.NET news » Database

Database developers have historically used a somewhat cryptic system for naming database tables and fields. Originally a result of the limitations of database management systems (DBMS), these naming schemes - or the lack thereof - have been adopted by convention and tradition. However, as database applications become more complex, with more tables and larger teams of developers, and as developers come and go, it becomes much more important to implement a robust and disciplined naming scheme for database objects. A well-defined naming scheme becomes more important when you adopt object relational mapping (ORM) technologies or automatic code generation.

Microsoft implemented many new features in SQL Server 2005, including an impressive set of language enhancements. From new language statements for SQL-99 compatibility to new features in response to customer requests, Transact-SQL 2005 helps to increase developer productivity. This article covers most of the new language features by posing a statement/scenario and then provide some code samples to show how you can use T-SQL 2005 to address the problem. You'll also get a brief glance at Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals, a product that helps a development team to manage databases. Finally, I'll give you a sneak preview of some features in the next scheduled version of SQL Server (SQL Server 2008, "Katmai")...

Hard coding passwords into your application or your web site is a bad thing. Barry looks at how we can use trusted connections to provide the authentication we need, without the need for these potential security hazards.

Harness the power of SQL Server Management Objects to create, document, and manage your SQL Server databases.

Thinking of upgrading to SQL Server 2005? Or are you using SQL 2005 already and you want to learn more about the language features? Then this article may be for you! Microsoft implemented many new features in SQL Server 2005, including an impressive set of language enhancements. From new language statements for SQL-99 compatibility to new features in response to customer requests, Transact-SQL 2005 helps to increase developer productivity. In this article, I'll cover most of the new language features by posing a statement/scenario and then provide some code samples to show how you can use T-SQL 2005 to address the problem. At the end of the article, I'll talk briefly about Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals, a product that helps a development team to manage databases. Finally, I'll give you a sneak preview of some features in the next scheduled version for SQL Server (SQL Server 2008, "Katmai").

Find out how to use a single DataGridView to display dynamic queries, adjusting columns automatically, and how to format individual cells exactly the way you want users to see them.

With Microsoft SQL Server 2000 it was possible to debug stored procedures from directly within Query Analyzer (see Debugging a SQL Stored Procedure from inside SQL Server 2000 Query Analyzer for more information). With SQL Server 2005, however, this functionality was moved out of SQL Server Management Studio and into the Visual Studio IDE. Using this technique, it is possible to step into your stored procedures, one statement at a time, from within Visual Studio. It is also possible to set breakpoints within your stored procedures' statements and have these breakpoints hit when debugging your application.

All editions of SQL Server 2005 include debugging support (including the Express Edition). However, only the Team Systems and Professional editions of Visual Studio enable stored procedure debugging from within the IDE. In short, if you are using Visual Web Developer or Visual Studio Standard Edition then you cannot step through a stored procedure or enter the stored procedure via application debugging.

In this article we will examine how to debug SQL Server 2005 stored procedures through the Visual Studio IDE. We will look at both stepping into a stored procedure directly from the IDE as well as how to set breakpoints within the stored procedure that are then hit when debugging the application.

Bringing the Common Language Runtime (CLR) into SQL Server presents an entirely new set of challenges with regard to privilege and some of the rules that SQL Server developers are used to do not completely translate. Simple grant/deny/revoke logic still applies, but the CLR also brings its own set of specialized permissions, which require slightly different handling in order to properly manipulate.

By not carefully considering these issues when designing your SQLCLR code base, you may be allowing your code too much access.

This article focuses on what the SQLCLR permission sets do to control security and reliability, and what you need to understand when working with them in order to design a system that takes advantage of least privilege. By not carefully considering these issues when designing your SQLCLR code base, you may allow your code too much access, thereby creating potential vectors for security problems down the road..

In this article we start with a look at the T-SQL commands for performing asymmetric encryption and decryption. Next, we discuss using digital signatures as a means for ensuring the integrity of the encrypted data. This article concludes with an ASP.NET 2.0 website example that ties together the lessons learned throughout this article series. Specifically, the database used by this ASP.NET application stores customer information with the customer's credit card information encrypted. An ASP.NET page provides a means to view the sensitive information in plaintext as well as a means to add new customers to the database with the credit card information properly encrypted.

As the attacks in which hackers use become more and more sophisticated, and the programs in which they attack become increasingly complex, encryption is becoming the last line of defense in database management system (DBMS) security.

In this article we will look at how, specifically, to encrypt the data in a SQL Server 2005 database using symmetric encryption techniques. We'll start with examining the facilities for managing keys in SQL Server and then explore symmetric encryption in SQL Server 2005.