Although database client applications typically provide features within the user interface to manage content, in many cases you may need to set up database structure and content before you deploy an application. Or you might need to perform maintenance tasks outside the client application. Using SQL, you can directly perform such tasks. In this lesson, you will use SQL to insert, update, and delete rows.

Over time, you might need to change your database's structure. You can use SQL to add new tables and new columns, or change the types of data stored within a particular column.

Some database users may not know how to write SQL queries, or may not want to be bothered to write a query to view data coming from multiple tables. Or you may want to hide certain columns of data from the view of end users. Database views enable you to control what data users see, like a query, but they can be quickly invoked to present data in a particular way. In this lesson, you will create views and use them to manipulate data, modify views, and delete views.

How Microsoft® SQL Server® retrieves the data that satisfies a query can have a huge impact on your database server's performance, especially if you have very large tables. One of the strategies you can use to improve the efficiency of SQL Server is to create indexes to support your most frequently executed queries.

Some database transactions must be accomplished through more than one SQL statement. If a problem occurs at any point in the transaction, you need to roll back each step of the entire transaction to get the database back to its original state. SQL provides features that enable you to accomplish this.

You'll wrap things up and then validate what you've learned in this course by taking an assessment.