"Yukon" : Microsoft’s Next-Generation Data Management and Analysis Software

Hello Friends,

Last week I attended a seminar organized by Microsoft in Mumbai. The seminar was arranged to introduce Microsoft’s Next-Generation Data Management and Analysis Software, MS-SQL Server 2005 Beta 2, which is also codenamed as “Yukon”. Yukon is expected to come in the next summer. The seminar was conducted by Nauzad Kapadia, who is one of the topmost MVPs of India. The seminar was really invaluable to me. So I would like to share my knowledge and experience with you.

Microsoft's SQL Server 2005 Beta 2

It provides lots of new and improved functionalities, such as

• A robust database for building dynamic applications
• Strong XML support
• Tools and features to enhance management and ease of use
• Easy installation and setup
• Scalability and performance
• Deep integration with Visual Studio 2005
• Robust security
  
  To keep your interest in this article, I would like to introduce you some of the most interesting, amazing and programmer friendly features of SQL Server 2005 Beta 2. Have a look at these :
  
• Talk to database in any language :- Write your Stored Procedures and Triggers in any .Net Supported language like C#, VB, mgd C++, COBOL and off course with your own T-SQL.
  
• Debug ur Stored Procedures :- Debug your stored procedure with SQL Server 2005’s new environment.
  
• Management Studio :- Get a new and exciting environment to work in - the tool set : SQL Server Management Studio. It is the first database administration suite that allows you to manage DTS, Reporting Services and Notification Services applications. Whether you're a serious Transact-SQL developer or are new to SQL Server, the SQL Server tool set provides the flexible and intelligent architecture that you need to accomplish database tasks.
  
• MAX :- The maximum size for VARCHAR and VARBINARY was 8,000 and for NVARCHAR 4,000. If you had data that potentially exceeded that size, you needed to use the TEXT, NTEXT, or IMAGE data types (known as Large Object data types, or LOBs). This was always a hassle because they were hard to work with, in both retrieval and action statements. Now This situation changes in SQL Server 2005 with the introduction of the MAX specifier. This specifier allows storage of up to 231 bytes of data, and for Unicode it is 230 bytes. When you use the VARCHAR(MAX) or NVARCHAR(MAX) data type, the data is stored as character strings, whereas for VARBINARY(MAX) it is stored as bytes. These three data types are commonly known as Large Value data types.
  
• MARS :- Multiple Active Result Sets (MARS) lets you have concurrent access to more than one resultset on the same connection.
  
• DDL Triggers :- We have always written triggers on DML statements (Insert, Update and Delete). But what about changes based on Data Definition Language statements, changes to the schema of a database or database server? It has not been possible to use triggers for that purpose—that is, until SQL Server 2005. In SQL Server 2005 you can create triggers for DDL statements as well as DML.
  
• Ranking Functions :- SQL Server 2005 introduces four new ranking functions as:
  i. ROW_NUMBER() :- It was only possible in Oracle, but now it’s available in your SQL Server 2005.
  ii. RANK()
  iii. DENSE_RANK()
  iv. NTILE()
  
• Recursive Queries :- A recursive query is a new query type that provides a hierarchical result set. Yukon includes Common Table Expressions (CTEs) that have recursive querying capabilities.
  
• Exception Handling :- Have you ever written a try … catch block in a stored procedure ? No never before. Now SQL server 2005 Beta 2 provides us the facility to catch the exceptions in the procedures and triggers by using try and catch statements.
  
• Datatype as XML :- Yukon provides new data type as XML. It provides the user with the flexibility to not only store data in XML columns but also create indexes on them.