Connect digest : 2009-07-04

AaronBertrand — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:07:00 GMT

I know most readers are out polishing their grills, buying hamburger buns and preparing potato and macaroni salads. I am recovering from a pre-4th party, so here I am, groggy and online, finally not the host of Independence Day madness. :-)

This week I only have a few entries for the Connect digest:

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#471201 : Incorrect query results with Enterprise edition indexed view substitution and NULL usage.

This is a new one filed this past week, which Microsoft believes they have fixed, in spite of the fact that several other people, myself included, have confirmed that it still exists in current builds. It is also an issue in SQL Server 2005, which they fail to acknowledge.

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#472439 : Indexed View create via CREATE SCHEMA statement can produce error 8646 during updates

Another indexed view issue filed yesterday, and also involving NULLs, in this item the submitter shows how a simple indexed view with two rows can succumb to the 8646 error (unable to find index entry) and the ominous:

Msg 0, Level 20, State 0, Line 0
A severe error occurred on the current command. The results, if any, should be discarded.

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#257502 : Deprecation of sysprocesses - DMV's doesn't fully replace all columns

This is one that many of us have been complaining about since 2005 was released : because sys.dm_exec_requests only shows *active* sessions, and it is the primary place to obtain database context, it is very cumbersome to get database context for sessions that are not currently performing work. You also can't easily get the open transaction count from the new DMVs. This information was readily available in sysprocesses, of course, though we have been told that we should stop using this system table (actually now a backward-compatibility view) in favor of the new views. But Microsoft simply can't deprecate sysprocesses until they duplicate its functionality elsewhere.

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#472266 : Install fails when choosing a path for tempdb two folders deep

This was an interesting one filed this week, where installation of SQL Server 2008 fails if you specify a folder for tempdb that contains the name "tempdb" (which is certainly a valid approach). The submitter did not get the symptom right; they think it has something to do with the number of folders in the path, but it is still an issue that Microsoft should look at.

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SQL Management Studio 2008 - enter Data Type of datetimeoffset(0) reverts to datetimeoffset(7)

More issues with the table designer... it's like a never-ending stream of scenarios that weren't tested or were deemed "good enough." This time someone noticed that when you tab out of a DATETIMEOFFSET column's data type, after having changed the precision to 0, it reverts to 7. Some related Connect items:

#333445 : SSMS 2005 - Bug Table Designer substitues its own length , loses user input on changing data types

#366117 : RTM, SSMS: changing precision on datetime2 from default in table designer reverts back to 7

#124872 : Table Designer does not support newSequentialId()

#362699 : 2008 RTM, SSMS/Engine: Table designer doesn't script WHERE clause in filtered indexes

#124658 : SSMS Table Designer adds unwanted default to uniqueidentifier column

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Sorry I couldn't collate more this week, but as New England is seeing the sun for the first time in weeks, I really feel the need to go out and enjoy the holiday!

Connect digest : 2009-05-02 : please vote!

AaronBertrand — Sat, 02 May 2009 17:36:00 GMT

Here are this week's set of Connect items that I wanted to bring to your attention to increase visibility (and, more importantly, vote count). Two are about SQL Server and two are about Connect itself.

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SQL Server

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A cleaner and more reliable way to remove an instance of SQL Server

I asked for this last February; a tool or utility that really removes an instance, since Add/Remove Programs often fails, requires very specific order of operations, and can often leave things behind that block later installations. It is closed as "fixed" because they plan to release better documentation about it. I still think that it would be very beneficial to have a tool of some kind so that you don't have to walk through all of the tedious steps listed in some KB article (which I'm not sure has arrived yet).

This item got a lot of attention from some guy named Brian Shepherd, and I will reserve comments about his apparent state of mind when he was adding his two cents.

#329054 : Setup : Please provide a utility that removes an instance
http://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=329054

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Persist DMV data beyond restarts and failovers

Last May I filed this item, after a conversation with fellow MVP Greg Linwood, asking for the ability to persist DMV data beyond service restarts and failovers. I have yet to get back to the item to post comments about which DMVs I would favor. Hopefully you can help with this by voicing your opinions about which ones *you* want to see persisted.

#345055 : DMVs : add option to persist data between restarts
http://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=345055

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Connect

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Allow us to make attachments visible

Jim Keir posted this suggestion, which asks for the ability to make our attachments visible to the public. Currently the attachments are visible only to Microsoft (once submitted, not even to the submitter!), due to data privacy concerns. I appreciate that their may be data security issues, and that attachments should be private by default, but Connect should allow me to specify that specific attachments *can* be viewed by anyone. My typical workaround for this (since many of my suggestions or bugs involve screen shots) is to also post the screen shot to my web site, and add a URL as part of the Connect item (which you can't make clickable). All of this is tedious and unnecessary.

#416225 : Attachments to be optionally publicly viewable
http://connect.microsoft.com/Connect/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=416225

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Make voting and validation more intuitive

I agree with fellow MVP Adam Machanic here; I have witnessed several people not quite sure how to vote, not realizing that you have to click on the stars, and others who don't understand the difference between voting and validating. (I also think you should not be able to validate your own issue; you filed it, of course you can reproduce it. But that's a different issue.)

I am not sure what the best solution is, but I don't think the current solution is adequate.

#367602 : Connect usability: Validation and voting boxes
http://connect.microsoft.com/Connect/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=367602

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Search results matching tags 'DMVs', 'setup', and 'Connect'

Connect digest : 2009-07-04

Connect digest : 2009-05-02 : please vote!