SQL Server 2000 Acropolis Institute of Technology and Research Database fundamentals Prepared By: Rahul Patel

Introduction Microsoft SQL Server is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) designed to run on platforms ranging from laptops to large multiprocessor servers. Enterprise Manager is the main administration console for SQL Server. Enterprise Manager enables you to create database objects (such as databases, tables, views etc), you can configure user accounts, you can set up scheduled tasks, transfer data between databases, and more.

SQL Server Enterprise Manager

Creating a New Database The following steps demonstrate how to create a database in SQL Server using Enterprise Manager.

1. Right click on the "Databases" icon and select "New Database...":

2. Name your database and click "OK":

Your New Database You will now notice your new database appears under the "Databases" section of Enterprise Manager.

SQL Server - Create a Table Ensuring you have the right database expanded, right click on the "Tables" icon and select "New Table...":

Entering Data Directly to your Table

Close the table by clicking the close icon, and when prompted, name your table:

Now that you've created a new table, it will appear under your database in the "Tables" section.

SQL Server - Adding Data To open the table, right click on the table you wish to open, and select "Open Table > Return all rows":

2. You can now start entering the data directly into your table.

Disadvantages of Entering Data Directly to your Table The above method is fine if you only have a small amount of data to enter or update. If you have a lot of data to enter, this could become very tedious. A Better Method - SQL Scripts In most cases, you will probably find it more efficient to write a SQL script. Using a script enables you to re-enter the data as many times as you like.

SQL Server - SQL Query Analyzer The SQL Query Analyzer is the main interface for running SQL queries against your database. You can use the SQL Query Analyzer to create and run adhoc scripts, or you can create SQL scripts and save them for later use. Accessing SQL Query Analyzer You can open Query Analyzer from Enterprise Manager by clicking Tools > Query Analyzer.

SQL Server - SQL Query Analyzer

SQL Query Analyzer looks like this:

Writing Queries

SQL Server Summary SQL Server is a powerful application, and this stuff has provided an overview of the main concepts involved in SQL Server. To recap briefly, we've: created databases created database tables inserted data into those tables used the Query Analyzer to run a query.

What Next? The most logical next step from learning SQL Server is to learn SQL itself. SQL stands for Structured Query Language and enables you to perform database related tasks programmatically. Most of the tasks in this tutorial can be done programmatically using SQL. Probably the most common use for SQL is to work with the data in the database. For example, to insert data, select data, update data, or to delete data. Any database driven website will have many SQL statements doing this stuff.