5 comments about Professional SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services.

1. This is the fifth book that I have purchased from Wiley Publishing (WROX), and I must say that I have been very pleased so far by the overall quality of the publications until now. I read through the other four and still use each one of them as a relevant reference source.
   
   I am half way thru this book and the experience has not been pleasant to say the least. The inconsistencies between the text, figure's and examples are to numerous to be overlooked. And, to be honest, this is one of the most confusing approaches that I have come across in quite some time. He is obvious very knowledge about SSRS, but during many of his explanations he orphans the examples or doesn't tie what he is explaining back to the example. This makes it very difficult to reproduce in the actual development environment. You're just left confused!
   
   I am a twelve year veteran of Crystal Reports, Application Development and Database Design and I find this book very difficult to follow. So unfortunately, I would not recommend this particular book to others ... I am just surprisingly disappointed.



2. This will probably be an ok reference for some things in ssrs, but otherwise it has been a real pain to get through. There seems to be a huge amount of repetitive informatin in the first three chapters before we actually get to start writing reports.
   
   Unfortunately, once writing reports, it seems like the authors have ADD. They start talking about a walk through exercise but never actually have the walk through. They do have a couple of exercises where they show you how to go step by step, but these are not explained well.
   
   I think the writing, other than being repetative, is sometimes unecessarily chatty, but at other times way to terse for beginners.
   
   I have managed to glean some value from the book, but it's been tough. I would definitely recommend if you haven't touched SSRS yet to go through the tutorials on MSDN first. They do a better job of introducing you to basics, giving you plain instructions, and not overloading you with commentary that isn't all helpful in just getting you up to speed on how to create reports. Luckily I did this before I bought the book. I think if I was completely new to reporting and SSRS, I would have thrown this book down in disgust after the first 100 pages or so...



3. This book is about average. With that I am not implying that it is a bad book but rather that you could find the same information on the Internet just by googling a little bit. I guess I was expecting to find something really clever in it, something that it would make it more useful that simple internet articles. Again, not a bad book but also not one that will make the difference.



4. Almost impossible to do the walkthroughs as the writers can't decide if they are giving you instructions or just offering some general concepts. Chapters 1-3 are a waste of time. Go straight to chapter 4 to get started.
   
   The format is too conversational and often fluffed-out with irrelevant details.
   
   Overall, another disappointing Wrox text that has too many authors and no editor.



5. The reason for being so confusing is this book was written by so many authors, thereby the ideas presented are not coherent. This is not a learner's book, and if you're looking for one I suggest you buy Brian Larson's instead - great book, easy to follow and the author will patiently answer your inquiries regarding some minor problems.
   
   I bought this book yesterday hoping I could supplement the things I've already learned previously regarding RS, but no, I'll return this book today and ask for a refund.

5 comments about Delivering Business Intelligence with Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

1. The book provides a thoughtful informative view of how to use the Business Intelligence features of Visual Studio and SQL Server. Each chapter appropriately builds on the previous information.
   
   The reader is presented with an introduction to Business Intelligence. Next, the construction of a cube using Analysis Services is explained and later the use of Integration Services is illustrated. Lastly, working the data with MDX queries is discussed and then the final data is displayed with Reporting Services.
   
   I recommend the book to beginners and intermediate developers.



2. This book is an introduction to the Business Intelligence suite of programs that come with SQL Server 2005: Integration Services, Analysis Services, and Reporting Services. The book takes a learn-by-doing approach where the author provides step-by-step instructions for creating and populating data marts as well as extracting information from them. Since this is a broad topic, the coverage is shallow but it does provide an adequate introduction to these products. However, there are numerous issues with this book which you should be aware of before buying it.
   
   The first five chapters set the stage by explaining what business intelligence is and why it is important to an organization. It should have been condensed to about ten pages rather than sixty. The chapter on Integration Services had a nice learn-by-doing exercise but the bulk of the chapter simply lists the various tasks available. The same info (organized the same way) is easily available from Books Online with a lot more detail.
   
   The author walks you through creating an Analysis Services cube from the bottom up (with an existing database) and the top down (using the cube wizard to auto-generate the underlying schema). However, the author does this in the following order:
   
   1) Create database schema for the manufacturing database.
   2) Use wizard to create cube and schema for the sales database.
   3) Use SSIS to populate most of the manufacturing dimesion tables.
   4) Add a second fact table to the manufacturing database.
   5) Populate the manufacturing fact tables and the remaining dimension table.
   6) Create cube for manufacturing database.
   7) Finish the cube by adding additional/calculated measures.
   
   Of course, these exercises are sprinkled throughout 200 pages of text with no easy way to reference them. You may have noticed that the Sales DM is never populated. Even though you are walked through the other processes step-by-step, he mentions in a single paragraph at the end of chapter eight that you need to download some projects from the book's website to populate the Sales datamart. However, no link is provided and there are some oddities in the files provided. For example, the SalesDM backup produces an eight gig log file, presumably because they had the database in full recovery mode when populating it. Fortunately he provides the SSIS project so you can get around that issue.
   
   Also, there are a number of errors, particularly in the code, that are not listed in the errata. For example, '<' on page 434 should be '>' in both cases while '[Day]' on page 445 should be '[Month]'. The code doesn't break, but the results are not what the text describes. Finally, there is no apparant way to submit new errata on the book's website.
   
   Despite these shortcomings, this is a good book if you are a complete newcomer to Microsoft BI and need an overview of all three products but are not after in depth information on any of them.



3. I have chosen this book as a textbook for my graduate class in Business School, after sampling over a dozen BI textbooks in the market. This book is a good blend of BI concepts, managerial applications, as well as hands-on skills. Most of the other textbooks are either too dry or too technical. This book gives you an overview of BI components, processes, and applications in business world. The step-by-step learn-by-doing exercises are particularly helpful for students who might otherwise be intimidated by the technology. Supplimenting this book with another more conceptual/managerial type of BI book will be perfect for Business school students.



4. I've already got experience with tools such as Cognos, ProClarity, Informatica and others. I bought this book to figure out how to use Microsoft's BI tools.
   
   The book really is a case study book where you are the business analyst, the data modeler, the systems analyst the ETL guy and the report developer. It is written with a "learn by doing" premise. If you haven't done all of the business requirements exercises, data modeler tasks, etc... you won't be able to do the Integration Services exercises or the MDX exercises in the book. In other words, you must 1) read the book in the order of its chapters and 2) do the exercises in the chapter order.
   
   Additionally, many chapters are a review of the theory (like snowflake vs. star), business requirements gathering and why you have data marts stuff like that. If you already know how to do these things, or you know that you don't have to take on that role, then you probably won't find this book as useful.



5. Download the sample database. Sit down and fire up BIDS. Read and follow the directions. You'll be a better person for it.
   
   Well, you'll know more about the Microsoft BI stack anyway. It's a great way to get in and see every major (and most minor) feature of the stack.

5 comments about MySQL Stored Procedure Programming.

1. It walks you through writing, maintaining, and debugging stored procedures. It can be used as a reference and tutorial.
   I found Part IV Optimizing Stored Programs particularly useful.



2. This book has an excellent coverage of the MySQL 5.0 stored routines (stored procedures, stored functions and triggers).
   But it also provides with invaluable hints and guidelines for general MySQL practices.
   
   The book starts with PART I: covering the syntax and rules for stored routines. This part is straightforward and a very fast read. The authors tend to repeat themselves on occasion, though only when relevant.
   
   PART II looks more closely at the particular rules for stored funtions and triggers. It also offers a transaction managing chapter, which describes transactions in MySQL in general, and in stored programming in particular. This chapter is very informative.
   
   PART III discusses the use of stored routings from external programs: PHP, Java, Perl, Python, .NET. The authors establish their view of correct usage and provide with general recommendations.
   
   In general, these three parts cover the stored routines material.
   However, here comes a nice surprise: enter Part IV, which is a real gem.
   This last part of the book discusses in depth MySQL query optimizations, indexing methods, performance issues, most unrelated with stored programming.
   Why? The authors explain (and I agree with them), that most stored routines code will usually have SQL queries DML statements in them. It is their opinion, then, that to write good, efficient, stored procedures, one must be aware of how MySQL optimizes and handles complex queries.
   I am not new to MySQL, yet have learned quite a few new things from this last part.
   The book ends with a "best practices" chapter, which mostly provides summary for all issues discussed in the book, including some general recommendations for best practices in programming (which could have been left out, in my opinion).
   
   All in all, this book is certainly a very good reference for anyone wishing to write stored functions/procedures/triggers in MySQL. The authors certainly have a strong expertise on the subject, and have a lot to tell.



3. Being fairly new to MySQL (but not to programming) I needed to develop an application using PHP/OOP with MySQL and stored procedures. This book is pretty concise and got me going quickly. At the time, I searched the Amazon book offerings and also books on the shelf at Barnes & Noble. This book is the only one providing clear and concise material on the subject.
   
   I do wish the coverage would have been more detailed using PHP data objects (PDO) in combination with stored procedures that use various combinations of INPUT, OUTPUT and INPUT-OUTPUT parameters in addition to exception processing, etc. That would have been great but then, this isn't a PHP book. Too bad most PHP books seem to focus more on the basics of the language and don't delve into the weighty matters of real-world commercial application development.



4. The good: I found to book to be generally useful. The approach the book takes is good. Lots of examples are provided along with a good amount of explanation.
   
   
   The not-so-good: There seem to be quality or editorial issues with some of the examples. When I run them through the query browser in MySQL version 5 I have problems with some of them. For example Example 2-7 calls another procedure new_salary, which doesn't seem to exist by that name in the book or on the website. This makes it much more time consuming for a newbie to actually run and digest the examples than it should.



5. I have been working with MySQL for several years as a database back-end for Java, Ruby and C# programming projects. After upgrading to version 5, I have been meaning to look into MySQL's support for stored procedures.
   
   The MySQL Stored Procedure Programming book was my first read on the subject and I found it quite useful. It covers not only stored procedures, but also functions and triggers, collectively called 'stored programs' in the book. While there are many books on MySQL, this book is dedicated to the stored programs domain and provides a lengthy treatment of the subject.
   
   During the introduction, the authors provide a veritable laundry list of MySQL resources including many books and websites. The basic tools for creating stored programs in MySQL are visited and help set the groundwork for a 'read, type in the example and run it' feedback loop. Throughout the book, the examples are clear and easy to follow.
   
   The introduction is followed by a brief tutorial, highlighting stored procedures, functions and triggers. What follows is two sections of chapters, over 200 pages in length, diving into the details of the stored procedure language fundamentals, blocks, conditional statements, iterative programming, error handling, the creation and maintenance of stored programs, transaction management, MySQL built-in functions, stored functions and triggers.
   
   The next section of the book is of particular value to software developers that use MySQL in their applications. Over 150 pages showing you how to use MySQL stored programs from PHP, Java, Perl, Python and .NET. The Java section even shows the basics of using stored procedures with Hibernate and Spring.
   
   After that, you'll be greeted with a 110 page medley of options to help you optimize your MySQL stored programs. The subject of tuning your SQL is addressed over the course of three chapters, from basic through advanced tuning topics. Additional optimization techniques such as reducing network traffic with stored programs, optimizing loops, recursion, cursors, trigger overhead and more are found in the final chapter of this section.
   
   The book closes out with a chapter on best practices in MySQL stored program development. MySQL Stored Procedure Programming has earned a space on the MySQL shelf of my technical library. It's a fine book that will help you take your MySQL programming experience to another level.

5 comments about Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2005 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Pro-Administrator's Pocket Consultant).

1. This book is clearly targeted for the beginners and it is a good reference for them. Also, if you are an experienced SQL 2000 DBA/developer and want to get basic but neccessary information on SQL 2005 administration, this is an excellent book.
   
   This covers most areas well except:
   
   1)Security, user, and schema administration. This book's coverage is very scanty.
   2)Replication: very basic coverage at best and it will not help you understand SQL 2005 replication very much.
   3)Data Mirroring: this part is OK, except it doesn't cover it in details as it needs to.
   4)Log shipping: Maybe half a page dedicated to it.
   5)Clustering: no coverage whatsoever.
   6)T-SQL: almost no coverage except for administrative matters ("alter database/table" etc).
   7)Performance tuning: almost none.



2. Sometimes when I read reviews people have written I wonder if they've actually read the book or simply thumbed through it in a bookstore or did a search of the pages. This is an excellent book and I've found it to be extremely helpful in setting up and configuring SQL Server 2005. This book isn't meant to be an allinone monster book, its a concise, focused book covering the core of SQL Server 2005, particularly for administrators but also extremely helpful for developers who are setting up sql boxes too. If you are developing databases for SQL Server 2005 you'll need a focused development book too especially if you are doing datawarehousing or datamart work or reporting services.
   
   I got more out of this book's 548 pages than books nearly twice as big. The book has T-SQL examples throughout and I've used them for administration. The book has excellent coverage of SQL security, nearly 100 pages of security information covered in Chapter 3 "Managing Security, Access, and Network Configuration" and in Chapter 8 "Managing SQL Server 2005 Security". Excellent coverage of log shipping and database mirroring. The book covers schemas for administration perspectives but not in a database development perspective.
   
   I used this book to gain a solid understanding of SQL Server 2005 setup, configuration and management. I refer to it all the time.
   
   This is a great book for your everyday needs and I use it all the time. Highly recommended.



3. SQL Server 2005 Administrator's Pocket Consultant is an excellent reference for DBAs and System Administrators planning to implement and maintain SQL Server 2005. While the book is written for Administrators, database developers will benefit from it as well. This one does a great job of laying it out in plain English. The focus is on daily administration tasks, and there's a heaping helping of SQL commands as well. Highly recommended.



4. This handy pocket consultant is a must have for administrators and developers. It delivers exactly what is promised: a handy guide for daily administration. Out of all my sql server books this is the one I refer to the most.



5. It clearly defies the title but does provide with very useful information. I am quite impressed. I have read this book as a pro. And is recommended only for pros.
   Beginners please read something else first before you jump on this one.

5 comments about Oracle Database 10g PL/SQL Programming.

1. This is book did help me learn PL/SQL; however, it did it in a very painful manner. The book could have easily been condensed to half the size and still convey the same information, only clearly and to the point. Many of the chapters have long coding examples that are followed by a line-by-obvious-line description about what is going on. It's tempting to skip the code explanations; however, there is the occasional hidden piece of useful information in them that forces you to sift through the junk. To make matters worse, much of the code is needlessly commented. You know what type of comments I'm talking about; there will be a comment that reads '-- declare a variable of type varchar' and then a declaration immediately afterward. Wow, thanks for doubling the code size and killing some more trees. Topping that off, in some of the examples, the comments don't actually match what the code is doing. Grrr.
   
   I invested a lot of time in reading this book and after it was all said and done my feeling on it was, meh, I guess I learned something. The book is pretty good, it's just needlessly big, too big and time consuming for the value that it brings to your skill set.



2. This is the best pl/sql book ever!! It's a complete reference for PL/SQL programation lenguaje, that covers from the basics topics like data types to advanced fueatures like inter-session comunication. Its includes hundreds of examples, online code and a complete reference for Oracle 10g packages and utilitys. This is the ultimate PL/SQL book.



3. When I started studing PL/SQL...
   I got recommanded this book.
   Now I satisfied my choice because of contents of this book.
   I recommand this book.



4. Let me start by stating that I agree with Frank N. Loreti's review of this book, and one part in particular: this book was not written by educators. And I would like to add that they don't seem to be terribly good writers, either.
   
   Some examples from the first three chapters (plus one page of chapter 4) to illustrate my point:
   
   On page 72, it reads: "Boolean variables, when combined with an IF-THEN block, do not need to be provided with a comparison value if only comparing to TRUE." First, Boolean variables aren't "combined" with an IF-THEN, they are *used* as part of the [Boolean] condition of the IF-THEN. And second, writing that they don't need to be provided is, educationally speaking, not very wise; it suggests that it's a specific feature of the language, a short cut if you will, when in fact it's a mere consequence of how the evaluation of Boolean expressions work.
   
   On pages 108 and 109, I think it's a glaring omission that the writers don't mention whether the PL/SQL CASE statement uses 'fall-thru' or not. For several reasons, I don't expect this to be the case, but if it's not used, how is the 'CASE with different variables' treated? In other words, in the example at the bottom of page 109, is only Steve printed, or all names? Come to think of it: in the example before it, what happens if the conditions in the CASE overlap? (E.g., change the second WHEN-condition to
   v_price BETWEEN 30 AND 50
   What happens then if v_price equals 35? Will only the first WHEN-statement block be executed? Will both be executed? Will an exception be thrown? Less likely, but not impossible: maybe a compile-time error is given?) It's hard for me to understand how any decent programmer can overlook the fact that these 'details' need to be discussed.
   
   On page 110, loops are discussed: "We cover three different types here: Simple loops. The most basic kind of loop, they include LOOP, END LOOP, and some method of EXIT." Since 'different types' of loops are discussed, the plurality in 'Simple loops' suggests that there are several types of simple loops --and it seems they are called the 'LOOP', and 'END LOOP'... or something. Of course, this is not the case: there's only one type of simple loop. It starts with the keyword LOOP which is followed by a statement block that may/should contain an EXIT statement, and it ends with the keywords END LOOP.
   
   You don't have to be a professional writer to sense that you can't end a section with a couple of bullet points (just like, apparently and unfortunately, you can't end a chapter without a useless summary) so you'll need at least an extra line of text, but unfortunately the writers of this book don't have the finesse to cross that bridge unnoticed. For example, at the beginning of chapter 4 a list of topics for that chapter is given in bullet points, followed by the following recommendation:
   
   "As these features are demonstrated, think about how they can be used to improve the functionality, performance and design of your applications."
   
   It's suggestions like these that simply make my toes curl.
   
   Add to all this the absence of a decent structure (the books keeps jumping from simple features to advanced features and back, fragmenting the explanation of both), and the authors should consider themselves lucky I'm still giving this book 3 stars...



5. I "subscribe" to this author and publisher for texts on this topic. I like the writing style and layout of the book. There enough explanation to be thorough, and enough practical examples to be useful outside of pure theoretical discussion. Plus, there are plenty of references in the appendix, so those pages are essentially a "Nutshell."
   
   However, I think I prefer the layout of the 9i edition. The flow was nicer: a structured outline, then some examples. In the 10g edition, the flow seems to have changed: a briefer description in paragraph form, then a lot more examples.

5 comments about Learning SQL on SQL Server 2005 (Learning).

1. SQLAuthority.com Book Review :
   Learning SQL on SQL Server 2005 (Learning) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)
   by Sikha Bagui, Richard Earp
   
   Short Review:
   This books covers simple and complex concept in very easy language with lots of examples. Every beginner can learn a great amount of tips from experienced authors. Whether you are a self-learner, new to databases or in need of SQL refresher, this is good read.
   
   Detail Review:
   This book is written by two conceptual strong SQL Server Gurus. SQL Server is growing extremely popular in the area of high-performance data applications. It is very important to learn about new features of SQL Server.
   
   This book truly represents the concept and the motive authors holds while writing the book. The book is written as systematic guide to learning SQL using SQL Server 2005 - a relational and multi-user database.
   
   This book starts with simple SQL concepts of management studio, simple select clauses, creating database and tables from scratch. It starts getting more involving and building difficult concepts on previously addressed easy concepts. Chapters about joins, sub queries, constraints are written with conceptual depth as well as lucid and simple language.
   
   Authors suggest that this book is expected to be used by schools and SQL training organizations. I will add to that this book is for everyone who just wants to enjoy reading about SQL. This book should be read with hands on SQL Server practice. Reader will get most out of this book while doing exercise at the end of the book.
   
   Review questions and exercise at the end of each chapter kept me occupied for long time. Few of them are very simple and few of them I have learned from this book. If you are experienced SQL programmer, I still suggest that you will enjoy reading the review questions. I will list few of those questions here.
   
   When would you use the ROWCOUNT function versus using the WHERE clause?
   If you are going to have too many nulls in a column, what would be data type to use?
   What is the maximum number of the rows that a self join can produce?
   Which function can the WITH TIES option be used with?
   Is SELECT INTO allowed in a view? Why or why not?
   
   Not always all the time, everybody wants to learn about difficult subject and in depth analysis. There are few times, when even experienced DBA and developers want to read back to basic concepts. I enjoy reading this book, if you are reader of my blog (www.sqlauthority.com) you will enjoy this book as this book is in agreement of my views of looking at SQL with simple logic but strong concepts.
   
   There are few errors in the book but they are very minor and I was able to catch them easily. Authors seem to have good understanding about ORACLE in addition to SQL Server. That introduced some errors but on good side they are able to unleash few ideas which are not easy for SQL Server DBA to think of.
   
   The chapter I enjoyed most is Joins Versus Subquery. Authors very easily explained their needs and differences. This statement shows the strength of chapter; If information from a table is needed in a result set, then that table can not be buried in a subquery- it must be in the outer query; simple but effective.
   
   I highly recommend this book, if you are interested in learning about SQL in easy way. This book is PERFECT book for beginners and great reference for experience developers.
   
   Rating : 4 and 1/2 stars
   
   In Summary, This is must have book for every SQL student.
   
   Pinal Dave
   Principal Database Administrator
   (http://www.SQLAuthority.com)



2. This is a nice, succinct book on learning SQL using SQL Server 2005. Most of the book is dedicated to teaching SQL basics, not on using or administering SQL Server itself (exactly as the title suggests). However, the first chapter will give you everything you need to know to get SQL Server up and running.
   
   I'm a big fan of the O'Reilly "Learning" books, and like many other books in that series, "Learning SQL on SQL Server 2005" is a great introductory book on its subject. Highly recommended for those who'd like to learn or review the fundamentals of SQL and SQL Server.



3. I am a beginner of database, and the book make the SQL simple to learn.



4. This is an excellent book. It's well written and provides good code examples for every concept. It is written for users who which to learn SQL on SQL Server 2005; the title of the book says it all!
   
   After reading the book, it felt as if I had completed a university course with lectures, lab work, and homework assignments. So, I estimate I saved $500 and all the time I would have spent in an evening class.
   
   I highly recommend this book. It's one of the best computer books I have read in the last two years.



5. Wow...it is amazing the difference between 2 sites reviews - if you go to O'Reilly's site (yes the publisher) scroed it much lower - you would think you were reading reviews of a different book. This was one of the poorest books I have read in several years - and I really hate saying that as I was *highly* looking forward to this book.
   
   My complaints are:
   
   1. Review questions at the end of each chapter but no answers to the reviews or questions at the end of each chapter - not even online. How do we know if we got them right or not?
   2. Huge missing holes of important stuff -- some obvious holes include:
   a. Triggers - pretty nice things to know about
   b. Procedures
   c. Functions (this is about Transact-SQL)
   d. Security (at least touch on pre-packaged permission roles)
   e. Data locks or anything related to maintaining data integrity
   d. error handling
   
   3. Obscure examples that left me scratching my head going "OK, I can see HOW you do this but why would you WANT to?"
   4. The phrase "this is beyond the scope of this book" was repeated WAY too many times -- what IS in the scope of the book if not stored procedures and functions, triggers, setting permissions, and other very basic SQL 2005 topics.
   
   There is some good intro to SLQ stuff here well paced and well written -- but it is in NO way money well spent if you are wanting to learn the in's and out's of SQL server 2005.
   
   The back of the book states that it is an "excellent introduction to the SQL language and database concepts" -- but yet the book does not even touch on the subject of database normalization - the very definition of "basic database concept" when talking about RDBS.
   
   I had just finished a "dummies" book that was much more complete and cost half as much.
   
   Just so you know, I don't make a habit of down playing many books -- I love and collect tech books -
   
   I have an extensive library of books (many O'Reilly)
   I DID read the entire book cover to cover, while working through the examples in front of my computer
   
   I feel I gave this book a very fair chance and was let down.
   
   Please feel free to correct or address any of my above points if you feel they are in error and I will reconsider this review.
   
   Sorry...but I suggest moving on.
   
   Joe
   
   I only rated it on 1 star instead of two because of the fairly high price. If you can get it cheaper used - go for it...

5 comments about Microsoft® SQL Server(TM) 2005 Reporting Services Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft)).

1. I am migrating our databases from Pervasive to MS SQL. We have a large amount of compiled (V7) Crystal Reports that will need to be updated and I was hoping to use the 2005 SQL Reporting Services instead.
   
   The major problem with this book is the very first script used to load the sample database fails. From this point on you might as well trash the book since none of the exercises will work. To run the first script the author gives you the complete file path for the command and the sample database. This path is 8 layers deep. The actual SQL query used to install the sample database has a completely different path, so the installation fails. Ok....I figured out the path problem and moved the files to where the SQL query wants them to be. I ran the installation script again and now I able to install the sample database. The next problem....the SQL query also configures the user logins to the database.....it fails!!!! I am new to SQL so I am now lost since I can not configure the user logins.
   
   I bought this book as a learning tool!! Now it sits collecting dust!!
   
   In reply to Dr. Ribeiro Silva's comments
   
   Point taken, but you missed the point completely.
   
   I will try to explain it another way. You need to learn how to drive a car. You buy a training package from Eddie's Driving School. It includes a training manual and a used car. The package is delivered by UPS. You stay up all night reading the manual and the next day you are ready to drive. You get in the car and turn the key....nothing happens. The car will not start! You re-read the driving manual and find nothing in it about troubleshooting why your car will not start!!
   
   This is the problem with this book. It is supposed to teach you how to create reports from a 2005 SQL server. It is not a training course on installing and troubleshooting a 2005 SQL database. The book provides a pre-configured 2005 SQL database and the installation scripts to install the database. When you run the installation script, the installation fails with numerous errors. In other words, the provided database "engine" is broken and will not run!! Since the database is not installed properly by the provided software you can not do any of the exercises.
   
   Since I need to learn this subject, I took the official Microsoft SQL Reporting class. I brought the book to my class and the instructor spent his entire lunch hour trying to follow the directions in the book to install the provided 2005 SQL database. He could not.



2. I agree with the other reviewer that had trouble installing the sample files: there's no excuse that Microsoft Press should have let this book out the door without some basic technical review. In order to successfully install the files, you must manually edit the attach_databases.sql file to map the @physname paths to the .mdf files stored in your My Documents folder rather than c:\rs2005sbs (which is never created by the installer). For the intended audience of this book, that's an unnecessary hastle that the use user should have to go through.



3. I am new to SQL Reporting Services. I found this book very helpful with its step-by-step approach. I would recommend it for beginners.



4. I purchased the book well over a year ago and placed it in my library for future reference. Now that I finally need it to dig into SSRS further, I'm truly disappointed. Besides the well documented script to load the databases not working, I've found plenty of instances where I found myself truly lost in the "Step by Step". I really had to go back time after time to see if I missed something. Low and behold, I didn't miss a thing. This was an extreme waste of valuable time away from projects. What the book is missing is a really good technical review. Long story short, placed this one on the shelf and ordered Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services 2005 by Brian Larson. Now I'm beginning to wonder about my SSAS Step by Step now. Then again, I'll just save my self valuable time and pick up another SSAS anyway. Hope this helps!



5. Microsoft® SQL Server(TM) 2005 Reporting Services Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft)) should be the best book in this topic. The reason that made me ranked this book at 4 stars is because this book missed just one sentence to tell their readers the exact folder to copy the source code to or how to modify the path in sql script.

4 comments about MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-445): Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

1. Very good training kit. One minus -- there are just a few Quick Check questions and answers at the end of each chapter. It would be better to have say 20 questions per each chapter for evaluation.



2. GREAT REFERENCE GUIDE FOR THE SQL SERVER 2005 (EXAM 70-445). I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND GAINING KNOWLEDGE ON THE BACKROUND OF THE SYSTEMS USED IN THIS STUDY GUIDE. EXTREMELY DETAILED AND CORRECT IN EVERY ASPECT THAT I'VE SEEN SO FAR.



3. The book is good source for starting up in BI SQL Server but perhaps not enough to pass exam. I gave exam last week after only preparing this book , didn't pass .. the questions were so different from the one given with book practice test and also advanced knowledge was required . I think its good idea to use one of the practice test i.e SelfTest etc and learn online whats left off.



4. This book has not been properly edited to ensure that all instructions are correct. The book consistently references the wrong items (db names) or asks the reader to perform a step that can't be completed because an item does not exist. EXAMPLE: pg 303, Ex.1 Step 7. There is no 'subcategory' field in the 'dscategory' dataset. I think this error is becauase pg 294, steps 12 & 16 have the names reversed. These authors stink.

No comments about SQL Queries for Mere Mortals(R): A Hands-On Guide to Data Manipulation in SQL (2nd Edition) (For Mere Mortals).

5 comments about Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition.

1. I'm new to PHP and MySQL, but a programmer for over 3 decades. I'm customizing some PHP code, using code examples for ideas. When I (a) see something I want to understand better or (b) want to find the PHP analog for basic functions, I naturally turn to the index to try to find the information I need. However, I found the index very disappointing because of what it doesn't have. For example, simple and basic keywords are not in the index: "comment", "logical operator", "and", "or", etc. I'm going to have order a different book as a PHP reference.



2. If your having trouble deciding on a book for your php & mysql development buy this book. It covers all major aspects of php and mysql web development and then some. You will find something useful on every page of this book, and theres a good amount of book here.



3. The book got me off the ground with my first client application, a rudimentary database maintenance system. Most valuable were the techniques and thorough understanding required to build a satisfactory security component.
   
   However, it falls way short as a reference tool and could have included a more comprehensive list of mysql functions.



4. I really like this book--direct, no-nonsense, and intelligently written with a minimum of jokes.
   
   One thing that seems strange, that I'm hoping someone can clarify:
   
   In the section of chapter 8 dealing with transactions and concurrency, there is no mention of setting transaction isolation levels (SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL command in MySQL). Instead, concurrency is achieved solely by setting table locks.
   
   I can sort of understand this in that the authors are using MyISAM tables. But why no mention of transaction isolation levels using INNODB tables, given that this is the more standard way of dealing with concurrency issues?



5. As usual in text books, there is a lot of useless information that is not necessary, but since writers are paid by the word, this is to be expected.
   
   I wish there was a section on MySQL commands.