Designing and Implementing User-Defined Functions

Functions are routines that you use to encapsulate frequently performed logic. Rather than having to repeat the function logic in many places, code can call the function. This makes code more maintainable, and easier to debug. In this module, you will learn to design and implement user-defined functions (UDFs) that enforce business rules or data consistency. You will also learn how to modify and maintain existing functions.

Lessons

• Overview of Functions
• Designing and Implementing Scalar Functions
• Designing and Implementing Table-Valued Functions
• Considerations for Implementing Functions
• Alternatives to Functions

Lab: Designing and Implementing User-Defined Functions

• Format Phone numbers
• Modify an Existing Function

After completing this module, students will be able to: 

• Describe different types of functions.
• Design and implement scalar functions.
• Design and implement table-valued functions (TVFs).
• Describe considerations for implementing functions.
• Describe alternatives to functions.

Responding to Data Manipulation via Triggers

Data Manipulation Language (DML) triggers are powerful tools that you can use to enforce domain, entity, referential data integrity and business logic. The enforcement of integrity helps you to build reliable applications. In this module, you will learn what DML triggers are, how they enforce data integrity, the different types of trigger that are available to you, and how to define them in your database.

Lessons

• Designing DML Triggers
• Implementing DML Triggers
• Advanced Trigger Concepts

Lab: Responding to Data Manipulation by Using Triggers

• Create and Test the Audit Trigger
• Improve the Audit Trigger

After completing this module, students will be able to: 

• Design DML triggers
• Implement DML triggers
• Explain advanced DML trigger concepts, such as nesting and recursion.

Using In-Memory Tables
Microsoft SQL Server 2014 data management software introduced in-memory online transaction processing (OLTP) functionality features to improve the performance of OLTP workloads. SQL Server adds several enhancements, such as the ability to alter a memory-optimized table without recreating it. Memory-optimized tables are primarily stored in memory, which provides the improved performance by reducing hard disk access. Natively compiled stored procedures further improve performance over traditional interpreted Transact-SQL.

 Lessons

• Memory-Optimized Tables
• Natively Compiled Stored Procedures

Lab: Using In-Memory Database Capabilities

• Using Memory-Optimized Tables
• Using Natively Compiled Stored procedures

After completing this module, students will be able to: 

• Use memory-optimized tables to improve performance for latch-bound workloads.
• Use natively compiled stored procedures.

Implementing Managed Code in SQL Server

As a SQL Server professional, you are likely to be asked to create databases that meet business needs. Most requirements can be met using Transact-SQL. However, occasionally you may need additional capabilities that can only be met by using common language runtime (CLR) code. As functionality is added to SQL Server with each new release, the necessity to use managed code decreases. However, there are times when you might need to create aggregates, stored procedures, triggers, user-defined functions, or user-defined types. You can use any .NET Framework language to develop these objects. In this module, you will learn how to use CLR managed code to create user-defined database objects for SQL Server.

Lessons

• Introduction to CLR Integration in SQL Server
• Implementing and Publishing CLR Assemblies

Lab: Implementing Managed Code in SQL Server

• Assessing Proposed CLR Code
• Creating a Scalar-Valued CLR Function
• Creating a Table Valued CLR Function

After completing this module, students will be able to: 

• Explain the importance of CLR integration in SQL Server.
• Implement and publish CLR assemblies using SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT).

Storing and Querying XML Data in SQL Server

XML provides rules for encoding documents in a machine-readable form. It has become a widely adopted standard for representing data structures, rather than sending unstructured documents. Servers that are running Microsoft SQL Server data management software often need to use XML to interchange data with other systems; many SQL Server tools provide an XML-based interface. SQL Server offers extensive handling of XML, both for storage and querying. This module introduces XML, shows how to store XML data within SQL Server, and shows how to query the XML data. The ability to query XML data directly avoids the need to extract data into a relational format before executing Structured Query Language (SQL) queries. To effectively process XML, you need to be able to query XML data in several ways: returning existing relational data as XML, and querying data that is already XML.

Lessons

• Introduction to XML and XML Schemas
• Storing XML Data and Schemas in SQL Server
• Implementing the XML Data Type
• Using the Transact-SQL FOR XML Statement
• Getting Started with XQuery
• Shredding XML

Lab: Storing and Querying XML Data in SQL Server

• Determining when to use XML
• Testing XML Data Storage in Variables
• Using XML Schemas
• Using FOR XML Queries
• Creating a Stored Procedure to Return XML

After completing this module, students will be able to: 

• Describe XML and XML schemas.
• Store XML data and associated XML schemas in SQL Server.
• Implement XML indexes within SQL Server.
• Use the Transact-SQL FOR XML statement.
• Work with basic XQuery queries.

Storing and Querying Spatial Data in SQL Server

This module describes spatial data and how this data can be implemented within SQL Server.

Lessons

• Introduction to Spatial Data
• Working with SQL Server Spatial Data Types
• Using Spatial Data in Applications

Lab: Working with SQL Server Spatial Data

• Become Familiar with the Geometry Data Type
• Add Spatial Data to an Existing Table
• Find Nearby Locations

After completing this module, students will be able to: 

• Describe how spatial data can be stored in SQL Server
• Use basic methods of the GEOMETRY and GEOGRAPHY data types
• Query databases containing spatial data

Storing and Querying BLOBs and Text Documents in SQL Server

Traditionally, databases have been used to store information in the form of simple values—such as integers, dates, and strings—that contrast with more complex data formats, such as documents, spreadsheets, image files, and video files. As the systems that databases support have become more complex, administrators have found it necessary to integrate this more complex file data with the structured data in database tables. For example, in a product database, it can be helpful to associate a product record with the service manual or instructional videos for that product. SQL Server provides several ways to integrate these files—that are often known as Binary Large Objects (BLOBs)—and enable their content to be indexed and included in search results. In this module, you will learn how to design and optimize a database that includes BLOBs.

Lessons

• Considerations for BLOB Data
• Working with FILESTREAM
• Using Full-Text Search

Lab: Storing and Querying BLOBs and Text Documents in SQL Server

• Enabling and Using FILESTREAM Columns
• Enabling and Using File Tables
• Using a Full-Text Index

After completing this module, students will be able to: 

• Describe the considerations for designing databases that incorporate BLOB data.
• Describe the benefits and design considerations for using FILESTREAM to store BLOB data on a Windows file system.
• Describe the benefits of using full-text indexing and Semantic Search, and explain how to use these features to search SQL Server data, including unstructured data

SQL Server Concurrency

This module explains how to name, declare, assign values to, and use variables. It also describes how to store data in an array. Concurrency control is a critical feature of multiuser database systems; it allows data to remain consistent when many users are modifying data at the same time. This module covers the implementation of concurrency in Microsoft SQL Server. You will learn about how SQL Server implements concurrency controls, and the different ways you can configure and work with concurrency settings.

Lessons

• Concurrency and Transactions
• Locking Internals

Lab:  SQL Server Concurrency

• Implement Snapshot Isolation
• Implement Partition Level Locking 

After completing this module, students will be able to: 

• Describe concurrency and transactions in SQL Server.
• Describe SQL Server locking.

Performance and Monitoring

This module explains how to name, declare, assign values to, and use variables. It also describes how to store data in an array. This module looks at how to measure and monitor the performance of your SQL Server databases. The first two lessons look at SQL Server Extended Events, a flexible, lightweight event-handling system built into the Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine. These lessons focus on the architectural concepts, troubleshooting strategies and usage scenarios.

Lessons

• Extended Events
• Working with extended Events
• Live Query Statistics
• Optimize Database File Configuration
• Metrics

Lab: Monitoring, Tracing, and Baselining

• Collecting and Analyzing Data Using Extended Events
• Implementing Baseline Methodology

After completing this module, students will be able to: 

• Understand Extended Events and how to use them.
• Work with Extended Events.
• Understand Live Query Statistics.
• Optimize the file configuration of your databases.
• Use DMVs and Performance Monitor to create baselines and gather performance metrics