Click here to monitor SSC
A service from Red Gate
Home SQL .NET SysAdmin Opinion Blogs Forums Books
Sign in  | Join  | Help
Authors  >  William Brewer

William Brewer William Brewer
William Brewer is a SQL Server developer who has worked as a Database consultant and Business Analyst for several Financial Services organisations in the City of London. True to his name, he is also an expert on real ale.
Database Source Control - The Cribsheet
by William Brewer | 08 November 2011 |  3 comments |
As part of our long-running Cribsheet series, we asked William to come up with a brief summary of what was involved in bringing database development work under source control. What are the advantages it brings, and are there disadvantages? Read more...
Fast and Free; SQL Scripts Manager's Script Generator
by William Brewer | 10 June 2011 |  4 comments |
When William produced his second article on the free tool 'SQL Scripts Manager', revealing that it worked just as well with PowerShell and Python scripts as it does with TSQL, he thought that would be the end of the series. Oh no; in response to feedback, comes a... Read more...
SQL Scripts Manager with PowerShell
by William Brewer | 17 February 2011 |  2 comments |
SQL Scripts Manager was released as a Christmas present to Simple-Talk subscribers. William Brewer then wrote an appreciation of the tool. Now, he reveals a secret:: It also runs PowerShell scripts, and hence, SMO. He has the scripts to prove it, though hopefully,... Read more...
SQL Scripts Manager: An Appreciation
by William Brewer | 22 December 2010 |  5 comments |
SQL Scripts Manager is Simple-Talk's present to its readers. William Brewer was an enthusiastic bystander when Red Gate involved the 'Friends of Red-Gate' in helping them design and contribute towards SQL Scripts Manager over the past few months. Here he gives his... Read more...
Advice on CSS you'll wish your mother told you
by William Brewer | 21 May 2010 |  8 comments |
William Brewer turns a jaundiced eye to the task of laying out web pages using CSS, and gives some nuggets from years of occasional page design. It is, of course, set with a a stylesheet he's come up with to demo a few of his points. Read more...
Calling Stored Procedures from .NET Applications
by William Brewer | 11 September 2009 |  5 comments |
Everybody knows how to call stored procedures from a .NET application. Right? But then, how often do you see stored procedures used to their full advantage in database applications? William Brewer goes through some of the basics, but uses PowerShell and IronPython... Read more...
JSON and other data serialization languages
by William Brewer | 18 July 2008 |  4 comments |
The easiest way to speed up an Ajax application is to take out the 'X' and use JSON rather than XML. Of course, it isn't that simple, as William Brewer explains, but JSON, and YAML, are fascinating solutions to the old problem of transferring complex data between... Read more...
SQL Code Layout and Beautification
by William Brewer | 11 May 2008 |  31 comments |
William Brewer takes a look at the whole topic of SQL Code layout and beautification, an important aspect to SQL programming style. He concludes that once you are tired of laying SQL out by hand, you had better choose a tool with plenty of knobs to twiddle, because... Read more...
SQLTAC A workhorse for database chores
by William Brewer | 03 February 2008 |  2 comments |
In which William Brewer, our software reviewer, goes through the spectrum of emotions whilst using SQLTAC until deciding that, quirks and all, it is very useful. He ends up feeling that the world of Software Tools will be enriched by this maverick offering, one... Read more...
Audit Crosschecks
by William Brewer | 24 January 2008 |
In this short article, the second of a 2-part series, William suggests a solution, using SQL Data Compare 6.1, for providing an independent cross-check of database transactions to determine whether they have been retrospectively altered. Read more...
Top HAT
by William Brewer | 13 November 2007 |  6 comments |
If there is one thing that developers and users always seem to disagree on, it is the relative importance of documentation. We take a look at the whole technology of producing Help and Documentation for tools and applications, and then review one particular product;... Read more...
The Science of Compliance
by William Brewer | 02 October 2007 |  5 comments |
'William Brewer takes a look at what is involved with IT 'Compliance', and discusses what SOX compliance means for the DBA and IT Application developer.' Read more...
Quantifying Text differences in TSQL
by William Brewer | 20 September 2007 |  4 comments |
In TSQL there is a limit to the way you can compare text strings. They're either equal or not. Sooner or later, usually when cleaning data, something more subtle is required! Read more...
SQL Server Endpoints: Soup to Nuts
by William Brewer | 06 July 2007 |  8 comments |
SQL Server Endpoints are database objects that define the ways and means that SQL Server 2005 communicates on the network. Any DBA working with SQL Server 2005 will soon need to become familiar with them, particularly if using SOAP, Service Broker or Database Mirroring. Read more...
Using SQL Backup
by William Brewer | 20 June 2007 |  10 comments |
William Brewer describes the role of SQL Backup in an enterprise SQL Server maintenance plan. Read more...
Database High-Availability: Soup to Nuts
by William Brewer | 31 May 2007 |
William Brewer argues that, although there are technologies around that will minimise downtime in most circumstances, they are only part of the solution. At the heart of every robust system, there is planning, documentation, scripting, testing and drill. Read more...
Falling off the Web Log
by William Brewer | 18 January 2007 |  1 comment |
Getting statistics out of website usage isn't a real problem. There are many ways to do it and plenty commercial packages that provide a 'turnkey' solution. The real problem is getting your hands on those elusive, meaningful statistics that will give you true... Read more...
Towards the Self-Documenting SQL Server Database
by William Brewer | 01 December 2006 |  7 comments |
William Brewer investigates an unsung hero in SQL Server, extended properties, and shows how to use them to create self-documenting SQL Server databases. Read more...
Over 400,000 Microsoft professionals subscribe to the Simple-Talk technical journal. Join today, it's fast, simple, free and secure.

Join Simple Talk


Privacy policy | Terms and conditions | ©2005-2012 Red Gate Software
About | Site map | Become an author | Newsletters | Contact us