Conclusion

This paper has pointed out some of the most important principles and trade-offs of SQL Server development. For many decisions, there is no one correct choice. In these cases, know the trade-offs and make an informed decision. For other decisions, consider the themes that crop up again and again in this discussion:

• Keep your transactions short.
  
  
• Minimize the number of roundtrips to the server.
  
  
• Take advantage of SQL features.
  
  
• Use stored procedures.

Follow these simple guidelines, and you will achieve most of your application's performance potential without a lot of work.

For More Information

This section describes some other sources for information about designing for SQL Server.

SQL Server Web Site

Every SQL Server developer should get to know and use what's available on the Microsoft SQL Server Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/sql/default.asp). This Web site is updated regularly and includes product and service pack announcements, benchmark results, white papers, partner information, and much more. The SQL Server Web site also includes links to the following areas of specific interest to developers:

• Support (http://www.microsoft.com/sql/Support/support.asp)

  Includes a Support Newsgroup and the Knowledge Base, a searchable catalog of articles on SQL Server development tips and pitfalls. When you are stuck on a SQL Server problem, the Knowledge Base is usually the best place to look for an answer.

• SQL Server Developer's Conference

  Developer's Conferences are a means for the SQL Server product team to communicate the latest and greatest information on how to most efficiently develop SQL Server applications and to get feedback about what you would like to see in the product.

Articles

Articles published by Microsoft Corporation give detailed guidance to SQL Server developers. Several of these articles are relevant to the issues discussed in this paper and can be found on the Microsoft BackOffice® Web site, in the Download and Trial Center (http://backoffice.microsoft.com/downtrial/moreinfo/sqldrk.asp):

• "Using ODBC with Microsoft SQL Server"

  Discusses how to get optimal performance from the SQL Server ODBC driver. The advice in this white paper applies to developers using any interface that runs on top of the ODBC driver, including RDO, OLE DB (The ODBC Provider), and ADO.

• "OLE DB for the ODBC Programmer"

  Describes the features of OLE DB and how to build applications using this interface in terms that are familiar to ODBC programmers.

• "Migrating Btrieve Applications to Microsoft SQL Server"

  Focuses on the specific issues involved with migrating an ISAM-style application to SQL Server. It uses an example Btrieve application to illustrate the process, but many of the principles it discusses apply to any ISAM-style code that is rewritten for SQL Server.

• "Migrating Sybase Applications to Microsoft SQL Server"

  Describes the minor changes needed to migrate a Sybase application to SQL Server.

Microsoft Press Books

Two books published by Microsoft Press® are of particular interest to SQL Server developers: Inside SQL Server by Ron Soukup (available in 1997) and Inside ODBC by Kyle Geiger. Both of these books give in-depth advice based on the authors' years of experience.

Other Microsoft Products

The best place to get information about the many Microsoft products that work with SQL Server is the Microsoft Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/). In particular, check out the following products and technologies:

• Microsoft Visual InterDev is an environment for building SQL Server applications for the Internet and intranets.
  
  
• Microsoft Transaction Server provides a powerful framework for building physical three-tier applications using any programming tool that can create OLE objects.
  
  
• Microsoft Visual C/C++ Enterprise Edition includes a Transact–SQL editor and debugger that can greatly simplify the process of creating stored procedures and triggers.
  
  
• Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition is a rapid-development environment for building Windows NT and Windows 95–based applications, including high-performance SQL Server applications developed with RDO.