SharePoint 2007 and .NET Development

Always use Oracle ODP.NET and Bind Variables

I have been doing some work for a financial institution lately. What amazed me was the amount and type of data stored on Oracle database servers. I guess it is because I have been working with SQL Servers where the data wasn't as massive. Well, I have been working on a .NET application using VSTO, .NET Web Services, and Office automation (mainly Microsoft Word and Excel) on the server.

Now, hold the ranting...I know that it is not recommended to perform Office automation on the server, but it is not entirely impossible to perform either. Using .NET Interop of Word and Excel, you can make the application do all sorts of tricks. Not the tricks like a dog would, like roll over, but tricks like update headers, footers, ignore dialogs, embed objects, create menus, etc.

SQL Server 2005 - The next Relational Database Management System w/ OLAP Technology

So you thought that SQL Server 2000 was the only Microsoft RDBMS that could compete with Oracle. Well, let's just say that SQL Server 2000 received a face lift because Oracle is 10 miles ahead of SQL Server where SQL Server is trailing at 6. Microsoft changed their standing with SQL Server from a database engine mainly suited for Small and Mid-Sized companies to now targeting large firms. With SQL Server 2005, they would trail only 2 miles behind Oracles 9i.

The main reason why companies are using SQL Server is because it is not as expensive as its counterparts and because many developers already know how to maintain and grow databases on this platform. That makes for a large customer market. Microsoft also was listening to the many line managers at their client sites and heard that OLAP technology is heavily used and need to be heavily supported in their next release of SQL Server. So that means developers are now going to need to know how to maintain Relational and OLAP database structures.

Well, Microsoft is ready to begin its launch of SQL Server 2005. I have had the priviledge to work with the beta release. Let me tell you, it is not SQL Server 2000. It is more than that. Attached are some links that will help you understand the differences with SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000.

Microsoft is sponsoring a Road Show or Launch event in Boston, MA on Tuesday April 19. I will be in attendance. How could I miss it? This new technology, built on the .NET Framework - version 2.0, is going to kick butt. Thus the reason for my participation.

Here are some helpful links to help you evaluate the new technology.

• SQL Server 2005 Features Comparison
• Comparing SQL Server with Other Databases
• Writing Managed Code for SQL Server 2005 Using Visual Studio 2005

SQL '05 and Web Services

You may have looked at the title and wondered what does he mean by SQL' 05 and Web Services.

Well, I will tell you exactly what I mean...

In 2000 SQL Server had SQL XML, which a lot of developers used, but required a mid-tier IIS server in order to be able to do Web Services from the database. What Microsoft heard from developers was they wanted Web Services directly out of the database and not be required to use IIS to manage that on the server side. The great thing about Web Services directly from the database is now developers can interoperate with many more development environments, or even runtime environments. You can use third-party tools to create queries against the database or call stored procedures, and that will be just a SOAP call to the database and will return back the information through a SOAP call. Microsoft has taken the world of XML, relational, even semi-structured sorts of data, and tried to combine them inside of SQL Server 2005 to help the developers build against all their different types of data.

SQL '05 creates an HTTP endpoint that listens on a port. You tell it the port and security method which it will combine into the standard Web Services Security package. You then make a SOAP call and tell the web service what you want from the database. That could be a stored procedure call or T-SQL batch (and that could be a SELECT * from a table inside of the database). Then SQL '05 will put the data into a SOAP message and send it back to the caller. It's not pure web services but it definitily looks like it.

Microsoft is really taking Service Oriented Architeture to the next level from the backend database. If you do not know what Service Oriented Architecture is, you will find out soon with my next blog.