Hello:

Well, I downloaded it. I think I installed it right, but I do
not know enough to be sure. Now, what?

Can someone please point me to what I need to study to get going?
I do not want a huge list as much as I want a map. What should I
study first?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Microsoft has a extensive documentation for this called "Books online"
which can be downloaded as well or be browsed on the MS websites. This
is the main source for questions and answers quite a lot of them.

As you know SQL already, it should not be a big hurdle for you to get
into this.

As far as literature is concerned, there is certainly a ton of it on
the market. Some names come to mind such as Kalen Delaney and Itzik
Ben-Gan. Erland Sommarskog has an interesting website with some
programming tricks. Then there is a site called sqlservercentral with
a forum, newsletters and articles just about that product.

brgds

Philipp Post

On Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:03:09 -0700 (PDT), Philipp Post
<post.philipp (AT) googlemail (DOT) com> wrote:

Let me try this again.

WHERE DO I START?

Part of the problem is that there is extensive documentation,
etc., etc. I need some basic orientation. What of the extensive
documentation should I be reading first and why? From there, I can
pick up the rest.

[snip]

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

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

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.

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.

When you are stuck, a more active group is here:
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...ramming/topics

brgds

Philipp Post

Gene Wirchenko (genew (AT) ocis (DOT) net) writes:
At your local bookstore. Or Amazon for that matter. There are certainly
introductory books for SQL Server out there. I'm afraid that I don't
have any direct recommendations.

Or look for training in your area.

I can agree that Books Online is maybe not the best way to start, as it
is intended to be reference material.


--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel (AT) sommarskog (DOT) 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/prodinf...ons/books.mspx

On Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:37:08 -0700 (PDT), Philipp Post
<post.philipp (AT) googlemail (DOT) com> wrote:

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.

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.

That is what I am trying to do.

I have already found that one and others. I hope to make use of
it later when I get started.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Gene Wirchenko (genew (AT) ocis (DOT) net) writes:
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 (AT) sommarskog (DOT) 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/prodinf...ons/books.mspx

On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:36:51 +0200, Erland Sommarskog
<esquel (AT) sommarskog (DOT) se> wrote:

No, it is not.

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.

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.

But I have no idea how to make SQL Server work. Yet.

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.

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

Gene Wirchenko (genew (AT) ocis (DOT) net) writes:
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.

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.

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.

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 (AT) sommarskog (DOT) 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/prodinf...ons/books.mspx

On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:05:28 +0200, Erland Sommarskog
<esquel (AT) sommarskog (DOT) se> wrote:

You are right in your later comment that you do not read minds
well. I share your difficulty.

That is little consolation.

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.

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 thought the name was "TSQL", or is that something else?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko