1. Introduction to SQL 2016 Temporal Tables
Vicky Harp

2. About Me Working with SQL Server since 2001
Working at Idera since 2004

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4. Shopping Cart Contents
Data Changes Over Time
Postal Codes
Physical Addresses
Addresses
Shopping Cart Contents

5. Data Changes For Different Reasons
Customer Address
Customer Moved
Street Name Changed
Typo When Entering Data
Data Corruption

6. Temporal Databases Defined in SQL:2011 Specification
Available from multiple RDBMS vendors
SQL Server: System Versioned Temporal Tables

7. Types of Temporal Data Application Time / Real World Time
Marie moved from Texas to California on November 15, 2015
System Time
Marie’s address was changed from Texas to California on February 10, 2016

8. AdventureWorks Bike Shop
October 2015 – Marie buys a bike in Texas
November 2015 – Marie moves to California
January 2016 – An invalid promotion is sent out to people in Texas
February 2016 – Marie buys a bike in California
March 2016 – AdventureWorks sends a coupon to apologize for the invalid promotion in Texas

9. AdventureWorks Bike Shop Before Temporal Tables
Date
Activity
Temporal Type
System Data
Reality
October 2015
Marie buys a bike in Texas
November 2015
Marie moves to California
January 2016
Invalid promotion to people in Texas
February 2016
Marie buys a bike in California
March 2016
Company wants to send a coupon to people in Texas

10. AdventureWorks Bike Shop Before Temporal Tables
Date
Activity
Temporal Type
System Data
Reality
October 2015
Marie buys a bike in Texas
System
November 2015
Marie moves to California
Real World
January 2016
Invalid promotion to people in Texas
February 2016
Marie buys a bike in California
March 2016
Company wants to send a coupon to people in Texas

11. AdventureWorks Bike Shop Before Temporal Tables
Date
Activity
Temporal Type
System Data
Reality
October 2015
Marie buys a bike in Texas
System
Marie in Texas
November 2015
Marie moves to California
Real World
January 2016
Invalid promotion to people in Texas
Marie in Texas Marie receives
February 2016
Marie buys a bike in California
Marie in California
March 2016
Company wants to send a coupon to people in Texas
Marie does not receive coupon

12. AdventureWorks Bike Shop Before Temporal Tables
Date
Activity
Temporal Type
System Data
Reality
October 2015
Marie buys a bike in Texas
System
Marie in Texas
November 2015
Marie moves to California
Real World
Marie in California
January 2016
Invalid promotion to people in Texas
Marie in Texas Marie receives
Marie in California Marie receives
February 2016
Marie buys a bike in California
March 2016
Company wants to send a coupon to people in Texas
Marie does not receive coupon
Marie is entitled to a coupon

13. System Versioned Temporal Tables
Adds a history table to a user table
Old rows are moved to history table as data changes
History can be queried with new TSQL syntax
Requires no changes to applications

14. System Versioned Temporal Tables
User Table
History Table
Update Row
Old Row
select * from myTable select * from myTable for system_time as of ‘ ’

15. AdventureWorks Bike Shop With Temporal Tables
Date
Activity
Temporal Type
System Data
Reality
October 2015
Marie buys a bike in Texas
System
Marie in Texas
November 2015
Marie moves to California
Real World
Marie in California
January 2016
Invalid promotion to people in Texas
Marie in Texas Marie receives
Marie in California Marie receives
February 2016
Marie buys a bike in California
March 2016
Company wants to send a coupon to people in Texas
Marie receives a coupon
Marie is entitled to a coupon

16. Use Cases Accessing history data Auditing data changes
Repairing invalid data on a granular basis

17. Creating System Versioned Temporal Tables
Create new table
Add history to existing table
Combine existing table and existing history table

18. Current and History Tables
Must have the same columns
May have different physical structure
May be differently indexed
May be partitioned, columnstore, and/or memory-optimized

19. Creating System Versioned Temporal Tables
create table PersonTemporal ( BusinessEntityID int not null primary key clustered , FirstName dbo.Name not null , LastName dbo.Name not null , City nvarchar(30) , State dbo.Name , SystemStartTime datetime2 generated always as row start not null , SystemEndTime datetime2 generated always as row end not null , Period for System_Time (SystemStartTime,SystemEndTime) ) with (system_versioning = on (history_table = PersonTemporalHistory) );

20. Maintaining System Versioned Temporal Tables
Cannot drop, truncate, or switch out partitions
Cannot delete from history table
System versioning columns can be hidden

21. DEMO

22. Querying System Versioned Temporal Tables
FOR SYSTEM TIME clause
AS OF
FROM (start) to (end)
BETWEEN (start) and (end)
CONTAINED IN (start, end)
ALL

23. Querying System Versioned Temporal Tables
AS OF
Value in table as of that date
Did not need to be modified ON that date
Example:
Updated Marie’s record to California on February 5
As of January she’s in Texas
As of March she is in California

24. For System Time Examples
Jan 1
Jan 2
Jan 3
Jan 4
Jan 5
Jan 6

25. For System Time Examples
Jan 1
Jan 2
Jan 3
Jan 4
Jan 5
Jan 6
AS OF Jan 3

26. Querying System Versioned Temporal Tables
FROM (start) to (end)
Value(s) in table from start date to end date
EXCLUSIVE of end date
Example:
Updated Marie’s record to California on February 5
From January 10 to February 10 she’s in Texas and California
From January 5 to February 5 she’s in Texas ONLY

27. For System Time Examples
Jan 1
Jan 2
Jan 3
Jan 4
Jan 5
Jan 6
FROM Jan 2 TO Jan 4

28. Querying System Versioned Temporal Tables
BETWEEN (start) and (end)
Value(s) in table from start date to end date
INCLUSIVE of end date
Example:
Updated Marie’s record to California on February 5
From January 10 to February 10 she’s in Texas and California
From January 5 to February 5 she’s in Texas and California

29. For System Time Examples
Jan 1
Jan 2
Jan 3
Jan 4
Jan 5
Jan 6
BETWEEN Jan 2 AND Jan 4

30. Querying System Versioned Temporal Tables
CONTAINED IN (start, end)
Value(s) in table from start date to end date
Must both start and end in the timeframe
Therefore all data will be from the history table
Example:
Inserted Marie’s Texas record November 10
Updated Marie’s record to California on February 5
Contained in (November 1, March 1) returns Marie’s Texas record
Contained in (February 1, March 1) returns no data for Marie

31. For System Time Examples
Jan 1
Jan 2
Jan 3
Jan 4
Jan 5
Jan 6
CONTAINED IN Jan 2, Jan 4

32. Querying System Versioned Temporal Tables
ALL
Returns all rows from current and history table
Any restrictions come from WHERE clause
Example:
Inserted Marie’s Texas record November 10
Updated Marie’s record to California on February 5
Corrected typo on February 6
ALL returns Nov 10, Feb 5, and Feb 6

33. For System Time Examples
Jan 1
Jan 2
Jan 3
Jan 4
Jan 5
Jan 6
ALL

34. DEMO

35. Review System versioned tables available in SQL 2016
Versioning may be turned on and off
Current and history tables can be separately queried
Use FOR SYSTEM TIME clause to automatically locate in the correct table

36. Thank You!