Wow the months go past quickly these days. It is already time for yet another T-SQL Tuesday, and this round is hosted by Matt Velic (Blog | @mattvelic). His chosen topic for this month is APPLY. If you are not sure what T-SQL Tuesday is about then please read this article written by Adam Machanic (Twitter | Blog).

APPLY

I could go on to tell you that APPLY comes in two flavours; CROSS APPLY and OUTER APPLY and that their use is primarily with Table Valued Functions or derived tables. I could even give you a couple of uses of APPLY and show you some examples. But that’s boring….and it’s covered by BOL and a host of much better bloggers than myself. Page 1 search results on Google reveal:

• Itzik Ben-Gan explains The APPLY Operator
• Gregory A. Larson gives us a few APPLY examples
• Steve Novoselac Turns 2 queries into 1 using APPLY
• Robert Sheldon give us the APPLY Basics

There are some other uses of APPLY too, namely:

APPLY Common Sense

Sometimes it is way better to APPLY some common sense to everyday hurdles. Don’t try to re-invent the wheel, chances are that someone has gone through what you are experiencing and has already come up with a number of solutions. If you have a problem, by all means attempt to conquer it yourself first, but don’t dwell on it too long. It doesn’t do anyone any good. The business will loose out on your productivity, and you may start to think that “it’s just to hard” – which leads to stress. Reach out!! The SQL Server Community is vast and is here to help. There are so many avenues which you can explore to obtain the help you need, here are just a few:

• Twitter #sqlhelp – the AWESOME live, short answer forums that ALWAYS has someone on hand to answer your questions.
• Twitter  – go to http://wefollow.com and find people in your line of work that can help you, i.e.
  • http://wefollow.com/twitter/ssrs a list of SQL Server Reporting Services peeps
  • http://wefollow.com/twitter/ssis a list of SQL Server Integration Services peeps
  • http://wefollow.com/twitter/ssas a list of SQL Server Analysis Services peeps
  • http://wefollow.com/twitter/sql a list of SQL Server peeps
• Forums – MSDN has loads of forums that are worth looking into:
  • SSRS Forum: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlreportingservices/threads
  • SSIS Forum: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqlintegrationservices/threads/
  • SSAS Forum: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sqlanalysisservices/threads
• Stackoverflow – Your one-stop-answer-shop.

APPLY Yourself

Be honest with yourself. Has there been something that you have been putting off for while? I don’t care what excuse comes to the forefront of your mind. Make a point NOW to tackle it. Schedule it in your diary and Get It Done!!

In my last post, 1st Quarter Review 2011, I mentioned that I’d been putting off doing the MCITP – Business Intelligence 2008 Exams. Well, not anymore. I have now scheduled them and will be taking a crack at the first one on Friday, May 13th 2011. Yes, that’s right, I’m choosing to take my exams on Friday the 13th. I’m weird like that. I’ve made my commitment, now it’s time to make yours.

Thanks again to Matt for hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what others have come up with and reading Matt’s digest.