SQL Analyzer

Are you a developer , who wants to write better SQL code , the code that is optimized for design , performance and security?

Are you a dba who is investing 100 man hours to do SQL code analysis to find one silly error?

We have designed a tool code named 'SQL Analyzer' which will help you in writing SQL codes and doing SQL code analysis.


Discover a new way to do code static, dynamic and in-Line analysis for Microsoft SQL Server.

Welcome to SQL Analyser.

SQL Analyzer is code analysis tool for Microsoft SQL Server which evaluates SQL scripts written in SQL Server against the best practices provided by Microsoft and Happiest Minds practices and provides recommendations for improvement.  SQL Analyzer works as both static and dynamic code analysis tool. SQL Analyzer identifies the defects in early development cycle. It helps you to release the quality of database code to production and saves the cost of fixing the defect late in production cycle.

With a single click, SQL Analyzer evaluates the stored procedure against rules and list down the issues and recommendations. 

In its current version it analyses code for MS SQL Server . It analysis your scripts for Design , Performance and Naming standards. Some of the standards are laid out by Microsoft as best practices for SQL Server. Some are laid by Happiest Minds Experts based on the previous experience and industry best practices.

Simple and Robust. Powerful and Intuitive. SQL Analyser is handsome for an effective SQL review.

SQL Analyser is a very simple and easy to use tool. For a normal user it takes maximum of half an hour to get acquainted and start using the tool. Although the UI is simple and straightforward the architecture is robust. The rule engine ensures you get the latest of SQL updates added to the tool.

 SQL Analyzer is available as a web application , as a desktop version , a add-in to Visual Studio , Add-in to SSMS , Command-line tool , as a service that can be widely used.

You can access the trial version at : http://sqlanalyser.happiestminds.com/  and readily start playing with the tool.

We are looking forward to your feedback.

App Bars in Windows 8

The app bar is analogous to a toolbar in classic Windows interfaces, or the ribbon in more recent offering. It’s a container for buttons that trigger commands.

App Bars are available on demand as they are not in the primary scenario of your application building. App Bars can be drawn when you press Winkey + Z or right click the mouse.

You can place app bars at top of the page or at the bottom of the page. A page can contain both top and bottom app bars as well.

<Page.TopAppBar>

<AppBar>

<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Left">

<Button Style="{StaticResource AddAppBarButtonStyle}" />

<Button Style="{StaticResource DeleteAppBarButtonStyle}" />

<Button Style="{StaticResource SaveAppBarButtonStyle}" />

</StackPanel>

</AppBar>

</Page.TopAppBar>

The above code puts the app bar on top of the page.

<Page.BottomAppBar>

<AppBar>

<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Left">

<Button Style="{StaticResource AddAppBarButtonStyle}" />

<Button Style="{StaticResource DeleteAppBarButtonStyle}" />

<Button Style="{StaticResource SaveAppBarButtonStyle}" />

</StackPanel>

</AppBar>

</Page.BottomAppBar>

The above code places the app bar at the bottom of the page.

The content of the page lies between the top and the bottom app bars.

<Page.TopAppBar>

<AppBar>

<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Left">

<Button Style="{StaticResource AddAppBarButtonStyle}" />

<Button Style="{StaticResource DeleteAppBarButtonStyle}" />

<Button Style="{StaticResource SaveAppBarButtonStyle}" />

</StackPanel>

</AppBar>

</Page.TopAppBar>



　
  <Grid Background="{StaticResource ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush}">




  </Grid>

<Page.BottomAppBar>

<AppBar>

<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Left">

<Button Style="{StaticResource AddAppBarButtonStyle}" />

<Button Style="{StaticResource DeleteAppBarButtonStyle}" />

<Button Style="{StaticResource SaveAppBarButtonStyle}" />

</StackPanel>

</AppBar>

</Page.BottomAppBar>

You can also play with the background/foreground colors of the app bar. By default the background color of app bar is black and the foreground color is white.

By default the border for the app bar is not visible to can add the border brush attribute and show the border as well.

<AppBar Name="topAppBar" Background="Aqua" Foreground="Black" BorderBrush="Red">

I can put my UI controls on to app bar , the UI control can be a simple button , a normal checkbox , a radio button etc.

Many people often debate on Microsoft's decision to introduce App Bars. According to msdn:

The reason the contextual commands that come and go are on the left is ergonomic. We found in studies that most users (even lefties!) operate touch devices with their right hand. If selection-based commands were to appear on the right, then as you raise your right arm to select an item you would cover the new commands that just appeared! Similarly, putting commands that are always present on the right allows you to use your right hand to access them, which is ideal because most users interact with touch devices with the right hand. So putting commands that come and go on the left, and commands that are always there for a given screen on the right, makes it more efficient for users to get to with touch.

My view : App Bars are great create UI element  , they help you when you need.

PRISM Vs MEF

• Prism is basically guidance for designing composite applications - where you have a shell and regions that are dynamically assigned, and integrated. It includes an IoC container (Unity) that it uses for it's injection.
• MEF is a dependency injection framework - it's main goal is to fill in dependencies at runtime for an application. In this respect, it's filling the same goal as Unity does within Prism .
• Prism fills a broader scope, in some respects, but is also really limited to GUI applications. MEF is just doing one thing (Dep. Injection), but geared to be more general purpose, for any type of application
• Prism was developed by the Patterns and Practices team. The goal isn't to necessarily make software, but to provide guidance.MEF, from the blog posts, sounds like it is planned to be integrated into the framework, and be used directly inside of MS projects.
• If you are building extensible applications, extensible frameworks and application extensions, then MEF is for you.The Composite Client Application Guidance is designed to help you more easily build modular Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight client applications.

So,

• MEF is not an IoC container, even though it uses IoC concepts.
• MEF focuses on application reprehensibility with component discovery and composition.
• PRISM is “a complete solution” for developing UI applications.
• MEF is not “a complete solution” for developing UI applications although it can be used for creating applications that can be extended.

Migrating to Windows Azure

 

At times we need to migrate our existing applications to cloud. While migrating our application we also need to migrate the database related to this application.

Following the best practices it is always suggested that you migrate the database before migrating the application.

In this article we will see what are the steps typically followed to migrate an existing database to SQL Azure.

As usual for any activity we need to follow the cycle of

For this simple migration activity also let us follow the same cycle.

So, let us start with step 1

Planning:

In this step we will do two things:

·         Identify tools for migration

·         Identify the migration steps

Tools for Migration:

The most common tool use to migrate a SQL database to SQL Azure is: SQL Azure Migration Wizard.

Using this tool we can:

a.       Analyze

b.      Revise

c.       Migrate Schema

d.      Migrate Data

From any on-premise database to SQL Azure database or SQL database for cloud.

So, now out of the two step of planning,

ü  Identify tools for migration

·         Identify the migration steps

The first step is over.

Now we need to identify the steps to migrate the data.

Following are the 5 steps that should be followed for migrating a database from on-premise to cloud.

Now, that we are done with identify tool to migrate and listed out the steps.

The first phase of planning is done.

ü  Identify tools for migration

ü  Identify the migration steps

Now, let’s look at the second phase analysis phase.

Analysis:

In this phase you basically analyze the requirements, for example:

Size of database is critical because of following reasons:

a.       Currently SQL Azure Database have a size limit for a 50GB so if our database is larger, then we need to partition into multiple databases.

b.      Also, large data takes a long time to transmit and so we may face a delay in the data transmission.

These two factors should be analyzed properly and if needed based on these, the plan may need to be modified.

Let’s now, see how the version of database is a critical factor in the database migration from on-premise to azure environment.

a.       Are you moving from SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2? If yes, the database migration to SQL Azure should not take a long time.

b.      If your existing version of on-premise database is an earlier version of SQL Server, it is recommended you “stage” your migration by moving your database over to SQL Server 2008 R2 first, and then up into the cloud on SQL Azure. 

    So, based on these factors also you need to revisit you plan.    

           

Now that we have seen how the size of database and version of database affect the analysis phase, let us now see how the complexity of database affects the analysis.

Before venturing into this, let us first understand what a simple database is?

A simple database is one which deals mostly with data. It may contain a few SPs, triggers, etc.

A complex database on the other hand depend on database server features like  Windows authentication, SQL Agent jobs, replication, full text search, XML indexing, distributed transactions, and transparent data encryption.

If your database is a complex database, you cannot migrate it to SQL Azure , because some of the features of complex database are not yet supported by SQL Azure.

So, by the end of anlysis phase you have completed the analysis of the database and also, updated the plan for any changes.

Next we will see the Execution phase.