Last weekend I decided to do some maintenance on one of our database to see if I can get some freespace back. I use compression for some of the older tables and also reindexed the tables with a higher fill factor. After I was done, I got over 200 GB of additional free space Here is what the database looked like before I did the maintenance FILEID FILE_SIZE_MB SPACE_USED_MB FREE_SPACE_MB 1 179353.

LessThanDot is composed of 3 distinct PHP packages wired together with some home-built screens, a homemade authentication system, and a bit of string and glue. In fact, it is similar to hundreds of thousands of systems out there, that evolve out of bits and pieces integrated in unique and interesting ways. We deploy our site manually using file copy methods, with separate QA and Development environments. Fortunately, being PHP and not compiled, we can limit our deployments to just changed files instead of full deployments.

This is part five of a series about Report Builder 3.0. Report Builder 3.0 – The Introduction Report Builder 3.0 – Table or Matrix Wizard Report Builder 3.0 – Chart Wizard Report Builder 3.0 – Chart Types, Visualizations, and Properties Report Builder 3.0 – Report Parts When SQL Server 2008 was introduced, it included the new spatial data types of geometry and geography. Report Builder 3.0 gave us the capability to add maps to reports, which can utilize those data types to visualize data.

This one is open source (didn’t really check if the others were) and also free. And the little one is called ILSpy. Like with the previous post about justdecompile and dotpeek I also decompiled the following code. ```vbnet Module Module1 Sub Main() Dim array1() As Integer Dim array2(-1) As Integer Dim array3(0) As Integer Dim array4(1) As Integer Dim array5() As Integer = {} Dim array6() = New Integer() {} ReDim array1(-1) Console.

For my previous post I needed to see the IL and that was the time to try some of the new decompilers that are out there. I was thinking dotpeek by jetbrains and justdecompile by telerik. God knows I love dotpeek. So it was the first I tried. Dotpeek is still early access so far from ready. The install experience is none existing. You download the zipfile, unzip it. And then doubleclick on the exe to start it (if you can’t find it, it’s under the d for dotpeek).

In SQL Server 2012 we now can have Contained Databases. To be precise we now can have partially Contained Databases. The complete definition is found in the MSDN Database. In short a Contained Database holds it’s configuration and security information so you should be able to move these databases easily between different SQL Servers without having to create users or other configuration items. But as we all know Collations can cause serious problems, certainly if there is a difference between the Collation of the database itself and tempdb.

So in my previous post I got a comment from Brian. The declare and initialization syntax used above is generally frowned upon. Rather, you should split the two into separate pieces. Either of the following will give you a 0-sized array while being natural: ‘Full form Dim array1() As Integer = New Integer() {} ‘Shortcut Dim array1() As Integer = {} I don’t think that looks any better, but tastes differ.

This post was inspired by this forumthread on VBIB (dutch). Some people seem to forget that arrays in VB.Net are 0-based. Meaning that this. vbnet Dim array1(0) As Integer Console.WriteLine(array1.Count) This instantiates the array with one element in it. But there is nothing stopping you from creating an array with 0 elements in it. Appart from the fact that it seems a bit unnatural. vbnet Dim array1(-1) As Integer Console.WriteLine(array1.Count) And why would you do that?

It’s been a busy year already, but I’m just getting started! I’ll be presenting on Tuesday, April 3, 2012, at 6:00 pm, for SQL Connection Suburban Chicago. I’ll be giving my new favorite presentation, “Filegroups: Putting the Pieces Together”. Abstract: Every DBA must know how to create and maintain filegroups because they affect performance, maintenance, and security of your data. What are filegroups, and how do you use them? In this session, I’ll show you how to create filegroups, create objects in them, move objects to them, perform maintenance, and walk through piecemeal restores.

As announced in the March 21, 2012 PASS Community Connector newsletter, PASS is looking for a few good volunteers for the 2012 Summit Program Committee. What is it, what do they do, and why should you care? The Program Committee is responsible for reviewing every abstract and every speaker that submits to speak at PASS Summit. Every. Single. One. Hundreds of abstracts are submitted by hundreds of speakers, so this is a lot of work!