SQL is not meant to generate graphics, for sure; but Shlomi sees some cases where generating non-tabular output can be desirable. He explains the basics of working SQL graphics: it is actually possible to do whatever you like.

Why sharding is not always good

Visual Basic can be very loose with it's data types. If you want to avoid worrying about which type of data is coming from your database, you can simply not specify a datatype when you declare a variable, which defaults the datatype to variant. The variant should be avoided whenever possible, as it can be very CPU and memory intensive. This article demonstrates the different MySQL and VB6 datatypes and how they correlate. (2004-01-22)

Mike Hillyer explains how to work with BLOB columns using the ADO 2.5 stream object. (2003-12-02)

Developers often ask for tools that can be used to convert an Access database to MySQL (or convert an MSSQL database to MySQL), without realizing that there is more to migrating an application to MySQL than simply converting data. This article covers the basics of migrating an application from an Access or SQL Server database to MySQL. You can also discuss migration issues on the beta MySQL Forums.(2004-07-07)

In this sample chapter from MySQL Tutorial, published by MySQL Press, authors Luke Welling and Laura Thomson explain the basics of transactions, and how the InnoDB storage engine can be used to achieve ACID compliance.(2004-08-11)

The MySQL database server features a distinctive modular architecture. The core "upper level" features of the server, such as the network layer, SQL parser, and query optimizer, are separated from the underlying data storage by a well-defined interface. Adding a storage engine to MySQL is a fairly straightforward task, and in this article John David Duncan explains how to get started with your own storage engine.(2004-12-09)

This is the first part in the "MySQL 5.0 New Features" series. Using detailed examples, source code, and hands-on exercises, Peter Gulutzan shows you how to write stored procedures and shares the implementation details of Stored Procedures in MySQL 5.0. Check back for white papers on Triggers, Views, and Information Schema. (2005-03-16)

This is the second part in the \"MySQL 5.0 New Features\" series. Peter Gulutzan covers MySQL 5.0 support for Triggers using detailed examples, source code, and hands-on exercises. (2005-03-24)

This is the third part in the \"MySQL 5.0 New Features\" series. Trudy Pelzer covers MySQL 5.0 support for Views using detailed examples, source code, and hands-on exercises. (2005-03-23)

This is the fourth part in the "MySQL 5.0 New Features" series. Trudy Pelzer covers the MySQL 5.0 Data Dictionary using detailed examples, source code, and hands-on exercises. (2005-03-23)

A utility like mysqldump is very useful for backing up MySQL data and table schema. However, backups are usually made only once a day or at some other regular interval. If data is lost on your system several hours after the last backup is completed, you may not be able to recover it. There are a few methods by which you can continuously protect data, some of which are explored in this article.(2005-04-26)

All robust relational database management systems utilize memory caching to help improve the overall responsiveness of their underlying engine. While certainly not free, accessing application data, query plans, or database metadata in RAM is normally much quicker than repetitively retrieving that same information from disk or building it from scratch.(2005-07-19)

The MySQL Developer Zone received permission to publish excerpts from the book \"MySQL Database Design and Tuning\" by Robert Schneider, published in 2005 by Sams (ISBN 0672327651). Chapter 18 is a case study that reviews a broad-based collection of performance problems, along with their solutions.(2005-07-15)

Pro MySQL, a brand new book by Mike Kruckenberg and Jay Pipes (Apress, July 2005, ISBN 1-59059-505-X), provides intermediate and advanced MySQL users with a comprehensive guide to the array of features available in MySQL upto and including MySQL 5.0 Since the MySQL Developer Zone has had quite a few articles related to the new MySQL 5.0 features, we chose to publish chapter 6 covering another hot topic, \"Benchmarking and Profiling\". This is one of the first books to cover MySQL 5 in depth. It foregoes the usual reiteration of basics that you'll find in other books, instead concentrating on MySQL's advanced applications in enterprise environments. Further, this book doubles as a quick reference guide for configuration directives, commands, and features. The book's own companion web site is at http://www.promysql.com/(2005-08-03)

The open source DBA Dashboard for MySQL automates the statistical data collection, reporting and monitoring of the internals of your MySQL Servers. Information such as server health, schema information, database size, and usage statistics are aggregated on a periodic basis to give you insight into your MySQL databases. This JasperReports application answers questions such as: How many queries per day? Which user has the most resource usage? What tables are growing the fastest?(2005-08-05)

Most users at one time or another have dealt with hierarchical data in a SQL database and no doubt learned that the management of hierarchical data is not what a relational database is intended for. The tables of a relational database are not hierarchical (like XML), but are simply a flat list. Hierarchical data has a parent-child relationship that is not naturally represented in a relational database table.(2005-08-17)

More than at any other time, database professionals are being aggressively challenged by mushrooming volumes of data in corporate business systems. While some industry analysts project data growth at an average rate of 42% a year, that figure is conservative in some installations where growth rates are several hundred percent, with no end in sight.(2005-09-06)

Portraits of Ireland Ltd is a web based Irish company aiming to help connect the diaspora to people and places in Ireland through Art. This startup company required an online interactive atlas to assist both artists and those commissioning their work to find not only the island's more well known locations but also its remote and smaller place locations. To this end an Artist Atlas was created. Some of the primary requirements were a cartographically rich, atheistically pleasing vector based system, fully searchable, and with as extensive a database as possible.(2005-09-18)

Peter Gulutzan takes a behind-the-scenes look at the full-text searching features in MySQL 4.1, including features and quirks not (yet) documented in the reference manual, and the complete default stopword list.(2004-08-06)