United States Change | All Microsoft Sites
Microsoft Home | Servers and Tools
Enhanced Microsoft SQL Server Connectivity through SQL Server Native Client and the .NET 3.5 SQLClient managed provider provides a high performance, versatile data access library that enables developers to take advantage of the new capabilities of SQL Server 2008.
Use table-valued parameters to work effectively with tabular data
Store and access FILESTREAM data with transactional consistency
Use sparse columns to store NULL values efficiently
Take advantage of support for UDTs larger than 8 KB
Incorporate spatial data into applications, using the SQL Server 2008 new GEOMETRY and GEOGRAPHY data types
Use enhanced support for date and time data to simplify migration to SQL Server 2008
ADO.NET Data Services
Build high-performance data access applications by using SQL Server Native Client or the SQLClient managed provider.
Take advantage of performance enhancements in SQL Server 2008 Native Client. Achieve up to 10% performance improvement in some scenarios.
Encapsulate tabular data in a client application efficiently by using table-valued parameters
Pass table-valued parameters to the server by using a single command and continue to operate on the data as a table in Transact-SQL code
Take advantage of the improved programming model and performance enhancements provided by table-valued parameters
Benefit from cleaner, more maintainable code, faster performance, and improved scalability for large data volumes
Access both relational and non-relational data in SQL Server 2008 to build comprehensive solutions.
Store unstructured data, such as documents and images, on the file system by using the new FILESTREAM data type and maintain transactional integrity with the database
Take advantage of a dual-programming model that enables developers to use Transact-SQL or IO APIs to access the data by using SQLClient or SQL Server Native Client
Efficiently manage columns that contain large amounts of NULL data by using sparse columns, new in SQL Server 2008, that consume no physical space for storing NULL values
Model property sets and support highly end-user configurable applications ‘in the cloud’ with great flexibility and efficiency
Use SQL Server 2008 to go beyond the 8-KB limit of previous versions of SQL Server for user-defined types (UDTs)
Use enhanced support for UDTs in SQL Server 2008
Retrieve UDTs as live CLR objects in managed client applications for a consistent, intuitive programming model or as BLOBs with well-known storage layouts in native applications
Extend business applications by incorporating geographical capabilities through the spatial data support in SQL Server 2008
Use the GEOGRAPHY and GEOMETRY data types to store spatial data and perform spatial operations.
Integrate with industry-standard geospatial applications by taking advantage of the comprehensive library of functions supported by these data types
Support hierarchical data structures with greater flexibility and performance than ever before by using the new HIERARCHYID data type
SQL Server Native Client compatibility with SQL Server
Easily migrate existing applications to SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 Native Client or the .NET 3.5 SQLClient managed provider.
Take advantage of SQL Server Native Client compatibility with SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, and SQL Server 2008
Upgrade servers to SQL Server 2008 and continue to use SQL Server 2005 Native Client in client applications where new or enhanced features in SQL Server 2008 are not required
Simplify migration from Oracle, DB2, and Sybase applications to SQL Server 2008 by using new date and time data types and improve cross-system compatibility
SQL Server 2008 Native Client and the .NET 3.5 SQLClient managed provider include support for the following SQL Server 2008 data types:
DATE. Date-only data type
TIME. Time-only data type
DATETIMEOFFSET. Time zone-aware data type
DATETIME2. Supports a larger fractional second and year range than DATETIME
Native Data Access
