Aggregate Functions in SQL SERVER 2008

What are Aggregate functions? Explain Aggregate functions in SQL SERVER 2008 with example.

Aggregate functions are applied to a group of data values from a column. Aggregate functions always return a single value.

SQL SERVER 2008 / Transact-SQL supports following aggregate functions:

AVG: Calculates the arithmetic mean (average) of the data values contained within a column. The column must contain numeric values.

MAX and MIN: Calculate the maximum and minimum data value of the column, respectively. The column can contain numeric, string, and date/time values.

SUM: Calculates the total of all data values in a column. The column must contain numeric values.

COUNT: Calculates the number of (non-null) data values in a column. The only aggregate function not being applied to columns is COUNT(*). This function returns the number of rows (whether or not particular columns have NULL values).

COUNT_BIG: New and Analogous to COUNT, the only difference being that COUNT_BIG returns a value of the BIGINT data type.

Aggregate function Example:
SELECT ProjectName, SUM(budget) TotalBudget FROM Project_Tbl GROUP BY ProjectName;


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SQL Server 2008 advantages for Developers

Microsoft has released a new version of its popular Database management system (SQL Server). It is Microsoft SQL Server 2008. So what are the benefits of SQL SERVER 2008 for Developers & Programmers.


SQL Management Studio improvements including IntelliSense.

New Data Types for just dates or times (no more storing time when you only need the date).

New Hierarchical data support .IsDescendent(), that can automatically pull a hierarchical view of data (no more custom recursive queries).

New Grouping Sets statement which enables you to automatically group dimensions in a query for easy aggregation and reporting.

New Merge statement which provides automatic insert/update semantics for keeping multiple data sources in sync.

New data types and support for Geodata and geometry.

New support for optimizing "empty" or row/column tables using the sparse keyword.

New FileStream attribute that enables you to include files that are stored in the server file system, but can be managed by SQL Server.

See SQL SERVER 2008 faqs at
Microsoft SQL SERVER 2008 question answers