Microsoft SQL Server 2008: T-SQL Fundamentals 

Author:   Itzik Ben-Gan Pages:   416 Disk:    None Language:   English  Published:   10/22/2008 ISBN:   978-0735626010 ISBN-10:   0735626014

Introduction

This book walks you through your first steps in T-SQL (also known as Transact-SQL), which is the Microsoft SQL Server dialect of the standard ANSI-SQL language. You’ll learn the theory behind T-SQL querying and programming, how to develop T-SQL code to query and modify data, and get an overview of programmable objects.

Although this book is intended for beginners, it is not merely a step-by-step book. It goes beyond the syntactical elements of T-SQL and explains the logic behind the language and its elements.

Occasionally the book covers subjects that may be considered advanced for readers who are new to T-SQL; therefore, those sections are optional reading. If you already feel comfortable with the material discussed in the book up to that point, you may want to tackle the more advanced subjects; otherwise, feel free to skip those sections and return to them after you’ve gained more experience. The text will indicate when a section may be considered more advanced and is provided as optional reading.

Many aspects of SQL are unique to the language, and are very different from other programming languages. This book helps you adopt the right state of mind and gain a true understanding of the language elements. You learn how to think in terms of sets and follow good SQL programming practices.

The book is not version-specific; it does, however, cover language elements that were introduced in recent versions of SQL Server, including SQL Server 2008. When I discuss language elements that were introduced recently, I specify the version in which they were added.

To complement the learning experience, the book provides exercises that enable you to practice what you’ve learned. The book occasionally provides optional exercises that are more advanced. Those exercises are intended for readers who feel very comfortable with the material and want to challenge themselves with more difficult problems. The optional exercises for advanced readers are labeled as such.

Who This Book Is For

This book is intended for T-SQL programmers, DBAs, architects, analysts, and SQL Server power users who just started working with SQL Server and need to write queries and develop code using Transact-SQL.

What This Book Is About

The book starts with both a theoretical background to T-SQL querying and programming (Chapter 1) laying the foundations for the rest of the book, and also coverage of creating tables and defining data integrity. The book moves on to various aspects of querying and modifying data (Chapters 2 through 8), then to a discussion of concurrency and transactions (Chapter 9), and finally provides an overview of programmable objects (Chapter 10). The following section lists the chapter titles along with a short description:

Chapter 1, “Background to T-SQL Querying and Programming,” provides a theoretical background about SQL, set theory, and predicate logic; examines the relational model and more; describes SQL Server’s architecture; and explains how to create tables and define data integrity.

Chapter 2, “Single-Table Queries,” covers various aspects of querying a single table using the SELECT statement.

Chapter 3, “Joins,” covers querying multiple tables using joins, including cross joins, inner joins, and outer joins.

Chapter 4, “Subqueries,” covers queries within queries, otherwise known as subqueries.

Chapter 5, “Table Expressions,” covers derived tables, CTEs, views, inline table-valued functions, and the APPLY operator.

Chapter 6, “Set Operations,” covers the set operations UNION, INTERSECT, and EXCEPT.

Chapter 7, “Pivot, Unpivot, and Grouping Sets,” covers data-rotation techniques and working with grouping sets.

Chapter 8, “Data Modification,” covers inserting, updating, deleting, and merging data.

Chapter 9, “Transactions and Concurrency,” covers concurrency of users that work with the same data simultaneously; it covers concepts including transactions, locks, blocking, isolation levels, and deadlocks.

Chapter 10, “Overview of Programmable Objects,” provides an overview to the T-SQL programming capabilities in SQL Server.

The book also provides an appendix, “Getting Started,” to help you set up your environment, download the book’s source code, install the sample database TSQLFundamentals2008, start writing code against SQL Server, and learn how to get help by working with SQL Server Books Online.

Sincerely,
Itzik

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ASP.NET 2.0: Your Visual Blueprint for Developing Web Applications 

Author:   Chris Love Pages:   339 Disk:    None Language:   English  Published:   12/17/2007 ISBN:   978-0470010013 ISBN-10:   0470010010

Book Description

Designed for all levels of users-from novice developers to advanced ASP programmers-this book shows how to create interactive Web sites that interface with databases

• Two-color throughout with more than 500 step-by-step screen shots
• Tasks are presented on two-page spreads with each step displayed with callouts so readers can see exactly where the action takes place on the screen
• Covers topics such as pages, controls, events, forms, building an ASP.NET database, Web Services, Web applications, caching, security, deployment, and localization
• The concepts and techniques presented will make application development uncomplicated
• The companion Web site features all code that appears in the text, links to Editor and TextPad shareware downloads, and author sample files

From the Back Cover

ASP.NET 2.0

Welcome to the only guidebook series that takes a visual approach to professional-level computer topics. Open the book and you'll discover step-by-step screen shots that demonstrate over 150 key ASP.NET 2.0 techniques, including:

• Adding a page to a Web site
• Writing and reading user cookies
• Collecting user input with checkboxes
• Creating an image map
• Displaying data in the GridView
• Resetting user passwords
• Formatting the CreateUser Wizard
• Using nesting master pages
• Handling errors on your pages
• Building a Web service
• "Apply It" and "Extra" sidebars highlight useful tips
• High-resolution screen shots demonstrate each task
• Succinct explanations walk you through step by step
• Two-page lessons break big topics into bite-sized modules

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Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005: Database Essentials Step by Step

Author:   Solid Quality Learning Pages:   336 Disk:    1 Companion CD(s) Level:   Beg/Int  Published:   09/13/2006 ISBN:   9780735622074 ISBN-10:   0-7356-2207-8

Your hands-on, step-by-step guide to learning the fundamentals of SQL Server 2005 programming.

Get the guidance you need to start designing databases—one step at a time. With this practical tutorial, you’ll teach yourself the core skills for building and managing databases with the next generation of SQL Server.

Discover how to:

• Install and configure SQL Server 2005
• Design database components with SQL Server Management Studio
• Apply a three-step modeling approach to design databases that meet business requirements
• Create, modify, and manage views
• Write user-defined functions and stored procedures using T-SQL
• Add, delete, and update information in your databases
• Work with data from custom applications and legacy systems
• Troubleshoot error messages and handle exceptions

CD features:

• All practice exercises
• Code samples

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Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005: Applied Techniques Step by Step

Author:   Solid Quality Learning Pages:   368 Disk:    1 Companion CD(s) Level:   Int/Adv Published:   06/21/2006 ISBN:   9780735623163 ISBN-10:   0-7356-2316-3

Take your database skills to the next level with this hands-on, step-by-step guide.

Learn more-advanced skills to design, build, test, deploy, and maintain SQL Server databases—one step at a time. Ideal for developers who understand database essentials, this learn-by-doing tutorial offers practical guidance, code samples, and a collection of techniques to help you solve real-world business problems.

Discover how to:

• Manage data access with server logins and user and server roles
• Implement a disaster recovery strategy
• Use aggregate functions to compute totals and complex statistical values
• Optimize query performance by managing IO statistics and designing indexes
• Work with remote data sources—including third-party databases
• Provide remote access through the Internet or a middle-tier service interface
• Manage transactions, implement error handlers, and define isolation levels
• Go further and work with SQL Server Reporting Services and Notification Services

Includes a CD featuring:

• All practice exercises
• Code samples

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Microsoft SQL Server 2008@ T-SQL Fundamentals

See http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/12806.aspx

Inside Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005: T-SQL Querying

Author:   Itzik Ben-Gan, Lubo Kollar, Dejan Sarka Pages:   640 Disk:    N/A Level:   Int/Adv Published:   03/29/2006 ISBN:   9780735623132 ISBN-10:   0-7356-2313-9

Get the in-depth architectural insights you need to exploit advanced T-SQL querying techniques.

Take a detailed look at the internal architecture of T-SQL—and unveil the power of set-based querying—with comprehensive reference and advice from the experts. Database developers and administrators get best practices, sample databases, and code to master the intricacies of the programming language—solving complex problems with real-world solutions.

Discover how to:

• Understand logical and physical query processing
• Apply a methodology to optimize query tuning
• Solve relational division problems
• Use CTEs and ranking functions to simplify and optimize solutions
• Aggregate data with various techniques, including tiebreakers, pivoting, histograms, and grouping factors
• Use the TOP option in a query to modify data
• Query specialized data structures with recursive logic, materialized path, or nested sets solutions
• PLUS—Improve your logic and get to the heart of querying problems with logic puzzles

Get code and database samples on the Web

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Inside Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005: T-SQL Programming

Author:   Itzik Ben-Gan, Dejan Sarka, Roger Wolter Pages:   544 Disk:    N/A Level:   Int/Adv Published:   05/17/2006 ISBN:   9780735621978 ISBN-10:   0-7356-2197-7

Exploit advanced T-SQL language features with in-depth architectural insights from the experts.

Get a detailed look at the internal architecture of T-SQL with this comprehensive programming reference. Database developers and administrators get best practices, expert techniques, and code samples to master the intricacies of the programming language—solving complex problems with real-world solutions.

Discover how to:

• Understand when to apply set-based programming techniques
• Design and implement date and time-related XML and CLR datatypes
• Use temporary objects, including temporary tables, table variables, and table expressions
• Work with T-SQL and CLR user-defined functions, stored procedures, and triggers
• Support user input-based queries and variable data with dynamic execution
• Work with transactions and new exception handling constructs
• Apply a concurrency model to support simultaneous users
• Use Service Broker for controlled asynchronous processing in database applications

This book includes code samples on the Web.

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Inside Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2005: Query Tuning and Optimization

Author:   Kalen Delaney, Sunil Agarwal, Craig Freedman, Ron Talmage, Adam Machanic Pages:   448 Disk:    None Language:   English  Published:   09/29/2007 ISBN:   9780735621961 ISBN-10:   0735621969

Editorial Reviews:

Dive deep into the internals of query tuning and optimization in SQL Server 2005 with this comprehensive reference. Understanding the internals of SQL Server helps database developers and administrators to better create, access, and effectively process information from enterprise data. Written by experts on SQL Server, this volume from the Inside Microsoft SQL Server series of books focuses on query tuning and optimization. Youll take an in-depth look at the best ways to make queries more efficient and effective, while maximizing existing resources. Includes extensive code samples and table examples to help database developers and administrators understand the intricacies and help promote mastery of query tuning and optimization.

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MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-431): Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005—Implementation and Maintenance

Author:   Solid Quality Learning Pages:   992 Disk:    1 Companion CD(s); 1 Evaluation DVD(s) Level:   Beg/Int Published:   05/31/2006 ISBN:   9780735622715 ISBN-10:   0-7356-2271-X

Your 2-in-1 Self-Paced Training Kit

Exam Prep Guide

Ace your preparation for the skills measured by MCTS Exam 70-431—and on the job. Work at your own pace through a series of lessons and reviews that fully cover each exam objective. Then, reinforce what you’ve learned by applying your knowledge to real-world case scenarios and practices. This official Microsoft study guide is designed to help you make the most of your study time.

Maximize your performance on the exam by learning to:

• Install and configure SQL Server
• Create tables and indexes, define columns, and implement constraints
• Implement functions, stored procedures, and triggers by using Transact-SQL
• Work with relational and XML data
• Monitor, troubleshoot and tune queries
• Maintain database availability with log shipping, database mirroring, and replication
• Prepare a backup strategy and restore a database

Practice Tests

Assess your skills with practice tests on CD. You can work through hundreds of questions using multiple testing modes to meet your specific learning needs. You get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers?including a customized learning path that describes how and where to focus your studies.

Your training kit includes:

• 15% exam discount from Microsoft. Offer expires 12/31/10. Details inside.
• Official self-paced study guide.
• Practice tests with multiple, customizable testing options and a learning plan based on your results.
• 450 practice and review questions.
• Case scenarios, practice exercises, and best practices.
• 180-day evaluation version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition.
• Fully searchable eBook.

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MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-445): Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence Implementation and Maintenance (Pro - Certification)

Author:   Erik Veerman, Teo Lachev, Dejan Sarka, Javier Loria Pages:   608 Disk:    1 Companion CD(s); 1 Evaluation DVD(s) Level:   Beg/Int Published:   11/2007 ISBN:   9780735623415 ISBN-10:   0735623414

Book Description 

Announcing an all-new Self-Paced Training Kit designed to help maximize your performance on 70-445, the required exam for the new Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence certification. This 2-in-1 kit includes the official Microsoft study guide, plus practice tests on CD to help you assess your skills. It comes packed with the tools and features exam candidates want most-including in-depth, self-paced training based on final exam content; rigorous, objective-by-objective review; exam tips from expert, exam-certified authors; and customizable testing options. It also provides real-world scenarios, case study examples, and troubleshooting labs for skills and expertise that you can apply to the job.

Work at your own pace through the lessons and lab exercises. Focusing on the technology skills required to build business intelligence applications using SQL Server 2005, this official study guide covers topics such as installing, configuring, and deploying SQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, and SQL Server Integration Services.

Then assess yourself using hundreds of practice questions on the CD, featuring multiple, customizable testing options to meet your specific needs. Choose timed or untimed testing mode, generate random tests, or focus on discrete objectives or chapters. You get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers-including pointers back to the book for further study. You also get an evaluation version of SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition software and an exam discount voucher-making this kit an exceptional value and a great career investment.

Key Book Benefits:

• In-depth coverage ofexam objectives and sub-objectives-plus instructive case studies and troubleshooting scenarios to enhance your performance on the job
• 200+ practice and review questions
• Test engine that enables customized testing, pre-assessment and post-assessment, and automated scoring and feedback
• Complete objective-by-objective review section, plus a handy exam-mapping grid
• 180-day evaluation version of SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition
• 15 percent exam discount voucher from Microsoft (limited-time offer)
• Entire study guide in searchable eBook format
  

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Expert SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (Programmer to Programmer)

Authors:   Brian Knight, Erik Veerman Pages:   432 Language:    English Published:   05/2007 ISBN:   978-0470134115 ISBN-10:   0470134119

Book Description

As a practical guide for Integration Services ETL development, this book shows you ways to implement your ETL solution requirements from the data to the administration and everything in-between. Each chapter begins with a review of pertinent ETL concepts and moves into working those out into a design with multiple examples and related Integration Services features with the end goal of putting it all together to get a solution.

From the Back Cover

Developing data processing extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) solutions is now easier than ever with this practical guide. It shows you how to apply the components of SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) to build an enterprise ETL application that scales and performs to your specifications. You'll not only learn how to design and implement the necessary architecture, you'll also find out how to utilize the proper administration techniques.
Written by two SQL Server MVPs, this book first provides you with all the background and foundation information you'll need on scripting and data extraction. It then takes you through the details of data warehousing ETL, error handling, administration, and data integration. By following this approach, you'll quickly discover how to take advantage of SSIS functionality to meet your data integration and processing requirements.

What you will learn from this book

• Powerful uses of scripting to develop more advanced applications
• All about the relational database transformation and loading methods for dimension and fact tables
• Steps for creating sophisticated solutions that easily handle processing errors
• Best practices for moving between your support and production environments
• Tips for leveraging SSIS features that make your migrated packages better
• How to design and tune your packages to achieve the most scalability

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced SQL Server database developers, architects, and administrators who want to build ETL applications using SSIS.

Wrox Expert books present the wisdom accumulated by an experienced author team who is recognized as experts by the programming community. These experts challenge professional developers to examine their current practices in pursuit of better results.
Enhance Your Knowledge.
Advance Your Career.

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Professional SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (Programmer to Programmer)

Author:   Brian Knight, Allan Mitchell, Darren Green, Douglas Hinson, Kathi Kellenberger, Andy Leonard, Erik Veerman, Jason Gerard, Haidong Ji, Mike Murphy Pages:   720 Language:    English Published:   01/31/2006 ISBN:   978-0764584350 ISBN-10:   0764584359

Book Description

This book will help you get past the initial learning curve quickly so that you can get started using SSIS to transform data, create a workflow, or maintain your SQL Server. Offering you hands-on guidance, you'll learn a new world of integration possibilities and be able to move away from scripting complex logic to programming tasks using a full-featured language.

What you will learn from this book

• Ways to quickly move and transform data
• How to configure every aspect of SSIS
• How to interface SSIS with web services and XML
• Techniques to scale the SSIS and make it more reliable
• How to migrate DTS packages to SSIS
• How to create your own custom tasks and user interfaces
• How to create an application that interfaces with SSIS to manage the environment
• A detailed usable case study for a complete ETL solution

Who this book is for

This book is for developers, DBAs, and users who are looking to program custom code in all of the .NET languages. It is expected that you know the basics of how to query the SQL Server and have some fundamental programming skills.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

From the Back Cover

This book will help you get past the initial learning curve quickly so that you can get started using SSIS to transform data, create a workflow, or maintain your SQL Server. Offering you hands-on guidance, you'll learn a new world of integration possibilities and be able to move away from scripting complex logic to programming tasks using a full-featured language.

Audience

This book is for developers, DBAs, and users who are looking to program custom code in all of the .NET languages. It is expected that you know the basics of how to query the SQL Server and have some fundamental programming skills.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

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Business Intelligence with Microsoft® Office PerformancePoint Server 2007

Author:   Craig Utley Pages:   358 Language:    English Published:   01/22/2008 ISBN:   978-0071493703 ISBN-10:   0071493700

Book Description

Maximize the powerful BI tools available in PerformancePoint 2007 with help from this practical guide. You will learn how to collect and store data, monitor progress, analyze performance, distribute dynamic reports, and create maintainable projects and forecasts. Business Intelligence with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 provides full details on creating scorecards and dashboards, performing advanced analysis on data, and setting up business plans. You will also learn how to integrate PerformancePoint with ProClarity, Excel 2007, and SQL Server Reporting Services.

• Configure, deploy, and secure all the PerformancePoint components
• Create KPIs, scorecards, reports, and dashboards with the Dashboard Designer
• Create business models with the Planning Business Modeler and create budgets and forecasts with Excel 2007
• Enable advanced data analysis with PerformancePoint Server and ProClarity tools
• Take advantage of the enhanced analytic capabilities of Excel 2007
• Use SQL Server Reporting Services for analytics
• Align performance with organizational objectives

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MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-441): Designing Database Solutions by Using Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2005

Author:   Dejan Sarka, Andy Leonard, Javier Loria, Adolfo Wiernik Pages:   656 Language:    English Published:   09/12/2007 ISBN:   978-0735623422  ISBN-10:   0735623422

Book Description 

Announcing an all-new Self-Paced Training Kit designed to help maximize your performance on 70-441, one of the required exams for the Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP): Database Developer certification. This 2-in-1 kit includes the official Microsoft study guide, plus practice tests on CD to help you assess your skills. It comes packed with the tools and features exam candidates want most-including in-depth, self-paced training based on final exam content; rigorous, objective-by-objective review; exam tips from expert, exam-certified authors; and customizable testing options. It also provides real-world scenarios, case study examples, and troubleshooting labs for skills and expertise that you can apply to the job.

Work at your own pace through the lessons and lab exercises. Focusing on the job role of designing database solutions, this official study guide covers topics such as designing a logical and physical database, implementing database security, creating a test plan and a deployment plan, and drafting a performance baseline and benchmark strategy.

Then assess yourself using 200+ practice questions on the CD, featuring multiple, customizable testing options to meet your specific needs. Choose timed or untimed testing mode, generate random tests, or focus on discrete objectives or chapters. You get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers-including pointers back to the book for further study. You also get an evaluation version of SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition software and an exam discount voucher-making this kit an exceptional value and a great career investment.

Key Book Benefits:

• In-depth coverage of exam objectives andsub-objectives-plus instructive case studies and troubleshooting scenarios to enhance your performance on the job
• 200+ practice and review questions
• Test engine that enables customized testing, pre-assessment and post-assessment, and automated scoring and feedback
• Complete objective-by-objective review section, plus a handy exam-mapping grid
• 180-day evaluation version of SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition
• 15 percent exam discount voucher from Microsoft (limited-time offer)
• Entire study guide in searchable eBook format

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Working with Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 Team System

Author:   Richard Hundhausen Pages:   336 Language:    English Published:   10/05/2005 ISBN:   978-0735621855 ISBN-10:   0735621853

Book Description

Get a pragmatic overview of the new team-based system of products that bring Visual Studio development tools to the enterprise#151;allowing architects, developers, testers, and project managers to collaborate in a single, extensible development environment. With insights from the Microsoft Visual Studio product team, early users, and the author's hands-on experience, readers will understand how to use this tightly integrated set of lifecycle development tools to simplify cross-team communication, reduce development complexity, accelerate productivity, and help save time and money.

With insights from the Visual Studio product team and early users, this book shows how to coordinate and integrate development roles in the new Visual Studio team environment, which provides a unified set of tools for efficient and effective teamwork.

Key Book Benefits:

• Delivers detailed descriptions of the four key roles in the development process, along with critical information about project management with Visual Studio Team System
• Provides role-based task descriptions that illuminate how the new Team System environment helps coordinate and facilitate the work of all team members
• Provides pragmatic insights on how to plan and use Team System in the software development life cycle

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The Rational Guide to Building Technical User Communities

Author:   Greg Low Pages:   136 Language:    English Published:   08/13/2007 ISBN:   978-1932577327 ISBN-10:   1932577327

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Rational Guide to SQL Server CLR Integraton

Author:   Greg Low Pages:   224 Language:    English Published:   10/12/2007 ISBN:   978-1932577334 ISBN-10:   1932577335

Book Description

SQL Server 2005 revolutionized the way database applications are written. Microsoft's Common Language Runtime (CLR) allows you to create development and execution environments with integrated languages and libraries.

In The Rational Guide to Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 CLR, Microsoft Regional Director Greg Low clearly and concisely explains everything you need to know to use the CLR features of SQL Server 2005, including user-defined functions, stored procedures, triggers, user-defined aggregates, user-defined types, security, and performance. Advanced topics include deployment, advanced integration topics, tips for developers, and advice for DBAs.

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