Programming SQL Server 2005

Preface

You don’t have to be an experienced SQL Server 2005 programmer to use this book; it is designed for users of all levels. You also do not need any experience with SQL Server 2000, as programming SQL Server 2005 is different in nearly every way from programming SQL Server 2000. You do need an understanding of fundamental relational database concepts. Basic knowledge of T-SQL also helps.

The goal of this book is to introduce all facets of programming SQL Server 2005 to developers. This book can be used either as a primer by developers with little or no experience with SQL Server, as a ramp-up to the new programming models for SQL Server 2005 for more experienced SQL Server developers, or as background and primer to specific concepts.

The code in this book is available for download on the O’Reilly web site (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/progsqlsvr), so you don’t need to retype it to follow the examples. Only code that is important to illustrate specific concepts is listed in this book, but enough code is presented to let you use the book without loading the actual code. The book does not list user interface code or code generated automatically by Visual Studio .NET.

What You Need to Use This Book

To run the samples in this book, you need a computer running Windows 2000 SP4 or later, Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (installed with SQL Server 2005), and SQL Server 2005—Developer, Standard, or Enterprise Edition.

Most of the examples in this book use C# code and Visual Studio 2005. It is easiest to use Visual Studio 2005 to compile and execute the examples in the book. However, you can compile the samples in this book by using the C# command-line compiler (csc.exe) included with the .NET Framework.

Some of the examples in this book require the AdventureWorks sample database, which ships with SQL Server 2005 but is not installed automatically. Follow the product documentation to install the AdventureWorks database during the SQL Server 2005 installation or to install it in an existing installation. Other examples in this book require a database called ProgrammingSqlServer2005 that you should create—this new database is used to minimize the impact of the examples on the AdventureWorks database installation.

Conventions Used in This Book

The following typographical conventions are used in this book:

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Acknowledgments

This book wouldn’t have been possible without the help of many people. I’d like to thank my editors Jeff Pepper, Ralph Davis, and Jonathan Gennick for making this book better. Thanks to reviewers Louis Davidson, Vyas Kondreddi, Deac Lancaster, Alex Lim, and Josh Sackett for providing valuable technical feedback. I’d like to thank the production team—Adam Witwer, Nancy Kotari, and Bill McManus—for putting everything together. I’d also like to thank Jan Shanahan at Microsoft for promptly and patiently answering questions while SQL Server 2005 evolved. Of course, none of this would be necessary without the SQL Server 2005 team at Microsoft—you built a great piece of software. Finally, thank you, Molly, my friends, and my family—you are what matter most.