SQL Best Practices

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Lesson Agenda

Coding Standard/Convention

Write query effectively

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 Section 1

SQL CODING STANDARD

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SQL Coding Standard

❖ Standardization has a positive impact on any business. It requires

consistent efforts and sheers the focus of the software development
team to meet quality goals.

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SQL Coding Standard

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NAMING CONVENTION AND STYLES

1. Use UPPER CASE for all T-SQL constructs, excepts Types

Correct:

SELECT MAX([Salary]) FROM dbo.[EmployeeSalary]

Incorrect:

SELECT max([Salary]) from dbo.[EmployeeSalary]

2. Use lower case for all T-SQL Types and Usernames

Correct:

DECLARE @MaxValue int

Incorrect:

DECLARE @MaxValue INT

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NAMING CONVENTION AND STYLES

3. Use Pascal casing for all UDO’s

Correct:

CREATE TABLE dbo.EmployeeSalary

EmployeeSalaryID INT

Incorrect:

CREATE TABLE dbo.Employeesalary

EmployeesalaryID int

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NAMING CONVENTION AND STYLES

4. Avoid abbreviations and single character names

Correct:

DECLARE @RecordCount int

Incorrect:

DECLARE @Rc int

5. UDO naming must confer to the following regular expression ([a-zA-Z][a-

zA-Z0-9]).

Do not use any special or language dependent characters to name objects. Constraints can
use the underscore character.

Correct:

CREATE TABLE dbo.[EmployeeSalary]

Incorrect:

CREATE TABLE dbo.[Employee Salary]

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NAMING CONVENTION AND STYLES

6. Use the following prefixes when naming objects

usp_: User stored procedures usp_: User stored procedures

ufn_: User defined functions DF_: Default constraints

view_: Views PK_: Primary Key constraints

IX_: Indexes FK_: Foreign Key constraints

CHK_: Check constraints

UNI_: Unique constraints

Correct:

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.usp_EmployeeSelectAll

Incorrect:

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.EmployeeSelectRetired –-without preffixed

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NAMING CONVENTION AND STYLES

7. Name tables in the singular form

Correct:

CREATE TABLE dbo.[Employee]

Incorrect:

CREATE TABLE dbo.[Employees]

8. Tables that map one-to many, many-to-many relationships should be named by

concatenating the names of the tables in question, starting with the most central
table’s name.

Correct:

CREATE TABLE dbo.[EmployeeSalary]

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Advantages of Implementing Coding Standards

1. Enhanced Efficiency

2. Risk of project failure is reduced

3. Minimal Complexity

4. Easy to Maintain

5. Bug Rectification

6. A Comprehensive Look

7. Cost-Efficient

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SQL Coding Standard

SQL Comment

❖ Microsoft SQL Server supports two types of comments:

✓ Line comment:

✓ Block comment:

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SQL Coding Standard

SQL Comment

❖ Always use comment to explain your code.

❖ Use natural/human language in comment to easy

understand.

❖ All comments should be same format.

❖ Break comment line to avoid horizontal scroll bar.

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SQL Coding Standard

Naming conventions

❖ Ensure the name is unique and does not exist as a reserved

keyword.

❖ Names must begin with a letter and may not end with an
underscore.

❖ Avoid abbreviations and if you have to use them make sure

they are commonly understood.

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SQL Coding Standard

Naming conventions

❖ Use a collective name or, a plural form for table names

❖ Never give a table the same name as one of its columns

and vice versa

❖ Always use the singular name for columns.

❖ Use table/column aliases for easier reading

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SQL Coding Standard

Format code

❖ Always use UPPERCASE for the reserved keywords like

SELECT and WHERE.

❖ Break line to avoid horizontal scroll bar. It recommended

that start line with KEYWORD

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 Section 2

SQL BEST PRACTICES

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SQL Best Practices

1. Avoid select *, use column names

❖ Use Column Names Instead of * in a SELECT Statement

❖ Original query:
× SELECT * FROM Students;

❖ Improved query:
✓ SELECT Name, ClassName FROM Students;

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SQL Best Practices
2. Avoid including a HAVING clause in SELECT statements

❖ The HAVING clause is used to filter the rows after all the
rows are selected and it is used like a filter.

❖ It works by going through the final result table of the query

parsing out the rows that don’t meet the HAVING condition.

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SQL Best Practices
2. Avoid including a HAVING clause in SELECT statements

❖ Original query

❖ Improved query

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SQL Best Practices

3. Eliminate Unnecessary DISTINCT Conditions

❖ The DISTINCT keyword in

the original query is
unnecessary because the
table_name contains the
primary key p.ID, which is
part of the result set.

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SQL Best Practices

3. Eliminate Unnecessary DISTINCT Conditions

❖ Original query

❖ Improved query

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SQL Best Practices

4. Use UNION ALL instead of UNION

❖ The UNION ALL statement is faster than UNION

✓ UNION ALL statement does not consider duplicate s, and

✓ UNION statement does look for duplicates in a table while selection

of rows, whether or not they exist.

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SQL Best Practices

5. Avoid using OR in join conditions

❖ Original query

❖ Improved query

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SQL Best Practices

6. Avoid any redundant mathematics

❖ Original query

❖ Improved query

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SQL Best Practices

7. Consider using COUNT

❖ COUNT(1) gets converted into COUNT(*) by SQL Server,

so there is no difference between these. The 1 is a literal, so
a COUNT('whatever') is treated as equivalent.
❖ COUNT(column_name)
✓ If the column_name definition is NOT NULL, this gets converted to
COUNT(*).
✓ If the column_name definition allows NULLs, then SQL Server
needs to access the specific column to count the non-null values on
the column.

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SQL Best Practices

7. Consider using COUNT

❖ Never use COUNT(*)

✓ tt must read all columns and cause unnecessary reads.

❖ Always use COUNT(1)

✓ The primary key is the first column in the table and you want it to
read the clustered index.

❖ Always use COUNT(column_name)

✓ You can select which index it will scan.

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SQL Best Practices

7. Consider using COUNT

❖ Original query

❖ Improved query

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Summary

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 Thank you

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