Building Microsoft SQL Server 7 Applications with COM

Written for the database administrator or developer, Building Microsoft SQL Server 7 Applications with COM provides a solid working guide to what's best in the latest release of SQL Server. The book begins with a general introduction to SQL Server 7, including its administrative wizards and tools. (The author admits that SQL Server may not be the fastest, but it provides better ease of use than its competitors.) Author Sanjiv Purba offers hints for installing the product and using tools such as Enterprise Manager.

The guide takes you through today's multitiered system architectures, providing an overview of COM as well as Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) for transaction management on the middle tier. Several chapters demonstrate common administrative and programming tasks using both wizards and Transact-SQL for building tables, queries, and views.

Further sections show how to implement a physical database in SQL Server 7. (The full coverage of SQL Server 7 configuration settings stands out as excellent material.) Information on SQL Server data types and data validation through constraints and rules follows, along with some superior information on leveraging the power of stored procedures and triggers.

Later the author presents a short case study for a simple three-tiered database application using a Visual Basic 6 module on the middle tier. He briefly touches on Internet-related issues with a quick tour of tools such as Visual InterDev and the SQL Server Web Assistant Wizard. Final chapters offer tips for testing, optimizing, and administering SQL Server 7.

This book is best at introducing what's new and improved in SQL Server 7, with an emphasis on simpler administration and the server's potential to make use of the middle tier in today's enterprise systems. --Richard Dragan