SQL Server 7 Developer's Guide

SQL Server 7 Developer's Guide is equally divided into a database administrator's manual and a developer's primer, providing useful content for readers who are interested in both angles.

The book opens with overviews of the SQL Server database architecture and the new features of version 7. The management and security aspects of the all-important Enterprise Manager are covered in depth. The authors make very liberal use of screen shots and information tables, lending a visual look to this introduction. The first part continues with sections on replication, data warehousing, performance optimization, and SQL-DMO--the object-oriented framework that lets you write your own management applications.

Part 2 opens with a traditional look at databases and a focus on the relational model. After introducing you to entity-relationship diagrams and a rather detailed tutorial of the SQL language, the authors present each of the various ways to access SQL Server from client applications: Microsoft Access front ends, data access objects (DAO), Open DataBase Connectivity (ODBC)Direct, the ODBC API, Remote Data Objects, object linking and embedding database (OLE DB), ActiveX Data Objects, and DB-Library. The last chapter discusses Active Server Pages (ASP) development and how to integrate SQL Server databases with Web sites.

A companion CD-ROM contains all of the example code in the book and offers a centralized interface for running it. --Stephen W. Plain