Azure SQL Dev Corner
Voices from the Azure SQL PM Team, focusing on development and developers
Latest posts
Building Course Registration Project with Azure SQL Database
This semester long project was completed by Master's students at Cornell University with mentorship from the Azure SQL database product team at Microsoft. Project Mission The purpose of this project is to design a high-fidelity university course registration system utilizing Microsoft Azure cloud services. Our target audience includes universities given that the intended target users are university students. The final result is a full-stack system consisting of the student frontend perspective and the backend Azure SQL database necessary to support this. Project Goals ...
Unleashing the Potential of Generative AI in Azure SQL Database
Generative AI is not just a technological advancement; it's a paradigm shift that is redefining the landscape of customer interaction. Azure SQL Database stands at the forefront of this revolution, offering unparalleled opportunities to harness the power of "your data" in crafting state-of-the-art applications. As we stand at the cusp of an AI renaissance, it's clear that AI-enabled applications are becoming the new norm, from personal devices to the vast expanse of the cloud. Yet, it's not the technology alone that sets you apart—it's how you leverage it with your unique datasets. Your data is the key to deli...
Announcing UNISTR and || operator in Azure SQL Database – preview
We are excited to announce that the UNISTR intrinsic function and ANSI SQL concatenation operator (||) are now available in public preview in Azure SQL Database. The UNISTR function allows you to escape Unicode characters, making it easier to work with international text. The ANSI SQL concatenation operator (||) provides a simple and intuitive way to combine characters or binary strings. These new features will enhance your ability to manipulate and work with text data. What is UNISTR function? The UNISTR function takes a text literal or an expression of characters and Unicode values, that resolves to characte...
Announcing EAP for Vector Support in Azure SQL Database
We are super excited to announce the Early Adopter Preview of Native Vector Support in Azure SQL Database and are currently accepting requests from customers who wish to participate. SQL beyond RDBMS Vector databases have gained a lot of prominence lately. These specialized repositories handle vector data, crucial for applications like semantic search, chatbots, and recommendation systems. However, a paradigm shift is underway: Why maintain a separate Vector database when Azure SQL Database can seamlessly accommodate vector embeddings? By integrating vector search into Azure SQL, you simplify applicat...
What’s a Vector Anyway?
It's a bit of an understatement to say that Artificial Intelligence (AI), and specifically Generative AI, is at the top of every announcement, news feed, article and discussion lately. Not just in technology, but everywhere. There are a lot of things you to learn to understand not just how to use AI, but how it works. One of those things is understanding Vectors. So just what is a vector? In simple terms, a vector is a mathematical object that has a magnitude (length) and a direction. You'll probably remember from math class as an arrow pointing from one point to another on a x, y, and possibly even a z graph ...
Coding at the Speed of Innovation: AI and more with Azure SQL Database
As Build 2024 approaches, the Azure SQL Database team is preparing a great line-up of product announcements. Innovation continues to be a big theme as we prepare to showcase exciting experiences powered by SQL data and generative AI. The ideal starting point for the new generation of AI-ready SQL apps is Azure SQL Database, the fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) database engine that frees developers to focus on innovation. In this post, we recount a few recent announcements plus a free offer and new video resources that can help you get started innovating with AI and Azure SQL Database. Innovate at Hy...
Data API builder becomes Generally Available
Announcing Data API builder General Availability On May 15th, Data API builder becomes Generally Available. Data API builder for Azure SQL Databases – Generally Available It’s been a long road, getting from there to here. Nearly three years ago, Data API builder began as just a dream. How can we reduce the friction for developers wanting to access databases in their client applications? We created Data API builder to solve this, providing secure and feature-rich REST and GraphQL endpoints over databases with zero code. DAB is developer-oriented; it’s open-source and free, even for on-prem databases. Archite...
Private Preview for External REST Endpoint Invocation with Azure SQL Managed Instance
We have an exciting opportunity for customers and partners to use External REST Endpoint Invocation with Azure SQL Managed Instance in a private preview. What is Azure SQL Managed Instance? Azure SQL Managed Instance is a PaaS service that has near 100% compatibility with the latest Enterprise Edition SQL Server database engine, providing a native virtual network (VNet) implementation that addresses common security concerns, and a business model favorable to existing SQL Server customers. SQL Managed Instance allows existing SQL Server customers to lift and shift their on-premises applications to the cloud with...
Data API builder Version 0.11 Brings In-Memory Caching
Literally, I just said that! I have three daughters, and it's amazing how they ask me the same questions over and over. I don't mind answering them, but I sure wish they would either remember my answer or, at least, write it down. There's a measurable cognitive load with the context switching and staying consistent in my answers. And that's a good—though a little messy—segue into data caching. Data API builder can now relieve your database's burden with the new caching feature available to REST endpoints. Your database is good at joining, filtering, sorting, and projecting data. Two, ten, even a hundred t...