Mitch Wheat - Treat the cause, not the symptoms!

Interesting post from Udi Dahan (who was previously an exponent of CQRS):

“It looks like that CQRS has finally “made it” as a full blown “best practice”.

Please accept my apologies for my part in the overly-complex software being created because of it.

I’ve tried to do what I could to provide a balanced view on the topic with posts like Clarified CQRS and Race Conditions Don’t Exist.

It looks like that wasn’t enough, so I’ll go right out and say it:

      Most people using CQRS (and Event Sourcing too) shouldn’t have done so.

Should we really go back to N-Tier? When not using CQRS (which is the majority of the time), you don’t need N-Tier either…

. . .

In Summary

So, when should you avoid CQRS?

The answer is most of the time.”

Erland Sommarskog has an excellent SQL Server article “How to Share Data Between Stored Procedures” tackling these two questions:

• How can I use the result set from one stored procedure in another, also expressed as How can I use the result set from a stored procedure in a SELECT statement?
• How can I pass a table as a parameter from one stored procedure to another?

He discusses several methods, and points out their advantages and disadvantages. [Adding here so I remember where to find it in future!]

An oldie but a goldie: a nice Summary of Join Properties

On occasion, you will be at someone’s desk, looking over their shoulder when you suddenly notice something and exclaim “Hold on! How did you do that?” quickly followed by “I can’t believe I didn’t know about that!”.

I had just such an experience a few days ago. At the risk of being the last person to know this: in SQL Server Management Studio Object Explorer: open a Database, open the Tables folder, and open a Table. Left click on the Column list folder, and drag and drop to an open query window: you get a comma separated list of column names.

In the past, I had always right-clicked on the table, selected Script->Create To->New query window and then edited out the list of columns.  D’oh!

Join us at the Perth .NET User Group Thurs, April 7th where Andrew Coates will demonstrate LightSwitch, a new product in the Visual Studio family aimed at developers who want to easily create business applications for the desktop or the cloud. LightSwitch simplifies the development process by letting you concentrate on the business logic, while LightSwitch handles the common tasks for you. In this demo-heavy session, you will see, end-to-end, how to build and deploy a data-centric business application using LightSwitch. We’ll also go beyond the basics of creating simple screens over data and demonstrate how to create screens with more advanced capabilities

• TOPIC:    LightSwitch with Andrew Coates
• DATE:     Thursday, April 7th, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
• VENUE:   Enex 100 Seminar Room, Level 3, 100 St Georges Terrace, Perth
• COST:     Free. All welcome

Andrew Coates is a Developer Evangelist for Microsoft in Australia. Before joining Microsoft, Andrew was an independent consultant specialising in database applications using Microsoft technologies including SQL Server, Visual FoxPro and Microsoft Office. Andrew's wide range of experience includes telecommunications, SMB inventory, dispatch and accounting systems, using both web and rich client front ends. He has developed and delivered class room training and has mentored a number of developers in Visual FoxPro and SQL Server technologies. Andrew has spoken at international conferences on Geographical Information Systems, health statistics and database maintenance and is a regular presenter at TechEd both locally and internationally. An MCPD, MCTS and MCSD, Andrew also holds a Masters degree in Civil Engineering. Andrew blogs at http://blogs.msdn.com/acoat

Want to get started with SQL Azure but not keen on setting up an account using your credit card details?

Well you can, by signing up for a 30 day SQL Azure pass for free with no credit card required (you get two 1GB Web Edition databases for one month). You can find the promo code at the Get Started with SQL Azure page.