SELECT statement that doesn’t provide a name for a calculated column SELECT InvoiceNumber, InvoiceDate, InvoiceTotal, Invoicetotal - PaymentTotal - CreditTotal FROM Invoices; Fracture: _Imicebae TreskeTad Mb edinn nave) 1 [SOSSISET TT corrteseon00m a3 000 2 “usa or-eto00m 42 O00 ee ) 4 2a Zor Ieono0M HAT OD 5 S6nS051 Dart IGon000 T5500) = Description «By default, a column in the result set is given the same name as the column in the base table. If that’s not what you want, you can specify a column alias or substitute name for the column. # One way to name a column is to use the AS phrase as shown in the first example above. Although the AS keyword is optional, I recommend you code it for readability. # Another way to name a column is to code the name followed by an equal sign and the column specification as shown in the second example above. This syntax is unigue to Transact-SQL. «It’s generally considered a good practice to specify an alias fora column that contains a calculated value. If you don’t, no name is assigned to it as shown in the third example above. 4 Ifan alias includes spaces or special characters, you must enclose it in double quotes or brackets ({}). That's true of all names you use in Transact-SQL. SQL Server also lets you enclose column aliases in single quotes for compatibility with earlier releases. Figure 3-4 How to name the columns in a result set94 Section 2 The essential SQL skills Astring expression consists of a combination of one or more character columns and literal values. To combine, ot concatenate, the columns and values, you use the concatenation operator (+). This is illustrated by the examples in figure 3-5. The first example shows how to concatenate the VendorCity and VendorState columns in the Vendors table. Notice that because no alias is assigned to this column, it doesn’t have a name in the result set. Also notice that the data in the VendorState column appears immediately after the data in the VendorCity column in the results. That's because of the way VendorCity is defined in the database. Because it’s defined as a variable-length column (the varchar data type), only the actual data in the column is included in the result. In contrast, ifthe column had been defined with a fixed length, any spaces following the name would have been included in the result. You'll learn about data types and how they affect the data in your result set in chapter 8. ‘The second example shows how to format a string expression by adding spaces and punctuation, Here, the VendorCity column is concatenated with a string literal, or string constant, that contains a comma and a space. Then, the VendorState column is concatenated with that result, followed by a string literal that contains a single space and the VendorZipCode column. Occasionally, you may need to include a single quotation mark or an apostrophe within a literal string. If you simply type a single quote, however, the system will misinterpret it as the end of the literal string, As a result, you ust code two quotation marks in a row. This is illustrated by the third example inthis figure.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table How to concatenate string data SELECT VendorCity, VendorState, VendorCity + Vendorstate FROM Vendors; Verdot, Vendo We colar mane] 1 Neder wt Madeen q 2 “Wanngen” oc Wshrgende 3 Watngen OC Weshntond J How to format string data using literal values SELECT VendorNane, VendorCity + ', ' + VendorState + ' ' + VendorzipCode AS Address FROM Vendors; Fess 2 1 Masson, Wl50707 2 Naeralfamsbon Daa Gr Waeneon,9¢ 20080, 3 RegatarcfCopgis ——_Waehngion,0C 20589 4 bak os Pages, CA O05 = How to include apostrophes in literal values SELECT VendorNane + '''s addres: Vendorcity + ', ' + Vendorstate + ' ' + VendorZipCode FROM Vendors; oo) Tectia) A 1 “UB Postal Sevens ilies | Madan. W153707 2 Nsorl iver Dies Ales” Wein. C1090 3 Reger Comite Aes: Wasting, OC ISS 4 bis Mee on gn. A002 5 Nov BookCub cas: Wasting, ORD Calorie Geer OfCarmeest A. Secmeri,CASSR27 2 Description © Astring expression can consist of one or more character columns, one or more literal values, or a combination of character columns and literal value ‘© The columns specified ina string expression must contain string data (that means they're defined with the char or varchar data type). The literal values in a string expression also contain string data, so they can be called string literals or string constants. To create a literal value, enclose one or more characters within single quotation marks (’). # You can use the concatenation eperator(+) to combine columns and literals in a string expression. «You can include a single quote within a literal value by coding two single quotation ‘marks as shown in the third example above. Figure 3-5 How to code string expressions96 Section 2 The essential SQL skills How to code arithmetic expressions Figure 3-6 shows how to code arithmetic expressions. To start, it summa- rizes the five arithmetic operators you can use in this type of expression. Then, it presents three examples that illustrate how you use these operators. ‘The SELECT statement in the first example includes an arithmetic expres- sion that calculates the balance due for an invoice. This expression subtracts the PaymentTotal and CreditTotal columns from the InvoiceTotal column, The resulting column is given the name BalanceDue. ‘When SQL Server evaluates an arithmetic expression, it performs the operations from left to right based on the order cf precedence. This order says that multiplication, division, and modulo operations are done first, followed by addition and subtraction. I that's not what you want, you can use parentheses to specify how you want an expression evaluated. Then, the expressions in the innermost sets of parentheses are evaluated first, followed by the expressions in outer sets of parentheses. Within each set of parentheses, the expression is evaluated from left to right in the order of precedence. Of course, you can also use parentheses to clarify an expression even if they're not needed for the expression to be evaluated properly. To illustrate how parentheses and the order of precedence affect the evalua tion of an expression, consider the second example in this figure. Here, the expressions in the second and third columns both use the same operators. When SQL Server evaluates the expression in the second column, it performs the multiplication operation before the addition operation because multiplication comes before addition in the order of precedence, When SQL Server evaluates the expression in the third column, however, it performs the addition operation first because it’s enclosed in parentheses. As you can see in the result set shown here, these two expressions result in different values. ‘Although you're probably familiar with the addition, subtraction, multip! cation, and division operators, you may not be familiar with the modulo opera- tor. This operator retums the remainder of a division of two integers, This is illustrated in the third example in this figure. Here, the second column contains an expression that returns the quotient of a division operation, Note that the result of the division of two integers is always an integer. You'll learn more about that in chapter 8, The third column contains an expression that returns the remainder of the division operation. If you study this example fora minute, you should quickly see how this works.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from asingle table 97 The arithmetic operators in order of precedence = Multiplication J Division % — Modulo (Remainder) + Addition = Subtraction A SELECT statement that calculates the balance due SELECT Invoicetotal, PaymentTotal, CreditTotal, FROM Invoices; InvoiceTotal - PaymentTotal - CreditTotal AS BalanceDue Frdceloa_PamedTaal Geitleis GaareeDue ee er en) 26a an o> om 2 mses oom A SELECT statement that uses parentheses to control the sequence of operations SELECT InvoicerD, InvoiceID + 7 * 3 AS OrderOfPrecedence, (InvoicerD + 7) * 3 AS AddFirst FROM Invoices ORDER BY InvoicerD; Trace) Odairecedence Daal ee 2 a Zul? B D it 2m » A SELECT statement that uses the modulo operator SELECT InvoicerD, InvoicerD / 10 aS Quotient, InvoiceID % 10 AS Remainder FROM Invoices ORDER BY InvoicerD; Trae Gavan’ Fenander 280 8 oo 1 0 nom 4 4 4 Description ‘© Unless parentheses are used, the operations in an expression take place from left to right in the order cf precedence. For arithmetic expressions, multiplication, divi- sion, and modulo operations are done first, followed by addition and subtraction, © Whenever necessary, you can use parentheses to clarify or override the sequence of operations. Then, the operations in the innermost sets of parentheses are done first, followed by the operations in the next sets, and so on. Figure 3-6 How to code arithmetic expressions98 Section 2 The essential SQL skills How to use functions Figure 3-7 introduces you to functions and illustrates how you use them in column specifications. A function performs an operation and returns a value. For now, don’t worry about the details of how the functions shown here work. ‘You'll learn more about all of these functions in chapter 9. Instead, just focus on how they're used in column specifications. To code a function, you begin by entering its name followed by a set of parentheses. If the function requires one or more parameters, you enter them within the parentheses and separate them with commas. When you enter a parameter, you need to be sure it has the correct data type. You'll learn more about that in chapter 9. The first example in this figure shows how to use the LEFT function to extract the first character of the VendorContactFName and VendorContactLName columns. The first parameter of this function specifies the string value, and the second parameter specifies the number of characters to return. The results of the two functions are then concatenated to form initials as shown in the result set for this statement. The second example shows how to use the CONVERT function to change the data type of a value. This function requires two parameters. The first param- eter specifies the new data type, and the second parameter specifies the value to convert, In addition, this function accepts an optional third parameter that specifies the format of the returned value. The first CONVERT function shown, here, for example, converts the PaymentDate column to a character value with the format mm/dd/yy, And the second CONVERT function converts the PaymentTotal column to a variable-length character value that’s formatted with ‘commas. These functions are included in a string expression that concatenates their return values with the InvoiceNumber column and three literal values. The third example uses two functions that work with dates. The first one, GETDATE, returns the current date. Notice that although this function doesn’t accept any parameters, the parentheses are still included. The second function, DATEDIFF, gets the difference between two date values. This function requires three parameters. The first one specifies the units in which the result will be expressed. In this example, the function will return the number of days between the two dates. The second and third parameters specify the start date and the end date. Here, the second parameter is the invoice date and the third parameter is the current date, which is obtained using the GETDATE function.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table 99 A SELECT statement that uses the LEFT function SELECT VendorContactFName, VendorContactLNane, LEFT(VendorContactFNane, 1) + LEFT(VendorContactLName, 1) AS Initials FROM Vendors; Versoteasallane _ VerdataredLlone inde as Doses ff 4 rar hn a 3 las lana L P| A SELECT statement that uses the CONVERT function SELECT ‘Invoice: #' + InvoiceNumber + ', dated ' + CONVERT(char(8), PaymentDate, 1) + ' for §" + CONVERT(varchar(9), PaymentTotal, 1) FROM Invoices; Teecicrone) 1 Tinos ase 7 daa A ay re ers A SELECT statement that computes the age of an invoice SELECT InvoiceDate, GETDATE() AS 'Today''s Date’, DATEDIFF (day, InvoiceDate, GETDATE()) AS age FROM Invoices; Fraciae ___Todajs Dae Es 2 1 [oigote atti aorzoso7 wzra6 36 2 Doi20+01 oooaDD” aweesoreIIBET 2 wizgs one _ziz0so7 2133868 37 e Description # Anexpression can include any of the functions that are supported by SQL Server. A function performs an operation and returns a value. ‘A function consists of the function name, followed by a set of parentheses that contains any parameters, ot arguments, required by the function. If a function requires two or more arguments, you separate them with commas. + For more information on using functions, see chapter 9. Figure 3-7 How to use functions100 Section? The essential SQL skills How to use the DISTINCT keyword toel ate duplicate rows By default, all of the rows in the base table that satisfy the search condition you specify in the WHERE clause are included in the result set. In some cases, though, that means that the result set will contain duplicate rows, or rows whose column values are identical. If that’s not what you want, you can include the DISTINCT keyword in the SELECT clause to eliminate the duplicate rows. Figure 3-8 illustrates how this works. Here, both SELECT statements retrieve the VendorCity and VendorState columns from the Vendors table. The first statement, however, doesn’t include the DISTINCT keyword. Because of that, the same city and state can appear in the result set muitiple times. In the results shown in this figure, for example, you can see that Anaheim CA occurs twice and Boston MA occurs three times. In contrast, the second statement includes the DISTINCT keyword, so each city/state combination is included only onc Notice that, in addition to including the DISTINCT keyword, the second statement doesn’t include the ORDER BY clause. That’s because when you include the DISTINCT keyword, the result set is automatically sorted by its first column. In this case, that’s the same column that was used to sort the result set retumed by the first statement.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table 104 A SELECT statement that returns all rows SELECT VendorCity, Vendorstate FROM Vendors ORDER BY VendorCity; Yee, Veda 2 1 fein | ca 2 “inahein CA 2 AanAbor Ml 4 faba sl 8 fern Ma 6 Gemma 7 senna ete A : A SELECT statement that eliminates duplicate rows SELECT DISTINCT VendorCity, Vendorstate FROM Vendors; Yeoh, VewsSaie + [led 7 ca 2 “ener wi 3 fbn 2 ton UA Ste A § Gwdamn 7 Gite WC S thew 2 Description The DISTINCT keyword prevents duplicate (identical) rows from being included in the result set. It also causes the result set to be sorted by its first column, The ALL keyword causes all rows matching the search condition to be included in the result set, regardless of whether rows are duplicated. Since this is the default, it's a common practice to omit the ALL keyword. To use the DISTINCT or ALL keyword, code it immediately after the SELECT keyword as shown above. Figure 3-8 Howto use the DISTINCT keyword to eliminate duplicate rows102 Section 2 The essential SQL skills How to use the TOP clause to return a subset of selected rows In addition to eliminating duplicate rows, you can limit the number of rows that are retrieved by a SELECT statement. To do that, you use the TOP clause. Figure 3-9 shows you how. You can use the TOP clause in one of two ways. First, you can use it to retrieve a specific number of rows from the beginning, or top, of the result set. To do that, you code the TOP keyword followed by an integer value that speci- fies the number of rows to be returned, This is illustrated in the first example in this figure. Here, only five rows are returned, Notice that this statement also includes an ORDER BY clause that sorts the rows by the InvoiceTotal column in descending sequence, That way, the invoices with the highest invoice totals will be returned. You can also use the TOP clause to retrieve a specific percent of the rows in the result set. To do that, you include the PERCENT keyword as shown in the second example. In this case, the result set includes six rows, which is five percent of the total of 114 rows. By default, the TOP clause causes the exact number or percent of rows you specify to be retrieved. However, if additional rows match the values in the last row, you can include those additional rows by including WITH TIES in the TOP clause. This is illustrated in the third example in this figure. Here, the SELECT statement says to retrieve the top five rows from a result set that includes the VendorID and InvoiceDate columns sorted by the InvoiceDate column, As you can see, however, the result set includes six rows instead of five. That's because WITH TIES is included in the TOP clause, and the columns in the sixth row have the same values as the columns in the fifth row.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table 108 A SELECT statement with a TOP clause SELECT TOP 5 VendorID, InvoiceTotal FROM Invoices ORDER BY InvoiceTotal DESC; Verso _ FecceToa 1 fia sr9e6 15 20 ewe a0 am 28758 42 zeew 810 ae ie A SELECT statement with a TOP clause and the PERCENT keyword SELECT TOP 5 PERCENT VendorID, Invoicetotal FROM Invoice: ORDER BY InvoiceTotal DESC; Vergo FrcceToa 2 1 fia sree 19 er) J am aerrse 5 42 220 5 0281 e e110 57506 - A SELECT statement with a TOP clause and the WITH TIES keyword SELECT TOP 5 WITH TIES VendorID, InvoiceDate FROM Invoices ORDER BY InvoiceDate ASC; Yee _frocae A 1 fi 4 201-7208 00.00.00 2 2 2011-121000:00.00 3 13 2011-1213 00:00:00 iF 4m arate 5m mrtatsentoa0 6m arvsesgantn : Description You can use the TOP clause within a SELECT clause to limit the number of rows included in the result set. When you use this clause, the first n rows that meet the search condition are included, where n is an integer. ¢ Ifyou include PERC! the result set. If you include WITH TIES, additional rows will be included if their values match, or tie, the values of the last row. * You should include an ORDER BY clause whenever you use the TOP keyword. Otherwise, the rows in the result set will be in no particular sequence. NT, the first 7 percent of the selected rows are included in Figure 3-9 How to use the TOP clause to return a subset of selected rows104 Section 2 The essential SQL skills How to code the WHERE clause Earlier inthis chapter, I mentioned that to improve performance, you should code your SELECT statements so they retrieve only the columns you need. That goes for retrieving rows too: The fewerrows you retrieve, the more efficient the statement will be. Because of that, you'll almost always include a WHERE clause on your SELECT statements with a search condition that filters the rows in the base table so that only the rows you need are retrieved, In the topics that follow, you'll learn a variety of ways to code this clause. How to use comparison operators Figure 3-10 shows you how to use the comparison operators in the search condition of a WHERE clause. As you can see in the syntax summary at the top of this figure, you use a comparison operator to compare two expressions. If the result of the comparison is True, the row being tested is included in the query results. ‘The examples in this figure show how to use some of the comparison operators. The first WHERE clause, for example, uses the equal operator (=) to retrieve only those rows whose VendorState column have a value of IA. Since the state code is a string literal, it must be included in single quotes. In contrast, the numeric literal used in the second WHERE clause is not enclosed in quotes. This clause uses the greater than (>) operator to retrieve only those rows that have a balance due greater than zero. The third WHERE clause illustrates another way to retrieve all the invoices with a balance due. Like the second clause, it uses the greater than operator. Instead of comparing the balance due to a value of zero, however, it compares the invoice total to the total of the payments and credits that have been applied to the invoice. ‘The fourth WHERE clause illustrates how you can use comparison opera- tors other than the equal operator with string data, In this example, the less than operator (<) is used to compare the value of the VendorName column to a literal string that contains the letter M. That will cause the query to return all vendors with names that begin with the letters A through L. You can also use the comparison operators with date literals, as illustrated by the fifth and sixth WHERE clauses, The fifth clause will retrieve rows with invoice dates on or before May 31, 2012, and the sixth clause will retrieve rows with invoice dates on or after May 1, 2012, Like string literals, date literals ust be enclosed in single quotes. In addition, you can use different formats to specify dates as shown by the two date literals shown in this figure, You'll learn more about the acceptable date formats in chapter 8. The last WHERE clause shows how you can test fora not equal condition. Todo that, you code a less than sign followed by a greater than sign. In this case, only rows with a credit total that’s not equal to zero will be retrieved. ‘Whenever possible, you should compare expressions that have similar data types. If you attempt to Compare expressions that have different data types, SQL Server may implicitly convert the data type for you. Often, this implicit conver-Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table 105 The syntax of the WHERE clause with comparison operators WHERE expression 1 operator expression 2 The comparison operators = Equal > Greater than <——_Lessthan <= Lessthanor equal to >= Greater than or equal to <> Notequal Examples of WHERE clauses that retrieve. Vendors located in lowa WHERE VendorState = 'IA' Invoices with a balance due (two variations) WHERE InvoiceTotal - PaymentTotal - CreditTotal > 0 WHERE InvoiceTotal > PaymentTotal + Creditrotal Vendors with names from A to L WHERE VendorName < 'M' Invoices on or before a specified date WHERE InvoiceDate <= '2012-05-31' Invoices on or after a specified date WHERE InvoiceDate >= '5/1/12' Invoices with credits that don’t equal zero WHERE Credittotal <> 0 Description # You can use a comparison operator to compare any two expressions that result in like data types. Although unlike data types may be converted to data types that can be compared, the comparison may produce unexpected results. © Ifa comparison results in a True value, the row being tested is included in the result set, If it’s False or Unknown, the row isn’t included. # To use a string literal or a date lireral in a comparison, enclose it in quotes. To use a numeric literal, enter the number without quotes. Character comparisons performed on SQL Server databases are not case-sensitive. So, for example, ‘CA’ and ‘Ca’ are considered equivalent. Figure 3-10 How to use the comparison operators,106 Section 2 The essential SQL skills sion is acceptable. However, implicit conversions will occasionally yield unexpected results, In that case, you can use the CONVERT function you saw earlier inthis chapter or the CAST function you'll learn about in chapter 8 to explicitly convert data types so the comparison yields the results you want. How to use the AND, OR, and NOT logical operators Figure 3-11 shows how to use logical operators in a WHERE clause, You can use the AND and OR operators to combine two or more search conditions into a compound condition, And you can use the NOT operator to negate a search condition, The examples in this figure illustrate how these operators work. The first two examples illustrate the difference between the AND and OR operators. When you use the AND operator, both conditions must be true. So, in the first example, only those vendors in New Jersey whose year-to-date pur- chases are greater than 200 are retrieved from the Vendors table. When you use the OR operator, though, only one of the conditions must be true. So, in the second example, all the vendors from New Jersey and all the vendors whose year-to-date purchases are greater than 200 are retrieved. The third example shows a compound condition that uses two NOT opera- tors. As you can see, this expression is somewhat difficult to understand. Because of that, and because using the NOT operator can reduce system perfor- ‘mance, you should avoid using this operator whenever possible. The fourth example in this figure, for instance, shows how the search condition in the third example can be rephrased to eliminate the NOT operator, Notice that the condition in the fourth example is much easier to understand. The last two examples in this figure show how the order of precedence for the logical operators and the use of parentheses affect the result of a search condition, By default, the NOT operator is evaluated first, followed by AND and then OR. However, you can use parentheses to override the order of precedence or to clarify a logical expression, just as you can with arithmetic expressions. In the next to last example, for instance, no parentheses are used, so the two conditions connected by the AND operator are evaluated first. In the last example, though, parentheses are used so that the two conditions connected by the OR operator are evaluated first. If you take a minute to review the results shown in this figure, you should be abie to see how these two conditions differ.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table 107 The syntax of the WHERE clause with logical operators WHERE [NOT] search condition 1 {AND|OR) [NOT] search condition 2 ... Examples of queries using logical operators A search condition that uses the AND operator WHERE VendorState = 'NJ' AND YTDPurchases > 200 A search condition that uses the OR operator WHERE VendorState = 'NJ' OR YTDPurchases > 200 A search condition that uses the NOT operator WHERE NOT (InvoiceTotal >= 5000 OR NOT InvoiceDate <= '2012-07-01") The same condition rephrased to eliminate the NOT operator WHERE InvoiceTotal < 5000 AND InvoiceDate <= '2012-07-01' A compound condition without parentheses WHERE Invoicepate > "01/01/2012" OR InvoiceTotal > 500 AND InvoiceTotal ~ PaymentTotal - CreditTotal > 0 Traore _imoioebae TrroseTad BaenceDoe B 1 [aeea0767"% aureorason0000 escs2 000 ee oo a ee ee) ae ee ee) The same compound condition with parentheses WHERE (InvoiceDate > ‘01/01/2012 OR Invoicerotal > 500) AND InvoiceTotal - PaymentTotal - CreditTotal > 0 a A 1 [ono 7} aorz0300n000 8531 9531 Ee 2 sews 2020318 00.0000 5225 5225 2am = MUMTMMNM me Re 4 wunae — maaiewe 375997 p Description © You can use the AND and OR logical operatorsto create compound conditions that consist of two or more conditions. You use the AND operator to specify that the search must satisfy both of the conditions, and you use the OR operator to specify that the search must satisfy at least one of the conditions. You can use the NOT operator to negate a condition, Because this operator can rake the search condition difficult o read, you should rephrase the condition if possible so it doesn’t use NOT. When SQL Server evaluates a compound condition, it evaluates the operators in this sequence: (1) NOT, (2) AND, and (3) OR. You can use parentheses to override this order of precedence or to clarify the sequence in which the operations will be evaluated. Figure 3-11 Howto use the AND, OR, and NOT logical operators108 — Section? The essential SQL skills How to use the IN operator Figure 3-12 shows how to code a WHERE clause that uses the IN operator. ‘When you use this operator, the value of the test expression is compared with the list of expressions in the IN phrase. Ifthe test expression is equal to one of the expressions in the list, the row is included in the query results, This is illustrated by the first example in this figure, which will return all rows whose TermsID column is equal to 1,3, or 4. You can also use the NOT operator with the IN phrase to test fora value that’s not in a list of expressions. This is illustrated by the second example in this figure. In this case, only those vendors who are not in California, Nevada, or Oregon are retrieved. If you look at the syntax of the IN phrase shown at the top of this figure, you'll see that you can code a subquery in place of a list of expressions. Subqueries are’a powerful tool that you'll learn about in detail in chapter 6. For now, though, you should know that a subquery is simply a SELECT statement within another statement. In the third example in this figure, for instance, a subquery is used to return a list of VendorID values for vendors who have invoices dated May 1, 2012. Then, the WHERE clause retrieves a vendor row only if the vendor is in that list, Note that for this to work, the subquery must return a single column, in this case, VendorlD.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table 109 The syntax of the WHERE clause with an IN phrase WHERE testexpression [NOT] IN ({subquery|expression 1 [, expression 2]...}) Examples of the IN phrase An IN phrase with a list of numeric literals WHERE TermsID IN (1, 3, 4) ‘An IN phrase preceded by NOT WHERE VendorState NOT IN (‘CA', ‘NV', ‘OR') An IN phrase with a subquery WHERE VendorID IN (SELECT Vendor1D FROM Invoices WHERE InvoiceDate = '2012-05-01') Description # You can use the IN phrase to test whether an expression is equal to value ina list of expressions, Each of the expressions in the list must evaluate to the same type of data as the test expression, The list of expressions can be coded in any order without affecting the order of the rows in the result set. # You can use the NOT operator to test for an expression that’s notin the list of expressions. # You can also compare the test expression to the items in a list returned by a subqueryas illustrated by the third example above. You'll lear more about coding subqueries in chapter 6. Figure 3-12 How to use the IN operator110 Section 2 The essential SQL skills How to use the BETWEEN operator Figure 3-13 shows how to use the BETWEEN operator in a WHERE clause. ‘When you use this operator, the value of a test expression is compared to the range of values specified in the BETWEEN phrase. Ifthe value falls within this range, the row is included in the query results. The first example in this figure shows a simple WHERE clause that uses the BETWEEN operator, It retrieves invoices with invoice dates between May 1, 2012 and May 31, 2012, Note that the range is inclusive, so invoices with invoice dates of May 1 and May 31 are included in the results. ‘The second example shows how to use the NOT operator to select rows that are not within a given range. In this case, vendors with zip codes that aren’t between 93600 and 93799 are included in the results. The third example shows how you can use a calculated value in the test expression. Here, the PaymentTotal and CreditTotal columns are subtracted from the InvoiceTotal column to give the balance due. Then, this value is compared to the range specified in the BETWEEN phrase. The last example shows how you can use calculated values in the BETWEEN phrase. Here, the first value is the result of the GETDATE function, and the second value is the result of the GETDATE function plus 30 days, So the query results will include all those invoices that are due between the current date and 30 days from the current date.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table 114 The syntax of the WHERE clause with a BETWEEN phrase WHERE test expression [NOT] BETWEEN begin expression AND end expression Examples of the BETWEEN phrase A BETWEEN phrase with literal values WHERE InvoiceDate BETWEEN '2012-05-01' AND '2012-05-31' A BETWEEN phrase preceded by NOT WHERE VendorZipCode NO? BETWEEN 93600 AND 93799 A BETWEEN phrase with a test expression coded as a calculated value WHERE InvoiceTotal - PaymentTotal - CreditTotal BETWEEN 200 AND 500 A BETWEEN phrase with the upper and lower limits coded as calculated values WHERE InvoiceDueDate BETWEEN GetDate() AND GetDate() + 30 Description You can use the BETWEEN phrase to test whether an expression falls within a range of values. The lower limit must be coded as the first expression, and the upper limit must be coded as the second expression, Otherwise, the result set will be empty. + The two expressions used in the BETWEEN phrase for the range of values are inclusive, That is, the result set will include values that are equal to the upper or lower limit. # You can use the NOT operator to tes for an expression that’s not within the given range. Warning about date comparisons © All.columns that have the datetime datatype include both a date and time, and so does the value returned by the GetDate function, But when you code a date literal like ‘2012-05-01’, the time defaults to 0¢ 0 on a 24-hour clock, or 12:00 AM. (midnight), As a result, a date comparison may not yield the results you expect. For instance, May 31, 2012 at 2:00 PM isn’t between ‘2012-05-01’ and ‘2012-05-31". © Tollear more about date comparisons, please see chapter 9. Figure 3-13 Howto use the BETWEEN operator112 Section2 The essential SQL skills How to use the LIKE operator One final operator you can use in a search condition is the LIKE operator shown in figure 3-14, You use this operator along with the wildcards shown at the top of this figure to specify a string pattern, or mask, you want to match. ‘The examples shown in tis figure illustrate how this works. Inthe first example, the LIKE phrase specifies that all vendors in cities that start with the letters SAN should be included in the query results, Here, the percent sign (%) indicates that any characters can follow these three letters, So San Diego and Santa Ana are both included in the results. ‘The second example selects all vendors whose vendor name starts with the letters COMPU, followed by any one character, the letters ER, and any charac- ters after that. Two vendor names that match that pattern are Compuserve and Computerworld. The third example searches the values in the VendorContactLName column fora name that can be spelled two different ways: Damien or Damion. To do that, the mask specifies the two possible characters in the fifth position, E.and , within brackets. The fourth example uses brackets to specify a range of values. In this case, the VendorState column is searched for values that start with the letter N and end with any letter from A to J, That excludes states like Nevada (NV) and New York (NY). The fifth example shows how to use the caret () to exclude one or more characters from the pattern, Here, the pattern says that the value in the VendorState column must start with the letter N, but must not end with the letters K through Y. This produces the same result as the previous statement. The last example in this figure shows how to use the NOT operator with a LIKE phrase. The condition in this example tests the VendorZipCode column for values that don’t start with the numbers 1 through 9. The result is all zip codes that start with the number 0. ‘The LIKE operator provides a powerful technique for finding information ina database that can’t be found using any other technique. Keep in mind, however, that this technique requires a lot of overhead, so it can reduce system performance, For this reason, you should avoid using the LIKE operator in production SQL code whenever possible. If you need to search the text that’s stored in your database, a better option is to use the Full-Text Search feature that’s provided by SQL Server 2012. This feature provides more powerful and flexible ways to search for text, and it performs more efficiently than the LIKE operator, However, Full-Text Search is an advanced feature that requires some setup and administration and is too complex to explain here. For more information, you can look up “full-text search” in Books Online.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table The syntax of the WHERE clause with a LIKE phrase WHERE match expression [NOT] LIKE pattern Wildcard symbols Pee scen % Matches any string of zero or more characters - Matches any single character 1 Matches a single character listed within the brackets [= 1 Matches a single character within the given range Matches a single character not listed after the caret, WHERE clauses that use the LIKE operator Emo WHERE VendorCity LIKE 'SAN%' GES ORUn ened “San Diego" and “Santa Ana” 113 WHERE VendorName LIKE *COMPU_ER%' WHERE VendorContactLName LIKE 'DAMI{EO]N' WHERE VendorState LIKE 'N[A-J]' WHERE VendorState LIKE 'N[*K-¥]* “Compuserve” and “Computerworld” “Damien” and “Damion” NC” and “NI” but not “NV” or “NY” SNC" and “NI” but not “NV” or NY" "02107" and "08816" WHERE VendorZipCode NOT LIKE '[1-9]%" Description ¢ You use the LIKE operator to retrieve rows that match astring pattern, called a mask. Within the mask, you can use special characters, called wildcards, that determine which values in the column satisfy the condition. You can use the NOT keyword before the LIKE keyword. Then, only those rows with values that don’t match the string pattern will be included in the result set. ‘© Most LIKE phrases will significantly degrade performance compared to other types of searches, so use them only when necessary. Figure 3-14 Howto use the LIKE operator114 Section? The essential SQL skills How to use the IS NULL clause In chapter 1, you leamed that a column can contain amull value. A null isn’t the same as zero, a blank string that contains one or more spaces (""), or an empty string (") Instead, a null value indicates that the data is not applicable, not available, or unknown. When you allow null values in one or more columns, you need to know how to test for them in search conditions. To do that, you can use the IS NULL clause as shown in figure 3-15. This figure uses a table named NullSample to illustrate how to search for null values. This table contains two columns. The first column, InvoicelD, is an identity column, The second column, InvoiceTotal, contains the total for the invoice, which can be a null value. As you can see in the first example, the invoice with InvoicelD 3 contains a null value. ‘The second example in this figure shows what happens when you retrieve all the invoices with invoice totals equal to zero, Notice that the row that has a null invoice total isn’t included in the result set. Likewise, it isn’t included in the result set that contains all the invoices with invoices totals that aren’t equal to zero, as illustrated by the third example. Instead, you have to use the IS NULL clause to retrieve rows with null values, as shown in the fourth example. You can also use the NOT operator with the IS NULL clause as illustrated in the last example in this figure. When you use this operator, all of the rows that don’t contain null values are included in the query results.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data froma single table 115 The syntax of the WHERE clause with the IS NULL clause WHERE expression IS [NOT] NULL The contents of the NullSample table SELECT * FROM Nullsample; Treceld__ rromeTaa 1 TT es 22 on 303 NULL a4 2959 5s oo A SELECT statement that retrieves rows with zero values Ta Trees rveneToa! FROM Nullsample ee ro WHERE InvoiceTotal = 0; eel A SELECT statement that retrieves rows with non-zero values SELECT * Tress rveceiaa FROM Wullsample 7 Dea WHERE InvoiceTotal <> 0; . . 2% 2959 A SELECT statement that retrieves rows with null values SELECT * _——— FROM Mullsample Tress | rroceraa WHERE InvoiceTotal IS NULL; 8 a A SELECT statement that retrieves rows without null values SELECT * FROM Wullsample Treceld__ rromeTaa ii 500 WHERE Invoii 1 1 Li . 2 woiceTotal IS NOT NULI eS = 34 75959 as om Description © Anull value represents a value that’s unknown, unavailable, or not applicable. It isn’t the same as a zero, a blank space (''), or an empty string ("). # To test for a nul value, you can use the IS NULL clause. You can also use the NOT keyword with this clause to test for values that aren’t null. The definition of each column in a table indicates whether or not it can store null values. Before you work with a table, you should identify those columns that allow null values so you can accommodate them in your queries. Figure 3-15 How to use the IS NULL clause116 Section 2 The essential SQL skills How to code the ORDER BY clause The ORDER BY clause specifies the sort order for the rows in a result set. In most cases, you can use column names from the base table to specify the sort order as you sav in some of the examples earlier in this chapter. However, you can also use other techniques to sort the rows ina result set. In addition, you can use the new OFFSET and FETCH clauses of the ORDER BY clause to retrieve a range of rows from the sorted result set. How to sort a result set by a column name Figure 3-16 presents the expanded syntax of the ORDER BY clause, As you can see, you can sort by one or more expressions in either ascending or descending sequence. This is illustrated by the three examples in this figure. The first two examples show how to sort the rows in a result set by a single column, In the first example, the rows in the Vendors table are sorted in ascend- ing sequence by the VendorName column, Since ascending is the default sequence, the ASC keyword is omitted. In the second example, the rows are sorted by the VendorName column in descending sequence. To sort by more than one column, you simply list the names in the ORDER BY clause separated by commas as shown in the third example. Here, the rows in the Vendors table are first sorted by the VendorState column in ascending sequence. Then, within each state, the rows are sorted by the VendorCity column in ascending sequence. Finally, within each city, the rows are sorted by the VendorName column in ascending sequence. This can be referred to as a nested sort because one sort is nested within another. Although all of the columns in this example are sorted in ascending sequence, you should know that doesn’t have to be the case, For example, I could have sorted by the VendorName column in descending sequence like this: ORDER BY VendorState, VendorCity, VendorNane DESC Note that the DESC keyword in this example applies only to the VendorName column, The VendorState and VendorCity columns are still sorted in ascending sequence.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data froma single table 117 The expanded syntax of the ORDER BY clause ORDER BY expression [aSc|DESC] [, expression [ASC|DESC]] An ORDER BY clause that sorts by one column in ascending sequence SELECT VendorNane, VendorCity + ', ' + VendorState + ' ' + VendorZipCode AS Address FROM Vendors ORDER BY VendorNane; Versonne Kies 2 1 [be ce Furistgs | esr. cA 92722 2 fescan Booksles sce Tern, NY 1591 3 Arotean pres Lea gale, CA 0096 : An ORDER BY clause that sorts by one column in descending sequence SELECT VendorNane, VendorCity + ', ' + VendorState + ' ' + VendorzipCode AS Address FROM Vendors ORDER BY VendorName DESC; Veraotne ices 2 1 (Baa Desi | Frere, cari 2 “Ze Pirt Copy Carter Few, CASSI77 2 ZepWedoal Sones Co _Visehnton, 1M 52362 : An ORDER BY clause that sorts by three columns SELECT VendorNane, VendorCity + ', ' + VendorState + ' ' + VendorZipCode AS Addre FROM Vendors ORDER BY VendorState, VendorCity, VendorName; Veblen 3 1 (RF | Proen, A225062 q 2 “Tomi Lcay Pro, 2 2502 2 Wel FagoBuk Pron AZEEQ 4 fatlatel ——Arahar, CA3207 5 Ge Sd. Arata C4820 &_ Dvowied ra. Bon, CAS221 7 Piya Fa. Fe. CASST22 8 ASCSieFwn. CASTE 3 Beaies Fe CASSTI2 B Description The ORDER BY clause specifies how you want the rows in the result set sorted. You can sort by one or more columns, and you can sort each column in either ascending (ASC) or descending (DESC) sequence. ASC is the default. «By default, in an ascending sort, nulls appear first inthe sort sequence, followed by special characters, then numbers, then letters. Although you can change this sequence, that’s beyond the scope of this book. # You can sort by any column in the base table regardless of whether it’s included in the SELECT clause. The exception is if the query includes the DISTINCT key- word. Then, you can only sort by columns included in the SELECT clause. Figure 3-16 — How to sort a result set by a column name118 Section? The essential SQL skills How to sort a result set by an alias, an expression, or a column number Figure 3-17 presents three more techniques you can use to specify sort columns, First, you can use a column alias that’s defined in the SELECT clause. The first SELECT statement in this figure, for example, sorts by a column named Address, which is an alias for the concatenation of the VendorCity, VendorState, and VendorZipCode columns. Within the Address column, the result set is also sorted by the VendorName column. You can also use an arithmetic or string expression in the ORDER BY clause, as illustrated by the second example in this figure, Here, the expression consists of the VendorContactLName column concatenated with the VendorContactFName column, Here, neither of these columns is included in the SELECT clause. Although SQL Server allows this seldom-used coding tech- nique, many other database systems do not. ‘The last example in this figure shows how you can use column numbers to specify a sort order, To use this technique, you code the number that corre- sponds to the column of the result set, where 1 is the first column, 2 is the second column, and so on, In this example, the ORDER BY clause sorts the result set by the second column, which contains the concatenated address, then by the first column, which contains the vendor name. The result set returned by this statement is the same as the result set returned by the first statement. Notice, however, that the statement that uses column numbers is more difficult to read because you have to look at the SELECT clause to see what columns the numbers refer to. In addition, if you add or remove columns from the SELECT clause, you may also have to change the ORDER BY clause to reflect the new column positions. As a result, you should avoid using this technique.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data froma single table 119 An ORDER BY clause that uses an alias SELECT VendorNane, VendorCity + ', ' + VendorState + ' ' + VendorzipCode AS Address FROM Vendors ORDER BY Address, VendorNane; Yeraoane Ties Fe 1 fate Late! cham, CA 82807 q 2 Bie Shel afore Ancham,Ca 2850 3. uihogaghng inc _ a iar, Ml 48108 An ORDER BY clause that uses an expression SELECT VendorNane, VendorCity + ', ' + VendorState + ' ' + VendorzipCode AS Address FROM Vendors ORDER BY VendorContactLName + VendorContactFNane; Yenaoane Tacs Fe 1 [Bas Grow dliccemnce| Foxe, cA720 q 2 “hearalReverue Serice Fresno, CA 93368 US Postal Sree Madison, YN 707 J An ORDER BY clause that uses column positions SELECT VendorNane, VendorCity + ', ' + VendorState + ' ' + VendorZipCode AS Address FROM Vendors ORDER BY 2, Yersoane Tasos Fe 1 fate Late! | param, ca 207 q 2 "Ble Shsise Gaia” Amare, C2 2250 3. Noy hegashng inc _ fon Abr 8108 Description The ORDER BY clause can include a column alias that’s specified in the SELECT clause. The ORDER BY clause can include any valid expression. The expression can refer to any column in the base table, even if it isn’t included in the result set. ‘The ORDER BY clause can use numbers to specify the columns to use for sorting. In that case, | represents the first column in the result set, 2 represents the second column, and so on, Figure 3-17 Howto sorta result set by an alias, an expression, or a column number120 Section? The essential SQL skills How to retrieve a range of selected rows Earlier in this chapter, you saw how to use the TOP clause to return a subset of the rows selected by a query. When you use this clause, the rows are always returned from the beginning of the result set. In contrast, the new OFFSET and FETCH clauses let you return a subset of rows starting anywhere in a sorted result set. Figure 3-18 illustrates how these clauses work. The first example in this figure shows how to use the OFFSET and FETCH clauses to retrieve rows from the beginning of a result set. In this case, the first five rows are retrieved, In contrast, the second example retrieves ten rows from the result set starting with the eleventh row. Notice that the FETCH clause in the first example uses the FIRST keyword, and the FETCH clause in the second example uses the NEXT keyword. Although these keywords are interchange- able, they're typically used as shown here. You can also return all of the rows to the end of a result set after skipping the specified number of rows. To do that, you just omit the FETCH clause. For instance, if you omitted this clause from the second example in this figure, rows 11 through the end of the result set would be retrieved. ‘The OFFSET and FETCH clauses are most useful when a client application needs to retrieve and process one page of data at a time. For example, suppose an application can work with up to 20 rows of a result set at a time. Then, the first query would retrieve rows | through 20, the second query would retrieve rows 21 through 40, and so on. Because a new result set is created each time a query is executed, the client application must make sure that the result set doesn’t change between queries. For example, if after retrieving the first 20 rows of a result set as described above one of those rows is deleted, the row that would have been the 2!" row now becomes the 20" row. Because of that, this row isn’t included when the next 20 rows are retrieved. To prevent this problem, an application can execute all of the queries within a transaction whose isolation level is set to either SNAPSHOT or SERIALIZABLE. For information on how transactions and isolation levels work within SQL Server, see chapter 17.Chapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table 124 The syntax of the ORDER BY clause for retrieving a range of rows ORDER BY order_by list OFFSET offset_row_count_{ROW|ROWS) [FEICH {FIRST|NEXT} fetch_row_count {ROW|ROWS) ONLY] An ORDER BY clause that retrieves the first five rows SELECT VendorID, InvoiceTotal FROM Invoices ORDER BY InvoiceTotal DESC OFFSET 0 ROWS FETCH FIRST 5 ROWS ONLY; Vere _ rvseeTaa 1 Gig sree te 2 FT zeae a0 am marae 42 reco ed An ORDER BY clause that retrieves rows 11 through 20 SELECT VendorName, VendorCity, VendorState, VendorZipCode FROM Vendors WHERE Vendorstate = 'CA' ORDER BY Vendorcity OFFSET 10 ROWS FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY; 4 ey Veni | Vora 1 RabeMLeK dey rere ck ares 2 tres Fore CA SUR 3 GalorinDtaiy Fane CRT & Yoehbatdacloheve fora CA SIME 5 tous foro CAST 5 Gt Fre A 7 Sha esp freA 5 FamCary Ta Gok Feo C8 TE 5 Gaylechntmwre Fer C8 TT 1 Printopete seer FenoCA SE Description ‘© The OFFSET clause specifies the number of rows that should be skipped before rows are retumed from the result set. The FETCH clause specifies the number of rows that should be retrieved after skipping the specified number of rows. If you omit the FETCH clause, all of the rows to the end of the result set are retrieved. ‘© The number of rows to he skipped and retrieved can be specified as an integer or an expression that results in an integer that is greater than or equal to zero. The OFFSET and FETCH clauses are most useful when a client application needs to retrieve one page of data at a time. Figure 3-18 How to retrieve a range of selected rows122 Section 2 The essential SQL skills Perspective The goal of this chapter has been to teach you the hasic skills for coding SELECT statements. You'll use these skills in almost every SELECT state- ment you code. As you'll see in the chapters that follow, however, there's alot more to coding SELECT statements than what's presented here, In the next three chapters, then, you'll learn additional skills for coding SELECT state ments. When you complete those chapters, you'll know everything you need to know about retrieving data from a SQL Server database. Terms keyword order of precedence filter function Boolean expression parameter predicate argument expression date literal column alias comparison operator substitute name logical operator string expression compound condition concatenate subquery concatenation operator string pattern literal value mask string literal wildcard string constant Full-Text Search arithmetic expression nll value arithmetic operator nested sortChapter 3 How to retrieve data from a single table 128 Exercises 1 R Write a SELECT statement that returns three columns from the Vendors table: VendorContactFName, VendorContactLName, and VendorName. Sort the result set by last name, then by first name. Write a SELECT statement that returns four columns from the Invoices table, named Number, Total, Credits, and Balance: Number Column alias for the InvoiceNumber column Total Column alias for the InvoiceTotal column Credits Sum of the PaymentTotal and CreditTotal columns Balance InvoiceTotal minus the sum of PaymentTotal and CreditTotal Use the AS keyword to assign column aliases. Write a SELECT statement that returns one column from the Vendors table named Full Name, Create this column from the VendorContactFName and VendorContactL_Name columns, Format it as follows: last name, comma, first name (for example, “Doe, John”), Sort the result set by last name, then by first name. Write a SELECT statement that returns three columns: InvoiceTotal From the Invoices table 10% 10% of the value of InvoiceTotal Plus 10% The value of InvoiceTotal plus 10% (For example, if InvoiceTotal is 100.0000, 10% is 10,0000, and Plus 10% is 110,000.) Only return those rows with a balance due greater than 1000, Sort the result set by InvoiceTotal, with the largest invoice firs. Modify the solution to exercise 2 to filter for invoices with an InvoiceTotal that’s greater than or equal to $500 but less than or equal to $10,000. Modify the solution to exercise 3 to filter for contacts whose last name begins with the letter A, B, C, or E. Write a SELECT statement that determines whether the PaymentDate column of the Invoices table has any invalid values, To be valid, PaymentDate must bea null value if there’s a balance due and a non-null value if there's no balance due. Code a compound condition in the WHERE clause that tests for these conditions.How to retrieve data from two or more tables In the last chapter, you learned how to create result sets that contain data from asingle table. Now, this chapter will show you how to create result sets that contain data from two or more tables. To do that, you can use either a join or a union. How to work with inner joins...... How to code an inner join - ‘When and how to use correlation names... How to work with tables from different databases How to use compound join conditions How to use a seloin Innes joins that join more than two tables How to use the implicit inner join syntax. How to work with outer joins How to code an outer join . Outer join examples. Outer joins that join more than two tables Other skills for working with joinS .....0. How to combine inner and outer joins How to use cr088 joins. ~ How to work with unions The syntax ofa union Unions that combine data from different tables Unions that combine data from the same table How to use the EXCEPT and INTERSECT operators Perspective.126 Section 2 The essential SQL skills How to work with inner joins Ajoin lets you combine columns from two or more tables into a single result set. In the topics that follow, you'll learn how to use the most common type of join, an inner join. You'll learn how to use other types of joins later in this chapter. How to code an inner jc Figure 4-1 presents the explicit syntax for coding an inner join. As you'll see later in this chapter, SQL Server also provides an implicit syntax that you can use to code inner joins. However, the syntax shown in this figure is the one you'll use most often. To join data from two tables, you code the names of the two tables in the FROM clause along with the JOIN keyword and an ON phrase that specifies the join condition. The join condition indicates how the two tables should be compared, In most cases, they're compared based on the relationship between the primary key of the first table and a foreign key of the second table. The SELECT statement in this figure, for example, joins data from the Vendors and Invoices tables based on the VendorID column in each table. Notice that because the equal operator is used in this condition, the value of the VendorID column in a row in the Vendors table must match the VendorID in a row in the Invoices table for that row to be included in the result set. In other words, only vendors with one or more invoices will be included. Although you'll code most inner joins using the equal operator, you should know that you ean compare two tables based on other conditions, too. In this example, the Vendors table is joined with the Invoices table using a column that has the same name in both tables: VendorlD. Because of that, the columns must be qualified to indicate which table they come from. As you can see, you code a qual. fied column name by entering the table name and a period in front of the column name. Although this example uses qualified column names only in the join condition, you must qualify a column name anywhere it appears in the statement if the same name occurs in both tables. If you don’t, SQL Server will return an error indicating that the column name is ambiguous. OF course, you can also qualify column names that aren’t ambiguous. However, Irecommend you do that only if it clarifies your code.