This is not the first TSQL Sudoku puzzle solver/generator (see, for example The Sudoku Puzzle Generator. However, it is nicely explained. The two approaches are completely different. Perhaps, with...

Ah. That explains it nicely. I was once faced with a very similar problem in processing mechanical test data for engineers. The test equipment, depending on its age, would export...

Hmm.. Well, here goes anyway, assuming it is coming from a text field in a table, here are the two functions and sample to illustrate a way of doing this...

It is an intriguing problem. Such a device can be got to work perfectly happily, and I'd hate to think anyone was put off trying. Am I right in believing...

if you don't want the worry of Datalength and remembering the the division by 2 for NVarchars, but you want an accurate length that includes trailing spaces,  why not simply...

I agree completely with alzdba. My suggestion regarding deadlock_priority was meant to be that you choose which processes are good candidates to be a deadlock victim and then  design them...

I came across this, which describes the pain of being a victim of a deadlock The DBAs Demise, by Phil Factor, a tribute to 'The Streets of Loredo'. On...

It is an intriguing database design, but I wouldn't want to dismiss it out of hand as wrong without knowing a lot more about the application. I'm interested in the...

I use Red Gate's SQL Server backup tool on a database of around 480 Gig. It allows you ro specify however many files you want to split the backup so...

Yes. I use Red Gate SQL Backup in a production environment, and I've checked with Red Gate. They say that Red Gate will support SQL Backup on SQL...

I'm surprised that anyone working with SQL Server needs lessons in removing duplicates, and puzzled at the complexity of this cursor-based solution originally published. A better solution has already been pointed out in the...

Indeed so. It is strange how one is pressured into doing something more grown-up than programming as soon as one gets a grey-hair or two. The older I get the...

We regard 50 Gig databases as small fry at USP, because our NewsScape database is now well over the 400 gig and rising. This application has been collecting all the...

--I have to do quite a bit of this sort of work

--I use a generic function to return the nth part of a

--string delimited by whatever delimiter you specify

Create function...