SQL-Core: Practical SQL Querying

Certification and Related Examinations

The course is designed to provide practical concepts and skills for querying SQL databases and as such this will help build skills for certification programs without covering the breadth of any particular certification.

Contact us for information on exams.

Audience

The audience for this course is very wide as databases are used by the vast majority of organisations and querying skills are beneficial to businesses and employees alike. This course is designed for anyone with a requirement to query SQL data either to produce reports or as part of a developer role. It is aimed at an entry level audience and also to refresh and build skills for those who already have some SQL querying experience.

Example audience roles include:

• Human Resources employees requiring Data Querying and Report Writing skills
• Software Developers new to SQL
• Project Managers - SQL skills are a common requirement on projects
• Development Team Managers
• Professionals with data related roles
• Business Analysts
• Report Writers

At Course Completion

• Describe the basic architecture and concepts of Microsoft SQL Server
• Understand at a practical level the concepts that underpin SQL Queries
• Have working knowledge of SQL Server Management Studio
• Write SELECT queries - including ORDER BY
• Query multiple tables - Joins and Subqueries
• Sort and filter data - using WHERE and HAVING
• Describe the use of key data types in SQL Server
• Use key built-in functions
• Group and aggregate data - including key Aggregate Functions
• Use Subqueries
• Use Table Expressions - including Views, TVFs, Derived Tables and CTEs
• Use Set Operators - UNION, EXCEPT and INTERSECT
• Understand Windowing Functions including ROWNUMBER, RANK, NTILE
• Understand Pivoting and Grouping Sets
• Execute Stored Procedures
• Modify data using Transact-SQL

Prerequisites

The course is designed for an entry level audience and also to refresh and build skills for those who already have some SQL querying experience.

To attend you'll simply need basic PC literacy and Business English.

Materials

Materials include courseware, hands-on learning environment and related subject matter.

'Attend from Anywhere' Virtual Classroom Courses

For virtual classroom courses you'll need a headset. We provide a simple connectivity test to ensure you'll be able to participate.

For 'Attend from Anywhere' virtual classroom courses you'll additionally need either a PC or a Mac with internet access.

Course Outline

Module 01: Introduction to Querying with Microsoft SQL Server

The first module provides the necessary background to allow understanding of the key concepts and associated terminology required to achieve core SQL querying skills. Once these are attained, the technical documentation provided with SQL Server will become more accessible and a further benefit will be ease of communication with persons holding technical roles.

Lessons and Labs

• Simplified Introduction to Sets, Relations and Normalisation
• Simple Entity Relationship Modelling
• The Concepts of Keys: Primary, Surrogate, Unique and Foreign Keys
• The Concept of NULL
• SQL Server’s Architecture
• SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

Module 02: Basic Single-Table Queries

This module covers the core concepts and skills for using the SELECT Statement. The WHERE clause and predicate logic are examined as is ORDER BY. Column level aliases and logical processing order are introduced.

Lessons and Labs

• Simple SELECT Statements with Column Level Aliases
• Computed Columns Column Level Aliases
• WHERE clause with logical operators and common predicates
• ORDER BY clause and collations
• Logical Order Processing
• Simple and Searched CASE Expressions
• Overview of the LIKE operator
• Introduction to UNION and UNION ALL

Module 03: Exploration of Basic Data Types, Functions and NULL

This module explores the more common data types and functions.

Lessons and Labs

• Numerics Exact and Approximate
• Character String Data Types and String Functions
• Aggregate – Common Aggregate Functions including AVG, COUNT, MAX, MIN and SUM
• Date and Time Data Types and Functions
• Querying data with NULL values using IS NULL

Module 04: Comprehensive Single-Table Queries

This module introduces comprehensive usage of the SELECT Statement and its main clauses.

Lessons and Labs

• Queries using GROUP BY with Aggregate Functions and HAVING
• Using Table Level Aliases and Examining Logical Processing Order
• Querying VIEWs
• SQL Server’s TOP Operator to Limit Rows Presented - Time Permitting

Module 05: Joining Multiple Tables

This module introduces joining tables using the SQL 92 JOIN syntax.

Lessons and Labs

• INNER, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL OUTER and CROSS JOINs
• Table and Column Level Aliases with Multiple Tables

Module 06: Understanding Subqueries

This module covers additional querying strategies where joins are not sufficient.

Lessons and Labs

• Self-Contained, Scalar and Multi-Valued Subqueries – using WHERE and IN
• Correlated Subqueries
• Using EXISTS, NOT EXISTS and COUNT

Module 07: Using Table Expressions

This module explores the concepts of Table Expressions. These include Views, Table Valued Functions (TVFs), Derived Tables and Common Table Expressions (CTEs).

Lessons and Labs

• Creating Simple Views
• Querying a VIEW including ORDER BY
• Creating Simple Table Valued Functions (TVFs)
• Querying a Table Valued Function with a Parameter
• Querying from a Derived Table
• Querying from a Common Table Expression
• Querying using APPLY (Time Permitting)

Module 08: Additional Set Operators and Further NULL Data Querying

This module introduces the remaining Set Operators which allow the combining and comparison of queries and further strategies for querying NULL values.

Lessons and Labs

• Review of Querying with UNION and UNION ALL
• Querying with INTERSECT and EXCEPT
• Querying with NULLIF, COALESCE and ISNULL

Module 09: Pivoting and Grouping Sets

This module discusses more advanced manipulations of data.

Lessons and Labs

• Introducing PIVOT and UNPIVOT
• Introducing GROUPING SET
• Introducing ROLLUP and CUBE

Module 10: Stored Procedure and Dynamic SQL Overview

This module introduce Stored Procedures are typically encapsulated SQL statements that are stored within the database. Dynamic SQL, queries generated from text or parameters, is also introduced.

Lessons and Labs

• Simple Stored Procedures and Stored Procedures with Parameters
• Dynamic SQL using EXECUTE and ‘sp_executesql’

Module 11: Window Functions Introduction

This module provides a high-level introduction to the SQL Windowing Functions.

Lessons and Labs

• Introducing Queries with ROWNUMBER, RANK, DENSE_RANK and NTILE

Module 12: Maintaining Data – Optional Content

This module introduces the key concepts of maintaining data.

Lessons and Labs

• Using INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and TRUNCATE
• Considerations for NULL data
• The IDENTITY Function to generate unique values (Time Permitting)
• Using MERGE to maintain data (Time Permitting)