SQL, the language of databases, is a foundational tool in the arsenal of anyone working with data. Among its various commands, the INNER JOIN is critical in efficiently retrieving and…
Mastering the SQL Inner Join
SQL Execution Plan
What is one? An SQL Server execution plan helps investigate performance issues with queries. As Database professionals, we receive user complaints that systems run slowly. Query results that used to…
C# and handling SSL Certificate Problems
Image by Vectorportal.com, CC BY Background Throughout my career, virtually every project I have worked on has integrated with other systems. In the 'old days', the security of these systems…
Why is SQL slow?
Performance matters Ensuring your applications run quickly is vital in an age where users expect immediate results. Most modern computers are high-speed - smoking fast - even compared to machines…
Stop / Start a Site in IIS
Background For the last 20 years, my day job has been developing Web Applications on the Microsoft ASP.Net platform. These applications have always been run on IIS, and stopping and…
Regex for Passwords
Useful but awful Regex patterns, whether you love them or hate them, they are helpful. They enable the developer to define patterns for data validation, ease the extraction of sections…
Generate a C# class from a SQL Table
Background Most of the systems I have worked on are Database First applications. Either the team or SQL experts define the database first - or it has existed for years…
Used Identity Fields in SQL
What are identity fields? Like most database systems, SQL Server can define numeric fields as Identity fields. This means the database server automatically sets the numeric field value to the…
Who is using my database
Background Whenever users report that a system is slow, there can be many reasons. It can also be several different problems causing the system to be slow. However, more often…
Delete Obj/Bin folders in a Visual Studio solution
Background Most non-trivial applications have a lot of files of source code. Unless the application uses an interpreted language, those files are compiled into other types like executables and DLLs.…