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Curated SQL Posts

Converting SQL Audit FileTime to DateTime Format

Published 2024-11-06 by Kevin Feasel

Patrick Keisler helps a customer:

One of my customers recently wanted to rename each of the SQL audit files will the datetime stamp of when it was created. I explained to them the filename already contains a datetime stamp. While it does not look like a typical timestamp, it is based on the Windows Filetime data structure that is a 64-bit value representing the number of 100-nanosecond intervals since January 1, 1601 (UTC). Nonetheless, they still wanted a traditional datetime stamp in the file name.

Read on to see how. I can understand the displeasure in adding redundancy to a filename, though I also understand the reasoning from the customer’s point of view: FileTime isn’t human-readable in any meaningful way.

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Move Data between Lakehouses and Workspaces in Microsoft Fabric

Published 2024-11-06 by Kevin Feasel

Gilbert Quevauvilliers performs an exfiltration:

With the new Schema’s in a Lakehouse, it now is possible to read from Lakehouse A (In Workspace A) and write to Lakehouse B (In Workspace B).

Here are more details about the Schema preview: Lakehouse schemas (Preview) – Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

This opens a whole new world of possibilities.

I also really like the fact that I can simply use the Names, and I do not need to get the actual GUIDS!

For example, I can use the following as shown below which is WorkspaceName.LakehouseName,SchemaName.TableName

Click through to see it in action.

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The NOT IN Operator in R

Published 2024-11-05 by Kevin Feasel

Steven Sanderson does not want these things:

In R programming, data filtering and manipulation are needed skills for any developer. One of the most useful operations you’ll frequently encounter is checking whether elements are NOT present in a given set. While R doesn’t have a built-in “NOT IN” operator like SQL, we can easily create and use this functionality. This comprehensive guide will show you how to implement and use the “NOT IN” operator effectively in R.

Read on for examples of how to use %in% and its corollary ! (...) %in%.

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Fabric List Connections API in Semantic Link Labs

Published 2024-11-05 by Kevin Feasel

Sandeep Pawar has an update for us:

In you case you missed it, List Connections Admin API is now live in Fabric. It was shipped in Semantic Link Labs v 0.7.4 a few weeks ago but at the time of the release it was still private. This API returns all the connections set up in the tenant and requires admin privileges. I still can’t find documentation on it so wait for the official details. Note that this API is different from item – list connection API which lists connections used by an item.

Read on to see what you can get from it.

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Bullet Charts in Power BI Reports

Published 2024-11-05 by Kevin Feasel

Kurt Buhler is number one with a bullet (chart):

A report visual is useful when it displays information in a meaningful context. This context refers to other relevant data that helps someone interpret figures in a visual and use it to make decisions or take actions. The most common way to provide context is to compare actuals to a target.

There are many ways to compare actuals to a target, and in this article, we will explain in detail one way to do this by using a popular variant of the bar chart known as a bullet chart.

Kurt lays out several ways to implement a bullet chart in Power BI, so check that out.

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Column Eviction in Power BI and Direct Lake

Published 2024-11-05 by Kevin Feasel

Paul Turley talks about fashion:

One of the core best practice guidance principals for Power BI modeling is to avoid including columns that aren’t absolutely necessary for analytic reporting. Every column uses precious memory and especially long, unique values that don’t compress very well. When consulting clients bring me large models that require expensive capacity licensing and pose report performance issues, my first inclination is to see what column data can be carved out of the model; and perhaps moved to another table for a drill-through report.

The product team came up with a very clever way to reduce the in-memory footprint of a Direct Lake semantic model: hold a popularity contest! The semantic model engine will only keep columns in memory based on their hotness. I mean this literally…

Read on to learn a bit more about the algorithm in play and how it differs from a naive Least Recently Used cache.

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Showing SSRS Reports in Modern .NET Apps

Published 2024-11-05 by Kevin Feasel

Sebastiao Pereira solves a problem:

Report Viewer was originally developed for the .NET Framework. As the industry shifts towards .NET Core, developers who have traditionally relied on this tool have faced challenges displaying reports within their applications due to compatibility issues. Is it possible to display a report from SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) in a .Net Core Application?

Click through for the answer. As a quick note, we had .NET Core, but then Microsoft renamed it to .NET with .NET 6, so instead we have to differentiate .NET Framework (Windows-only, heavy SDK) with .NET (nee .NET Core, cross-platform, less heavy). I’d rate Sebastiao’s solution a workaround, but one that I doubt Microsoft will ever provide a better solution for, given the heavy de-emphasis on Reporting Services over the past several years.

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Enabling System Tables on Databricks

Published 2024-11-04 by Kevin Feasel

Chen Hirsh wants to see system tables:

This post is about two things that are dependent on each other. First, it explains how to enable system tables (other than the one enabled by default) and second, how to use these system tables to view data about workflow runs and costs.

Please note that Unity Catalog is required to use these features. And a premium workspace is required for using dashboards.

Click through to learn more about what system tables are and what you can get from them.

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Administrative Tasks in Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server

Published 2024-11-04 by Kevin Feasel

Rajendra Gupta gives us a checklist:

The tip, Azure Database for MySQL, explored various deployment models for Azure MySQL and their features. Further, we deployed an Azure MySQL flexible server using the Azure portal. This tip will explore the tasks and operation items required for a MySQL flexible server. Let’s check it out.

Read on for notes regarding what Microsoft gives you up-front as well as what you, as an administrator, would still need to cover.

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