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Transact-SQL is central to using SQL Server. All applications that communicate with an instance of SQL Server do so by sending Transact-SQL statements to the server, regardless of the user interface of the application.
The following is a list of the kinds of applications that can generate Transact-SQL:
- General office productivity applications.
- Applications that use a graphical user interface (GUI) to let users select the tables and columns from which they want to see data.
- Applications that use general language sentences to determine what data a user wants to see.
- Line of business applications that store their data in SQL Server databases. These applications can include both applications written by vendors and applications written in-house.
- Transact-SQL scripts that are run by using utilities such as sqlcmd.
- Applications created by using development systems such as Microsoft Visual C++, Microsoft Visual Basic, or Microsoft Visual J++ that use database APIs such as ADO, OLE DB, and ODBC.
- Web pages that extract data from SQL Server databases.
- Distributed database systems from which data from SQL Server is replicated to various databases, or distributed queries are executed.
- Data warehouses in which data is extracted from online transaction processing (OLTP) systems and summarized for decision-support analysis.
To view the Transact-SQL reference topics
To view the list of topics in the Transact-SQL reference section of SQL Server Books Online, follow these steps:
- On the SQL Server Books Online toolbar, click the Sync with Table Of Contents button.
- On the Contents tab, expand Transact-SQL Reference.
Note
When viewing this content in the MSDN Library, use the Table of Contents to browse for topics or search for commands by name. If you do not see the Table of Contents, to show it, click the page and press t.
For a list of Transact-SQL functions by category, see Functions (Transact-SQL).
For a short tutorial about how to write Transact-SQL, see Writing Transact-SQL Statements Tutorial.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions (Transact-SQL)
What's New and Enhanced in Transact-SQL (Transact-SQL)
SQL Server Database Engine
SQL Server Language Reference