Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies®

III.5.1. Using AdventureWorks2008

Since the release of SQL Server 2005, Microsoft has included a comprehensive database named AdventureWorks that's designed to demonstrate many of the capabilities of SQL Server. AdventureWorks is based on a fictitious company — Adventure Works Cycles. AdventureWorks was modified for the release of SQL Server 2008 and renamed AdventureWorks2008.

References to AdventureWorks can be found throughout SQL Server 2008's documentation, including:

• SQL Server Books Online

• SQL Server Tutorials

• SQL Server Samples

We focus on the Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) version of Adventure Works in this book; however, several versions exist. These include:

• AdventureWorks: The Adventure Works Cycles OLTP sample database.

• AdventureWorksLT: A light, or simple, version of the Adventure Works Cycles OLTP database.

• AdventureWorksDW: The Adventure Works Cycles Data Warehouse and the Analysis Services database project.

• AdventureWorksDBScripts: The data files and scripts that can be used to build both the Adventure Works Cycles OLTP database and the Adventure Works Cycles Data Warehouse.

Some of the samples in this book (especially those in this chapter) use the AdventureWorks2008 OLTP database. If you don't have AdventureWorks2008 installed on your system, follow the steps in this section to add it to SQL Server 2008.

To verify if AdventureWorks2008 is installed, follow these steps:

1. Launch SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) by choosing StartAll ProgramsMicrosoft SQL Server ...