Using the SQL Server Documentation

SQL Server also comes with extensive electronic documentation. To access this documentation, you select Start ➣ Programs ➣ Microsoft SQL Server ➣ Books Online. Figure 1.9 shows the SQL Server documentation home page.

Figure 1.9: SQL Server documentation home page

You can browse the online books using the Contents tab, and you can search for specific information using the Index and Search tabs. Figure 1.10 shows some of the information for the SELECT statement, which is located in the Transact-SQL reference book.

Figure 1.10: SELECT examples documentation

Note 

Transact-SQL is Microsoft's implementation of SQL and contains programming extensions. You'll learn about Transact-SQL programming in Chapter 4.

You can see the information shown in Figure 1.10 yourself by opening Contents ➣ Transact-SQL Reference ➣ SELECT ➣ SELECT Examples.