Summary

SQL is a powerful data-access and data-modification language. SQL Server's enhanced version of SQL, Transact-SQL, further expands the powers and capabilities of your SQL queries by providing features such as functions, variables, and commands to control execution flow. The Transact-SQL commands also are the basic building blocks for creating even more powerful SQL Server database components such as views, stored procedures, triggers, and user-defined functions.

The next four chapters, "Creating and Managing Views in SQL Server," "Creating and Managing Stored Procedures in SQL Server," "Creating and Managing Triggers," and "User-Defined Functions" describe how to create these objects using Transact-SQL. Chapter 31 shows you how to group your Transact-SQL statements so multiple actions can be treated as single logical units of work, or transactions, and how the data changes made within your T-SQL statements are managed and recorded in the SQL Server Transaction log.