HawkeSoft SQL Tips and Tricks - Part 1 - Writing SQL with SQL

This is the first in a series of posts describing SQL tips and tricks for SQL Server 2000/2005/2008. We at HawkeSoft hope you enjoy this series, and as always, we welcome your feedback!

Writing SQL with SQL:
Want to know the number of rows in every table in your database? No problem, until you realize your database has hundreds of tables. Try the code sample below for a quick dynamic SQL solution (SQL Server 2005).

DECLARE @SQL varchar(max)
SET @SQL = ''

SELECT @SQL = @SQL + 'SELECT COUNT(1) AS [' + ST.name + ' Count] FROM ' + ST.name + ' ' FROM sys.tables ST

--SELECT @SQL
EXEC(@SQL)

As you can see this approach is very powerful and can be applied in many different situations such as database maintenance commands, code re-compilations, updating statistics, etc...

If this type of code interests you should also check out the undocumented stored procedures sp_MSforeachtable and sp_MSforeachdb.

Remember, when dealing with code that has the potential to update several objects at once in your database ALWAYS make sure it is going to do what you anticipate, and consider the performance impacts. Happy coding!

Musings of a Startup - Part 2 - More Advertising

Hello again, things on the advertising front have come a long way since my last post. I am now getting plenty of clicks. I am hitting my daily ad budget on Google Adwords nearly everyday. Also, using Google Analytics I am tracking download conversions and getting between a 25%-50% daily conversion rate. So far so good!

I am finding Google analytics an incredibly useful tool for learning about the traffic hitting the HawkeSoft website. In addition to conversions it is very interesting to see what countries are hitting the site the most (India and the United States are the clear leaders at this point).

Well, advertising is coming along well now, time to see if it starts translating into sales. If anyone has questions about the EZ SQL Restore application, or has run into any problems just let me know.

- Grant

Musings of a Startup - Part 1 - Advertising

HawkeSoft is my first startup, and I am having to learn many new things... fast!

Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter are my newest interests. Trying to get the news out on a new company/product is an interesting task. I must admit that working with the ad campaigns is actually quite fun on some level. It connects to my interest in fantasy sports and the stock market from a pure number crunching standpoint.

Has anyone else worked with these ad technologies and had any kind of epiphany on how to get clicks? So far I am registering thousands of impressions and almost no clicks (which means not too many people are probably reading this blog... hmm).

I am also considering submitting my application to well-read blogs and other online publications.

So far the whole startup venture has been very rewarding, and interesting to say the least. It appears as though my first musing has turned into more of a rambling... be back soon.

- Grant

EZ SQL Restore enhancements brainstorming

Now that EZ SQL Restore has launched we can focus on working on improvements and enhancements.

Some items that jump to mind are:
Support for other database platforms, mySQL most likely being at the top of the list.
SQL Server 2008 Support
Windows Server 2008 Support (this item is in fact, already in progress, EZ SQL Restore functions on Windows Server 2008, but some security tweaks are required)
... Any other suggestions anyone has in mind? Let us know!

Welcome!

Welcome to the HawkeSoft development blog! This is the location for all my product updates, ideas, musings, etc... I will try to keep everyone up to date with the products we are developing and enhancing. Most of the posts will be technical, but along the way let's try to have some fun. I welcome your feedback so please let me know what you think!