Getting Started with SQL Express 2008
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From: Gene Wirchenko on 27 Jul 2010 17:12 On Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:37:08 -0700 (PDT), Philipp Post <post.philipp(a)googlemail.com> wrote: >> Let me try this again.�WHERE DO I START? < > >I would suggest first reading the introduction about what the product >provides before looking at the details - begin at the beginning: > >http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms130214.aspx This link is HORRID! It is exactly what I do not want. It is full of link after link with pages that really do not say anything of use. For a software product this complex, there really should be a serious getting started guide, and it should be prominent so any newbie can see it. >Notice that not everything what is in the paid product (Standard, >Enterprise, etc) is available in the Express version. Possibly you >wish to upgrade lateron. It could be, but first, I want to run the free version through its paces. I hope I can figure out what those paces are. >Then the most important question is asking yourself what you want to >do with it. Todays software packages are far too big to know it all, >so it makes more sense picking the features for your job and looking >at them first. - At least how I do see it. That is what I am trying to do. >When you are stuck, a more active group is here: >http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.sqlserver.programming/topics I have already found that one and others. I hope to make use of it later when I get started. Sincerely, Gene Wirchenko
From: Erland Sommarskog on 27 Jul 2010 17:36 Gene Wirchenko (genew(a)ocis.net) writes: > For a software product this complex, there really should be a > serious getting started guide, and it should be prominent so any > newbie can see it. I'm afraid to make you disappointed, but that it's an impossible idea. SQL Server is a very vast product, and there are quite a few different ways you can approach it. Will you develop for it? Will write applications for it? What kind of applications? Will you work with BI solutions, ETL? Reports? Or just plain-old-simple registration applications? Or are you to become an DBA and only work with administration? There is simply not one getting-started track. And that is also why the answers you have gotten here have not been very useful. Your question is just too open-ended. In another newsgroup I understand that you have a background in FoxPro. This means, I guess, that you have some knowledge about tables and SQL. That's certainly a head start compared with someone who just walked in from the street. I suggest that you browse Amazon or your local books store for SQL books and see what might fit your current level of knowledge. The one book I can recommend on the top of my head is Itzik Ben-Gan's "Transact-SQL Fundamentals". Or just take your CREATE TABLE scripts for FoxPro and your queries and start playing. I don't know much about FoxPro, but there are probably differences in the SQL dialects, so not everything will work, but this is where Itzik book may help you. -- Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel(a)sommarskog.se Links for SQL Server Books Online: SQL 2008: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/cc514207.aspx SQL 2005: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb895970.aspx SQL 2000: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/previousversions/books.mspx
From: Gene Wirchenko on 27 Jul 2010 17:49 On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:36:51 +0200, Erland Sommarskog <esquel(a)sommarskog.se> wrote: >Gene Wirchenko (genew(a)ocis.net) writes: >> For a software product this complex, there really should be a >> serious getting started guide, and it should be prominent so any >> newbie can see it. > >I'm afraid to make you disappointed, but that it's an impossible idea. No, it is not. >SQL Server is a very vast product, and there are quite a few different >ways you can approach it. Will you develop for it? Will write applications >for it? What kind of applications? Will you work with BI solutions, >ETL? Reports? Or just plain-old-simple registration applications? Or >are you to become an DBA and only work with administration? There is >simply not one getting-started track. I did not say that there was. Maybe, that could be the first answer. Start with your paragraph and then add 'If you are planning to develop with Microsoft SQL Server, then see the section/manual "Microsoft SQL Server - Getting Started - for Developers"' and so on. The very complexity of the product argues for good orienting documentation. >And that is also why the answers you have gotten here have not been >very useful. Your question is just too open-ended. In another newsgroup I do not know much about SQL Server yet. That includes which questions I need to ask. Why do you insist on making it difficult? My boss has decided to go with SQL Server. Had I my choice, I would pick the first decent product with decent documentation. I would examine products and if I could not figure out how to make it go, I would toss it. If I could, then I would check it out. >I understand that you have a background in FoxPro. This means, I guess, >that you have some knowledge about tables and SQL. That's certainly >a head start compared with someone who just walked in from the street. But I have no idea how to make SQL Server work. Yet. >I suggest that you browse Amazon or your local books store for SQL books and >see what might fit your current level of knowledge. The one book I >can recommend on the top of my head is Itzik Ben-Gan's "Transact-SQL >Fundamentals". I have no idea whether that book would work for me. What is "Transact-SQL"? That is the level of knowledge that I have of SQL Server: next to none. >Or just take your CREATE TABLE scripts for FoxPro and your queries >and start playing. I don't know much about FoxPro, but there are >probably differences in the SQL dialects, so not everything will >work, but this is where Itzik book may help you. There are. I really am trying to get there. As I write this, I am downloading a massive manual or manuals from Microsoft on SQL Server. I am using -- trying to use -- SQL Express. I hope the manual will work for me and that the differences between the two will not bite too hard. Sincerely, Gene Wirchenko
From: Erland Sommarskog on 27 Jul 2010 18:05 Gene Wirchenko (genew(a)ocis.net) writes: > I did not say that there was. Maybe, that could be the first > answer. Start with your paragraph and then add 'If you are planning > to develop with Microsoft SQL Server, then see the section/manual > "Microsoft SQL Server - Getting Started - for Developers"' and so on. And then you would only tell me that is none that fits you. And you would probably be right. Judging from some other posts I have seen from you, you are probably better equipped to start working with SQL Server than many other newbies I've seen in newsgroups and forums. > I do not know much about SQL Server yet. That includes which > questions I need to ask. Why do you insist on making it difficult? Because parapsychology *is* difficult. I've tried for ten years to reads people's minds in SQL Server forums, but I often fail. It could certainly have helped from the start, if you had said what background you have. > But I have no idea how to make SQL Server work. Yet. Download SQL Server Management Studio Express, if you have not done so already. Start it, log into SQL Server, specify (local)/SQLEXPRESS for the server name. Open a query window. Run queries. If you fail to connect, open SQL Server Configuraiton Manager, and make sure SQL Server is running. (And that the instance name is SQLEXPRESS.) If you need to connect from a different machine, it's gets a little more complicated, but we take that in another lesson. > I have no idea whether that book would work for me. What is > "Transact-SQL"? Transact-SQL is the SQL dialect that SQL Server uses. Nor do I have any idea whether that book is good for you. As I said, my psychic capabilities are limited. -- Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel(a)sommarskog.se Links for SQL Server Books Online: SQL 2008: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/cc514207.aspx SQL 2005: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb895970.aspx SQL 2000: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/previousversions/books.mspx
From: Gene Wirchenko on 27 Jul 2010 19:12
On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:05:28 +0200, Erland Sommarskog <esquel(a)sommarskog.se> wrote: >Gene Wirchenko (genew(a)ocis.net) writes: >> I did not say that there was. Maybe, that could be the first >> answer. Start with your paragraph and then add 'If you are planning >> to develop with Microsoft SQL Server, then see the section/manual >> "Microsoft SQL Server - Getting Started - for Developers"' and so on. > >And then you would only tell me that is none that fits you. And you You are right in your later comment that you do not read minds well. I share your difficulty. >would probably be right. Judging from some other posts I have seen >from you, you are probably better equipped to start working with SQL >Server than many other newbies I've seen in newsgroups and forums. That is little consolation. >> I do not know much about SQL Server yet. That includes which >> questions I need to ask. Why do you insist on making it difficult? > >Because parapsychology *is* difficult. I've tried for ten years to >reads people's minds in SQL Server forums, but I often fail. It could >certainly have helped from the start, if you had said what background >you have. I suppose so, but it is difficult to know what is needed. Here goes: I have an in-house app written in VFP. It uses VFP's internal tables. We now need to make it more accessible. My boss has decided to go the Microsoft route. I now have to get going with SQL Server from about zero. A rewrite of the app is likely, but first, I have to learn enough SQL Server. Part of my problem is that I know how VFP's dialect of SQL works, but I do not know how SQL Server differs. For example, here is a VFP create table: create table contrived (somedata c(20), moredata n(5)) SQL Server chokes on the types. I could use a list of all of the types and what they are. >> But I have no idea how to make SQL Server work. Yet. > >Download SQL Server Management Studio Express, if you have not done so >already. Start it, log into SQL Server, specify (local)/SQLEXPRESS for >the server name. Open a query window. Run queries. If you fail to connect, >open SQL Server Configuraiton Manager, and make sure SQL Server is >running. (And that the instance name is SQLEXPRESS.) If you need to >connect from a different machine, it's gets a little more complicated, >but we take that in another lesson. OK, it appears that I am not totally ignorant anymore. What exactly does "connect" mean? If I am using SSMS on a database, I assume that counts. I am not totally sure though. I would like to know how to connect from VFP. I will have to look up VFP particulars, but I also need to know how to connect to SQL Server / Express. What are the particulars for the latter, please? I do not know what I have to know to create a connection from something not part of SQL Server. >> I have no idea whether that book would work for me. What is >> "Transact-SQL"? > >Transact-SQL is the SQL dialect that SQL Server uses. Nor do I have any >idea whether that book is good for you. As I said, my psychic capabilities >are limited. I thought the name was "TSQL", or is that something else? Sincerely, Gene Wirchenko |