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  • Microsoft Excel behaves strange when tried to replace or remove asterisk (*). Why..?

    Here I came across a scenario of Microsoft Excel behaving strange, when trying to find and replace asterisk character (*) with another character. Scenario: Here is a list of data in an excel worksheet containing some fictitious data of names and salaries of a few employees. You can see that some of the names are containing an asterisk […] Read more

  • Single T-SQL query to swapping the values of two columns without using temporary column

    How to swap the values of two columns of a table ? Let me explain the scenario with an example – Let’s create a table named “Employees” with columns “First_Name” and “Last_Name”. Then populate the table with some fictitious data. Then view the results once and then interchange the values in the “First_Name” and “Last_Name” columns […] Read more

  • Calculation of metrics at database level or reporting level..? which is the best way..?

    I just came across a same old situation of deciding where to do the calculation of certain metrics like percentages ? Here is my take on it with a fictitious example – Scenario 1:  Calculating it at database level and preserving it in the database: see Fig.:1(Associate Level Sales) showing a table with sales made by a few sales executives […] Read more

  • MS Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

    Hi.. Here I have composed a comprehensive listing of keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Office Excel 2010 in downloadable PDF format. Please do share the keyboard shortcuts if you know any that are missing in this list and help improve this listing. Do share your comments or suggestions, if any.. [office src=”https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=0176F69A8A420BD0&resid=176F69A8A420BD0%211277&authkey=AKVSXsv9GTxdLV4&em=2″ width=”476″ height=”288″] Happy time […] Read more

  • Comparing datetime column with a date literal in T-SQL

    Hi Friends.. I have seen that comparing a datetime column in a table in SQL Server database, that has both date and time parts (e.g. 2012-12-05 10:37:36.897) with a date literal that has only date part is a not straight forward. Let me explain with an example: Have created a temporary table with two date […] Read more

  • Inclusiveness of SQL – BETWEEN operator

    Both parameters passed to the BETWEEN operator in SQL are inclusive to it. e.g. SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE Age BETWEEN 20 and 30; The above SQL returns all the records from the table – Employees where the age is >= 20 and <= 30. Here the employee records whose age is either 20 or 30 […] Read more

  • Interesting cell formatting in MS Excel to disappear whatever you enter

    Here is an interesting cell format that disappears whatever the text you enter.. Step:1.  Select any cell and then click on Format cells dialogue launcher as in the below screen shot (Ctrl + 1 is the keyboard shortcut to invoke Format Cells dialogue) Step: 2. Select “Custom” in the Category box. Select any arbitrary format style […] Read more