Devin Manno 
May 17, 2016The XML datatype in SQL Server allows you to store, process and query XML rather easily. There are some caveats, however: You can not compare or order by an XML data type field in SQL Server Entity Framework does not support the XML data type, so your XML field will be converted to a string Continue reading →
Devin Manno October 10, 2014LINQ (Language-Integrated Query) is a part of the C# and Visual Basic .NET languages that lets you “query” data collections, databases and XML documents (and anything else that you write a custom LINQ provider for). The syntax will feel very familiar to anyone who has experience writing SQL queries. SQL allows for the creation and Continue reading →
Devin Manno March 3, 2014When performing calculations in T-SQL, I found myself having to deal with zeros in division operations. While zeros in the numerator pose no threat, denominators of zero will cause your query to blow up. In order to fix divide by zero errors, I began writing CASE statements. However, this got old very quickly. The stored Continue reading →
Devin Manno November 15, 2013If you need to import data from a Microsoft Access database to SQL Server, one simple way is to setup the Access file as a Linked Server. You can add the linked server using the SQL Server Management Studio GUI, or through T-SQL commands. Run the sp_addlinkedserver procedure to add a Linked Server. Follow that Continue reading →
Devin Manno January 2, 2013If you ever work with 3rd party systems or databases, you know that solving any given problem requires a certain level of creativity. When integrating a 3rd party storefront ordering system with a 3rd party inventory system, I ran across an interesting challenge. The storefront system allows the creation of items under a handful of Continue reading →