[dba-SQLServer] Wizards, books, etc.

Hi John:  

Re: "time to get past the wizards" -- very true.  They are great, but as
soon as one gets past 123 (which your project passed long ago) they are
more trouble than they are worth.

Re:  "gotta get a book" -- Ken Henderson's books are great, Itzak ben
Gani, Joe Celko, and of course the one at your fingertips (BOL!!)...  In
addition I highly recommend a sql server magazine subscription,
sswug.org, and sqlservercentral.com.  

I started in Access ~10 years ago, then was compelled to move to sql
server ~7.  I was used to building queries in Access' gui, and
absolutely hated (and was incapable of) writing raw sql.  However, once
I made the plunge and weaned myself from access, I found there were many
many more possibilities that were not possible in the gui.  By that I
mean there are many t-sql structures that the gui cannot display, and
because I had limited myself to the gui I had never learned them.  Sort
of like playing the piano with two fingers, then suddenly discovering
you have 8 more.  It takes some practice to bring the other 8 into play,
but once you do there is no going back.  

I realize it is hard to do all this while under the pressure of
deadlines, but hang in there.  

D


Message: 4
Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 16:55:50 -0400
From: "jwcolby" <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com>
Subject: Re: [dba-SQLServer] Output wizard choked
To: <dba-sqlserver at databaseadvisors.com>
Message-ID: <20070516205549.0BD06BBF8 at smtp-auth.no-ip.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Yep.  I am actually using Left().  Thanks.

Now I can't get the output wizard to allow me to edit the field widths
for a
fixed width output.  

I do so love this stuff.

Time to get past the wizards I suppose.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com
-----Original Message-----

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 16:59:24 -0400
From: "jwcolby" <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com>
Subject: Re: [dba-SQLServer] Output wizard choked
To: <dba-sqlserver at databaseadvisors.com>
Message-ID: <20070516205923.5927EBDC4 at smtp-auth.no-ip.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

I gotta get a book for this stuff.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com
*********************************************