Discussing new and existing features, SQL Server designer and administrator Michel Coles takes you on an expert guided tour of Transact--SQL functionality in SQL Server 2008 in his book, Pro T--SQL 2008 Programmer's Guide. Fully functioning examples and downloadable source code bring Coles' technically accurate and engaging treatment of Transact--SQL into your own hands. Step--by--step explanations ensure clarity, and an advocacy of best--practices will steer you down the road to success. Pro T--SQL 2008 Programmer's Guide is every developer's key to making full use of SQL Server 2008's powerful, built--in Transact--SQL language. Transact--SQL is the language developers and DBAs use to interact with SQL Server. It's used for everything from querying data, to writing stored procedures, to managing the database.New features in SQL Server 2008 include a spatial data type, SQLCLR integration, the MERGE statement, a dramatically improved and market--leading XML feature set, and support for encryption--all of which are covered in this book What you'll learn * Write stored procedures, functions, and triggers using Transact--SQL * Apply best--practices when centralizing procedural logic inside your SQL Server database * Seamlessly work with XML data using XQuery, XPath, and the XML type * Use SQLCLR to write .NET code that runs inside SQL Server * Implement full--text search within your database * Load data more efficiently using the MERGE statement * Learn about the new geography type for storing spatial data Who this book is for Pro T--SQL 2008 Programmer's Guide is written for SQL Server and Transact--SQL developers who want to implement best--practices and take full advantage of all that SQL Server has to offer. .NET programmers will find the book helpful in showing how to run .NET code within SQL Server. Database administrators who need to write triggers and the occasional stored procedure will also benefit from the book.