This book packs a lot of information, from beginning to advanced topics. I learned a lot from this book esp. when I was pressed for time trying to fix things and do some scripts for the department I work for. I would definitely recommend this book to learn SQL scripting and other things related to database and table design.

Great, convenient reference: I usually check it before turning to Google and MSDN, and so far have found it to be a sufficient, and far-easier-to-navigate, resource.

Great, convenient reference: I usually check it before turning to Google and MSDN, and so far have found it to be a sufficient resource.

Background: Professional developer with 20 years experience of application programming and embedded development who is recently learning SQL / SQL Server.

I was looking for a solution to a problem and found it in the online text included in this book. The solution saved me about 2 hours of research, so I went ahead and bought the book since it had already paid for itself.

It has since paid for itself many times over.

This is a great book to keep at arms length. It has many great examples of the T-SQL commands and syntax. I use it most oftern when I find myself asking the question, "How do you use that command?". Subject matter is complete and includes the XML extensions to T-SQL.

I think this book is a good addition to your bookshelf but I was hoping for a little more. The price is right and the breadth of topic coverage is fine. I just want more "recipes"; that is more examples showcasing each topic with variations on how to use different commands and techniques in my SQL code plus best practices for developing a SQL Server databases across an enterprise software system.

This is the book that I consult most often, when there is something I want to accomplish quickly and easily. There is a lot of SQL Server 2005 specific content here, and most major aspects of SQL Server are covered at a decent depth. Very highly recommended.

I picked this book to refresh my T-SQL after spending a year on an Oracle project. It is incredibly annoying at how little differences in PL\SQL and T-SQL can mess up a script! However, this book is indexed very well with good explanations of the results as well as the syntax. I generally find what I need a lot faster than with on-line help. Between this book and the Red-Gate SQL tools, getting back up to speed on SQL Server 2005 was a breeze.

The book is well-written.
It has a lot of useful examples.

This book has a lot of useful stuff in it for beginning t-sql authors. I paid full price for it when it came out, and I feel like I got my money's worth, which is pretty rare. I tend to hit this book more than my other tsql books at work, even though its billed as a recipie book instead of a reference book. Very good job.

This book has a lot of useful stuff in it for beginning t-sql authors. I paid full price for it when it came out, and I feel like I got my money's worth, which is pretty rare. I tend to hit this book more than my other tsql books at work, even though its billed as a recipie book instead of a reference book. Very good job.

This book has a lot of tips and tricks to write your queries, I have not read it yet but bunch of my colleagues are using it and benefitting from it

Sack's book is of unusually high quality for its publisher, Apress, in providing plainspoken and consistently organized descriptions of its topic. Despite limited coverage of SQL Server 2005, it has proven very handy. As of summer, 2006, it really has no competition in providing practical advice about using SQL Server 2005 other than the Books Online documents from Microsoft.

Sack's book has three practical limitations. It covers mainly data manipulation with less attention to data definition. In particular, it does not explain how to use the SQL Server Management Studio or the similar services imbedded in Visual Studio 2005, which have become the primary tools for data definition in many shops.

The book does not provide concise but full descriptions of many elements of T-SQL syntax. Instead it concentrates on "basic" or "simplified" syntax. For full descriptions one must often wade into Microsoft's Books Online documents.

Sack's book does not explain how to use ADO.NET classes to execute SQL Server commands. Today they have become the primary interface for many software applications, and they can present complex issues of their own.

I'm an original fan of a previous book written by Joe and afterwards began a dialogue with him that I'm happy to say has continued, in part, due to the ability of me as a reader to get three important things from any book - READ it ALL, it's RELEVANT to what I am looking for and can be practically implemented in the real world, and finally its thorough enough that it doesn't leave you wondering why you just learned something... Thanks Joe for previous books and this one. I wish you continued success.

Adam P. Cassidy
MCT, MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA

SQL Server 2005 T-SQL Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach by Joseph Sack is a fantastic reference for all DB admins or anyone that uses SQL Server 2005 on a daily basis. Chock full of tasty recipes that anyone will find useful, this is one of the best Apress books I have had the pleasure to read and I do mean pleasure.

At over 700 pages, this book has 29 chapters full of goodies:

01. Select
02. Insert, Update, Delete
03. Transactions, Locking, Blocking and Deadlocking
04. Tables
05. Indexes
06. Full-Text Search
07. Views (11 recipes)
08. SQL Server Functions
09. Conditional Processing, Control-of-Flow and Cursors
10. Stored Procedures
11. User-Defined Functions and Types
12. Triggers
13. CLR Integration
14. XML
15. Web Services
16. Error Handling
17. Principals
18. Securables and Permissions
19. Encryption
20. Service Broker
21. Configuring and Viewing SQL Server Options
22. Creating and Configuring Databases
23. Database Integrity and Optimization
24. Maintaining Database Objects and Object Dependencies
25. Database Mirroring
26. Database Snapshots
27. Linked Servers and Distributed Queries
28. Performance Tuning
29. Backup and Recovery

If you use SQL Server 2005 and want to learn how to do tasks that have already been done without wasting your time researching and developing your own solutions, pick up this book and start getting to work!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This book review was submitted by a Roanoke Valley SQL Server Users Group member as part of the Book Review Program.

Reviewed by Paul Glassbrenner

I found the book to be an easy read - containing insightful solutions to practical everyday problems that DBA or Developer may encounter. The solutions or recipes, as the author calls them, are well written. He explains, for example, what each SQL Server function will do and how and why it works. The author also goes into detail on Indexing, Triggers, and Stored Procedures, and frankly after reading this book, it has improved my usage of them. This is a book that will make a great reference book for anyone just beginning or with advanced experience in Microsoft SQL Server 2005. I would give this book two thumbs up!

Paul Glassbrenner

This book is a very good book for updating skills from sql server 2000 to 2005. There is a lot of information in this book
and it is incredible that the author makes it so easy to go through unlike some of the other books. This should be
everyones first sql server 2005 since it tackles alot of
new features with working examples. There is very little
bad I can say about this and probably a while before another good book like this will come out.
This book covers not only tsql but new features as well as
the major sql server 2005administrative techniques.
It also coveres some reporting.
You still need a book for ssis, sql assembiles ,udf, reporting, olap.

This book is a very good book for updating skills from sql server 2000 to 2005. There is a lot of information in this book
and it is incredible that the author makes it so easy to go through unlike some of the other books. This should be
everyones first sql server 2005 since it tackles alot of
new features with working examples. There is very little
bad I can say about this and probably a while before another good book like this will come out

This book is very useful, collecting many important T-SQL in all directions in one volume with clear explanations for SS 2005, Highly recommended.

It took me and amazing 5 minutes on day at Borders to decide that it was a good one to buy and one that I'd use. It has real-life SQL here, not a 1000 page SQL book like others which just give you a million bits and pieces... the whole language but then really doesn't explain how to use it realistically in common on-the-job situations. One example of this is how to use UNIONS and in what situations and Selects from Selects. Eventually you will use UNIONS if you haven't already in your career and much more.

The examples are how to code complex SQL. SQL suddenly becomes a challenging language during the senior levels of your career and many don't realize this until their SQL skills are challenged with very complex project requirements later on in their careers.

See the other review to see what is covered in this book. It is an excellent book and thoroughly covers everything it includes. It covers everything you need to know about the Data Manipulation Language (DML)

The only downside I found was that it doesn't cover the Data Definition Language (DDL) much at all, which was somewhat disappointing.

It's a great book to have by your side.

always been a fan of this series of books. Lots of detail for the technical person. I bought this along with the Pro SQL Server 2005 book. I would recommend buying both books as they compliment each other.

Overall this is a great book; Joseph Sack again does a good job in knowing what to focus on and what level to go to. For looking up answers quickly and getting an overall idea and explanation of the past features of SQL 2000 and the new features of SQL 2005 this book does the job well. It goes into SQL Server at a level that is for more then a beginner, but not for a novice, so if you are at the intermediate level this book should be good for you. It also is a great replacement for all of you who own SQL Server 2000 Fast Answers by Joseph Sack.

This book's "recipe" format makes it great for quickly figuring out how to do something. The examples are straight to the point--so don't expect really deep insights. Rather, this is the kind of book you'll want to keep on your desk for those times you might get stuck on a task. Flip to the right page and there you have it.

There's also a "how it works" section for every recipe that briefly describes what's going on. If you're in more of a cover-to-cover reading mode, that should help enhance the book's readability.

Sometimes we see books on a new version of software that haven't soaked in the new technology -- you can tell the book was written with a mindset stuck in the old version. Not true here. Joseph Sack goes provides numerous useful examples of how to use the new features of SQL Server 2005. If he missed one I have yet to find it.

Lost in the hoopla of CLR integration for example, is the new feature likely to fundamentally change how we approach SQL application architecture: the Service Broker. Joseph provides 15 separate "how it works" examples of using the service broker including "Enabling Transport Security", "Enabling Dialog Security", "Creating Routes and Remote Service Bindings" and "Event Notifications."

Since Amazon hasn't provided a Table of Contents, I'll give a high level one:
Chapter 1) Select (44 recipes)
Chapter 2) Insert, Update, Delete (14 recipes)
Chapter 3) Transactions, Locking, Blocking and Deadlocking (8 recipes)
Chapter 4) Tables (35 recipes)
Chapter 5) Indexes (16 recipes)
Chapter 6) Full-Text Search (14 recipes)
Chapter 7) Views (11 recipes)
Chapter 8) SQL Server Functions (56 recipes)
Chapter 9) Conditional Processing, Control-of-Flow and Cursors (8 recipes)
Chapter 10) Stored Procedures (12 recipes)
Chapter 11) User-Defined Functions and Types (12 recipes)
Chapter 12) Triggers (14 recipes)
Chapter 13) CLR Integration (10 recipes) (and a section on when and when NOT to use CLR integration assemblies)
Chapter 14) XML (8 recipes)
Chapter 15) Web Services (6 recipes)
Chapter 16) Error Handling (8 recipes)
Chapter 17) Principals (19 recipes - managing users and roles)
Chapter 18) Securables and Permissions (10 recipes)
Chapter 19) Encryption (20 recipes)
Chapter 20) Service Broker (15 recipes)
Chapter 21) Configuring and Viewing SQL Server Options (2 recipes)
Chapter 22) Creating and Configuring Databases (33 recipes)
Chapter 23) Database Integrity and Optimization (8 recipes)
Chapter 24) Maintaining Database Objects and Object Dependencies (4 recipes)
Chapter 25) Database Mirroring (10 recipes)
Chapter 26) Database Snapshots (3 recipes)
Chapter 27) Linked Servers and Distributed Queries (12 recipes)
Chapter 28) Performance Tuning (17 recipes)
Chapter 29) Backup and Recovery (18 recipes)

Highly Recommended.