Be sure to check out my live event on July 19 for SQL Server magazine. Here's where to register and here's an abstract:

SQL Server 2005 offers great features for every role: DBAs, Business Intelligence (BI) analysts, and developers. For developers, there are numerous features and productivity enhancements over SQL Server 2000. In this Web seminar, we will take a wide look at many of these interesting features. We will begin at the SQL Server engine, focusing on the new data types (XML and MAX keyword), PIVOT and UNPIVOT commands, Common Table Expressions (CTEs), ranking and partitioning options, exception handling, automatic output, and DDL triggers. Next, we'll drill down into the XML data type, and look at the new XML support, FOR XML improvements, and some XQUERY examples. Since developers should always be concerned with security, I’ll show a few options for encrypting and decrypting data, using T-SQL commands. Saving the best for last, we’ll finish up with SQL Server 2005’s hosting of .NET components. After a brief discussion of the architecture and process of building, deploying, securing, and executing SQLCLR components, we will look at the sample code for a user defined function, stored procedure, and user defined type – all built using Visual Studio 2005.