Sql – Is SQL Server 2005 Express good enough for development

development-environmentmsdnsql serversql-server-express

At the company i develop, developers typically run databases on their laptops. We also have an instance of a SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000 servers running as virtual machines, under an MSDN license.

I am not a MSDN guru and not really familiar with the ins-and-outs of MSDN, so the my questions are as follows.

Would each developer be able to install an MSDN version of the SQL Server, for development purposes on his or her laptop, if we have enough subscriptions? In the midst of uncertainty would we be able to instead use SQL Server Express for our development purposes, later migrating the databases to our 'central development' database servers once we have made all the changes to the databases we require? Are there any major differences between SQL Server Express vs SQL Server Enterprise in terms of functionality.

Best Answer

If your MSDN subscription permits I'll recommend that your devs install the developer edition of either SQL 2005 or SQL 2008 as that version includes the SQL profiler which will make it easier for the devs to pinpoint SQL bottlenecks.

Syntax:

ALTER TABLE {TABLENAME} 
ADD {COLUMNNAME} {TYPE} {NULL|NOT NULL} 
CONSTRAINT {CONSTRAINT_NAME} DEFAULT {DEFAULT_VALUE}
WITH VALUES

Example:

ALTER TABLE SomeTable
        ADD SomeCol Bit NULL --Or NOT NULL.
 CONSTRAINT D_SomeTable_SomeCol --When Omitted a Default-Constraint Name is autogenerated.
    DEFAULT (0)--Optional Default-Constraint.
WITH VALUES --Add if Column is Nullable and you want the Default Value for Existing Records.

Notes:

Optional Constraint Name:
If you leave out CONSTRAINT D_SomeTable_SomeCol then SQL Server will autogenerate
a Default-Contraint with a funny Name like: DF__SomeTa__SomeC__4FB7FEF6

Optional With-Values Statement:
The WITH VALUES is only needed when your Column is Nullable
and you want the Default Value used for Existing Records.
If your Column is NOT NULL, then it will automatically use the Default Value
for all Existing Records, whether you specify WITH VALUES or not.

How Inserts work with a Default-Constraint:
If you insert a Record into SomeTable and do not Specify SomeCol's value, then it will Default to 0.
If you insert a Record and Specify SomeCol's value as NULL (and your column allows nulls),
then the Default-Constraint will not be used and NULL will be inserted as the Value.

Notes were based on everyone's great feedback below.
Special Thanks to:
@Yatrix, @WalterStabosz, @YahooSerious, and @StackMan for their Comments.

Sql – How to return only the Date from a SQL Server DateTime datatype

SELECT DATEADD(dd, 0, DATEDIFF(dd, 0, @your_date))

for example

SELECT DATEADD(dd, 0, DATEDIFF(dd, 0, GETDATE()))

gives me

2008-09-22 00:00:00.000

Pros:

No varchar<->datetime conversions required
No need to think about locale

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Sql – Add a column with a default value to an existing table in SQL Server

Syntax:

Example:

Notes:

Sql – How to return only the Date from a SQL Server DateTime datatype

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