[SQLServer2005] computer localhost does not exist on the network

This really bugged me out.

Talking about useful error messages from SQL Server, After installing SQL Server 2005 whatever edition on Vista and setting up a few DBs on management studio I tried to access SQL Server Surface Area Configuration and I got the following genial error message:

"computer localhost does not exist on the network (...)"

this is some epic bullshit, obviously followed by some other useless crap which I won't mention.

This obviously gave me no clue - so just out of curiosity I tried to open SQL Server Configuration Manager and I got another happy error message which makes even less sense:

"Cannot connect to WMI provider"

WTF is this supposed to mean? I have no clue what a WMI provider is. Anyway - the only resort I was left was good old Google. So I started googlin' like crazy and I found some crazy SOAB of an MVP on a msdn forum thread who was trying to convince some indian guy to reinstall Windows and SQLServer. 

I kept looking till I found something that did the trick: 

Apparently the problem is due to some SQLServer installation fuckup with some MOF files.

If you run this in your cmd line it should solve it:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared>mofcomp "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared\sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof"

[.NET] How to sort DataTable

There's no way to automatically sort a DataTable after it's populated.

A way around this is to sort the DefaultView of the DataTable (or any other DataView associated with the DataTable).

You can achieve this using the Sort property of the DataView. This is a string which specifies the column (or columns) to sort on, and the order (ASC or DESC).

myDataTable.DefaultView.Sort = "myColumnOfChoice DESC";

The DefaultView can now be used as datasource for stuff or to do whatever you need it for.

[T-SQL] How to get length of TEXT field

To calculate the lenght of a TEXT field the LEN function used to calculate the length of VARCHAR fields won't work. 

You need to use the DATALENGTH T-SQL function:

SELECT DATALENGTH(myTextField) AS lengthOfMyTextField

[SQLServer] Error 3205: too many devices specified for backup or restore only 64 are allowed

Problem: restoring a backup on SQLServer I get the following error:
[Error 3205: too many devices specified for backup or restore only 64 are allowed]

Solution: you're probably trying to restore a SQL2005 backup on a SQL2000 instance. There's no backward compatibility for backup operations bewteen SQL2005 and SQL2000. Installing SQL2005 will make the error go away (I know - it sucks).

I recently came across the cryptic error message in subject. At first I was puzzled - then google helped me understand the problem was not my lack of sweet SQLServer skills...

Learning SQL with Ganesh - Part 1 of ?

I found (and shared) this desperate help request yesterday on my google reader - I felt a burning desire to help the poor guy and I immediately followed the link to StackOverflow, but folks over there already edited the heck out of the original question.

Anyway this is what I'do to find AND delete duplicate rows on a table (with Identity):

DELETE
FROM    MyTable
WHERE   ColumnID NOT IN
(    SELECT   MIN(ColumnID)
FROM MyTable
GROUP BY    Column1, Column2, ..., ColumnN )

If you don't have an identity on the table you can add it then drop it when you're done.

Anyway - I obviously up-modded the guy and went ahead to have look at other questions from him and - guess what - I found a pair of pearls (the previous one was pretty OK besides the original title):

Probably weirdest SQL questions ever asked, but anyway, even if I HATE SQL, I tried to find answers anyway ('cause that's human nature - I guess).

To get the top 10 rows without sorting I'd probably do some rocket science:

select top 10 *
from MyTable
-- duh!

but then, if random order is required (?), maybe something like:

select top 10 *
from MyTable
order by NEWID()

To get the last 5 rows without sorting I'd rather go with:

select top 5 *
from MyTable
order by ColumnID desc

But what if you don't have an ID? What does without sorting mean? In doubt, I'd probably do something like the following:

select top 5 *
from ( select *
 from MyTable
 order by newId() desc)

Which is some crazy shit and without doubt doesn't make any sense.