Quick AI Help from Bing

I needed to run a few commands recently and I decided to use the Bing Copilot AI to help me. Here are a few examples of what happened.

This is part of a series of experiments with the ChatGPT and other AI systems. Lots of Copilot lately.

Finding Sample Data

I was trying to replicate an issue from a client and needed to bcp in a lot of data. First, I asked about data sets. I got this response.

This looks good, but if I click on any of these three links, I don’t get datasets. The first two go to questions on importing datasets, but not links to data. The third goes to an aritcle on importing data.

Is that better than asking this question of a someone who might not be paying and gives me these links? Maybe.

Rephrasings was better, as I clicked the first link and was able to get a site with data.

Both of these were less helpful than a Google search for “sample large csv”. The NZ site below had some very large 6mm plus rows.

Note for the record, I went back and tried this phrase in Bing and got the same datablist site above.

Creating a bcp Command

Next I needed the bcp to import a file. I used this prompt, and this worked well.

The only change I needed was to change the path, since my file was on d:. My account defaulted to the right db, so this worked.

Removing ScheduleID from an Agent Job

One of the things I was discussing with a friend was the way SSMS scripts jobs. If I alter a job on my dev instance and script it, the jobid and the scheduleid are included. Since the creation of the returns a different GUID for each, I don’t want to use these if I update jobs. I just want the name.

I asked Copilot to help.

If I follow this advice, then I would first script out the job from SSMS. In my case, I’ll grab a sample backup job and get this code:

USE [msdb]
GO

/****** Object: Job [Daily Backup] Script Date: 12/22/2023 2:11:43 PM ******/
BEGIN TRANSACTION
DECLARE @ReturnCode INT
SELECT @ReturnCode = 0
/****** Object: JobCategory [[Uncategorized (Local)]] Script Date: 12/22/2023 2:11:44 PM ******/
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT name FROM msdb.dbo.syscategories WHERE name=N'[Uncategorized (Local)]’ AND category_class=1)
BEGIN
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_category @class=N’JOB’, @type=N’LOCAL’, @name=N'[Uncategorized (Local)]’
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback

END

DECLARE @jobId BINARY(16)
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_job @job_name=N’Daily Backup’,
         @enabled=1,
         @notify_level_eventlog=0,
         @notify_level_email=0,
         @notify_level_netsend=0,
         @notify_level_page=0,
         @delete_level=0,
         @description=N’No description available.’,
         @category_name=N'[Uncategorized (Local)]’,
         @owner_login_name=N’ARISTOTLE\Steve’, @job_id = @jobId OUTPUT
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
/****** Object: Step [Ola Backup User DB]    Script Date: 12/22/2023 2:11:44 PM ******/
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep @job_id=@jobId, @step_name=N’Ola Backup User DB’,
         @step_id=1,
         @cmdexec_success_code=0,
         @on_success_action=1,
         @on_success_step_id=0,
         @on_fail_action=2,
         @on_fail_step_id=0,
         @retry_attempts=0,
         @retry_interval=0,
         @os_run_priority=0, @subsystem=N’TSQL’,
         @command=N’EXECUTE dbo.DatabaseBackup
@Databases = ”USER_DATABASES”,
@Directory = ”C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.SQL2022\MSSQL\Backup”,
@BackupType = ”FULL”,
@Verify = ”Y”,
@Compress = ”Y”,
@CheckSum = ”Y”,
@CleanupTime = 24′,
         @database_name=N’master’,
         @flags=0
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_update_job @job_id = @jobId, @start_step_id = 1
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobschedule @job_id=@jobId, @name=N’Daily 0200′,
         @enabled=1,
         @freq_type=4,
         @freq_interval=1,
         @freq_subday_type=1,
         @freq_subday_interval=0,
         @freq_relative_interval=0,
         @freq_recurrence_factor=0,
         @active_start_date=20230103,
         @active_end_date=99991231,
         @active_start_time=20000,
         @active_end_time=235959,
         @schedule_uid=N’03d00e19-863e-497f-94a6-42a244f219a2′
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver @job_id = @jobId, @server_name = N'(local)’
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
COMMIT TRANSACTION
GOTO EndSave
QuitWithRollback:
     IF (@@TRANCOUNT > 0) ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
EndSave:
GO

Now, if I delete the line with EXEC @ReturnCode, I get this script:

USE [msdb]
GO

END

DECLARE @jobId BINARY(16)
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
/****** Object: Step [Ola Backup User DB]    Script Date: 12/22/2023 2:11:44 PM ******/
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep @job_id=@jobId, @step_name=N’Ola Backup User DB’,
         @step_id=1,
         @cmdexec_success_code=0,
         @on_success_action=1,
         @on_success_step_id=0,
         @on_fail_action=2,
         @on_fail_step_id=0,
         @retry_attempts=0,
         @retry_interval=0,
         @os_run_priority=0, @subsystem=N’TSQL’,
         @command=N’EXECUTE dbo.DatabaseBackup
@Databases = ”USER_DATABASES”,
@Directory = ”C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.SQL2022\MSSQL\Backup”,
@BackupType = ”FULL”,
@Verify = ”Y”,
@Compress = ”Y”,
@CheckSum = ”Y”,
@CleanupTime = 24′,
         @database_name=N’master’,
         @flags=0
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_update_job @job_id = @jobId, @start_step_id = 1
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver @job_id = @jobId, @server_name = N'(local)’
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
COMMIT TRANSACTION
GOTO EndSave
QuitWithRollback:
     IF (@@TRANCOUNT > 0) ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
EndSave:
GO

I don’t think that will work.

Perhaps I didn’t describe this well. I’ll keep working on my prompting.

A Little Fun

I decided to try Dall-E for an image. I asked this: the view from the South Island of New Zealand, looking South to Antarctica with a sailing vessel moving away from you. I got these:

The sailing vessels in a few of these are weird, but none are right. From the South Island, there’s nothing for hundreds (thousands?) of miles. You can’t see Antarctica. I’ve been to NZ and it’s a great view, but of ocean. And family if they get in the way.