Chapter Summary

One of the fundamental capabilities SQL Server has is as a reporting platform. You have learned how to write some advanced queries, perform aggregate operations, create groups, and subtotal reports . This all builds on the basic SELECT statement from Chapter 3, filling in the gaps of querying multiple tables and showing correlations . Reporting is crucial to survival, and being able to create aggregated summary reports using COMPUTE and COMPUTE BY , along with the other aggregate functions, enables you to create great reports with useful summaries.

KEY TERMS

• JOIN

• derived tables

• IN operator

• CASE expression

• UNION operator

• aggregate functions

• GROUP BY operator

• linked server

• XML

In addition, you've also learned how BCP, DTS, and possibly even XML work with SQL Server to provide a wide range of import and export functionality. These are important tasks because a database without data is just, well, base.

The next chapter covers script writing and programming techniques. All the JOIN and aggregate material in this chapter is used in Chapter 6 for writing scripts, and it's also used in Chapter 9 on writing stored procedures. Writing joins is fundamental to understanding SQL Server; it's used by nearly every command, so you'll end up using it a lot in the rest of this book, and you'll see it on the exam as well.