Dougbert on SSIS

Broken links for images and file downloads on this blog site

2012-01-15T15:53:00Z

The links to images and to files available for download are currently broken on this inactive blog. I apologize for the inconvenience. Please continue to follow my blog at its new address and subscribe to the feed: New blog: http://dougbert.com/blog/ Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougbertsBlog Here is a working link for the most requested file download from this site: Enhanced error output from May 2008, which was associated with the post, " Adding the error column name to an error output...(read more)

Please re-subscribe to my Dougbert blog at its new address

2011-04-20T16:24:00Z

The address of my Dougbert blog has changed slightly. Please re-subscribe to my blog feed at this new address: Feed address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DougbertsBlog Web address: http://dougbert.com/blog/ I plan to continue blogging about SSIS and other SQL Server features. I will not be posting any more on this blog ( http://dougbert.com/blogs/dougbert/ ). I intend to leave the past posts here. If you've saved or shared links to my past blog posts, they should remain valid. Why the change?...(read more)

Excel driver not supported on the server

2011-01-07T17:01:00Z

This statement about the ACE Provider and its Excel driver caught my attention on an internal discussion list at Microsoft on 12/26/2010: "The current support position from the Office team responsible for the ACE provider (both 32-bit and 64-bit) is that it is unsupported to use the ACE provider on any server-based system. Over here in the XYZ team, we have gone around and around with them and they are very clear. What you are trying to accomplish, regardless of the ‘bit-ness’, is...(read more)

PowerShell with SSIS: More insights, installable extensions

2010-12-06T18:54:00Z

Occasionally in the past I've mentioned approaches to using PowerShell to manage SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). More recently I came across Sev17 , the blog of PowerShell fiend Chad Miller . Chad has found limitations in the SSIS API that make it challenging to create an SSIS Provider for PowerShell. In the meantime, he has other insights to offer on the subject, as well as installable extensions for PowerShell. Chad's blog posts about SSIS and PowerShell including SSIS Reporting...(read more)

Dec 14 webinar - Loading Spatial Data into SQL Server with FME

2010-12-04T18:26:00Z

I have mentioned SAFE Software before as the most visible provider of tools and components for working with spatial data in Microsoft SQL Server, with or without Integration Services. SAFE recently announced a free 1-hour Webinar on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - " Loading Spatial Data into SQL Server with FME ". More information: Sign up for the Webinar Read more about SAFE Software and SQL Server Here is the description of the Webinar from their Web site: "This free webinar demonstrates...(read more)

Exploring the SSIS discussion with Social Gadgets

2010-11-28T15:39:00Z

These fascinating SocialGadgets from FUSE Labs at Microsoft Research give us some insight into current discussions about SQL Server Integration Services in the social media. Read more about the projects from FUSE Labs in this blog post from LiveSide.Net: FUSE Labs brings new projects – Spindex, Project Emporia, SocialGadgets, and Montage Note: I wanted to embed the live widgets in this post, but my blog software refused to display the IFRAMEs that host the embedded widgets. Explore them "live"...(read more)

Off topic: Programmatically creating a tag cloud in C#

2010-11-08T03:27:00Z

Today I searched for sample code for creating a tag cloud, for a little project that I have in mind. Assuming that you already have tags (or categories) and a weighting factor, you may find these code samples and user controls interesting. Most of them target Web output, understandably. Not yet sure how much effort would be required to create a Silverlight or XAML tag cloud. Creating a Tag Cloud in C# on geekzilla.co.uk , 2006. Code for an ASP.NET User Control, with formatting provided by CSS. Download...(read more)

Webcast: Unlock the spatial data stored in Microsoft SQL Server

2010-11-06T14:16:00Z

(I received this invitation at Microsoft, and was encouraged to invite my "customers and partners." First, take a look at this output from the DataConnector to whet your appetite...) Understanding Web Mapping and Data Visualization using DataConnector Attend this webcast and learn how SQL Server 2008 can help you visualize your data on a map using a free download called DataConnector. You’re most likely already familiar with SQL Server support for spatial data and now with DataConnector...(read more)

More affordable spatial data loading for SQL Server

2010-10-21T00:20:00Z

Do you have spatial data stored in ESRI Shapefiles, MapInfo TAB files, MIF/MID files, or CSV files that you have to load into SQL Server? If you do, then this new and more affordable product from SAFE Software may meet your needs. SAFE has quietly released FME Desktop SQL Server Loader Edition , a $500 subset of the full functionality found in their "FME Desktop Microsoft SQL Server Edition" product. Here's the description of this new product from their Web page: "Quickly load...(read more)

Data profiling for SSIS with plug-in rules of your own

2010-09-27T00:04:00Z

Tillman Eitelberg has blogged a sneak preview with screen shots of his company's new datenfabrik.profiler , which will run as a component in the data flow of a SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) package. Till will present the beta version of the component within a few days at SQLBits 7 in York, England. There is not a download available at the present time. One of the most interesting features is that the final version will expose a plug-in architecture that lets you "plug in "...(read more)

API reference for built-in SSIS data flow components

2010-09-12T22:55:00Z

Developers who want to create and update SSIS packages programmatically often wonder, " Where the heck is the API reference for all the built-in data flow sources, transformations, and destinations? " The short answer is: There isn't any. Why not? Because - at least at design time - an individual data flow component does not have any properties or public methods that are unique. A data flow component has only the properties and methods that it inherits from the base class, PipelineComponent...(read more)

SSIS and Microsoft Live Labs Pivot

2010-09-09T23:38:00Z

Rats, I'm too late! For some time, I've been fantasizing (without doing any actual work) about the potential synergies between SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) and Microsoft Live Labs Pivot (not to be confused with PowerPivot). I thought that a Pivot Destination would be a fun project - writing out the .CXML collection file would not be rocket science, although manipulating the images programmatically might be, if you didn't already have them. I was wondering about creating document...(read more)

Making SSIS work with the 64-bit Excel (ACE) provider

2010-09-01T18:50:00Z

I've previously blogged about the challenges of the new 64-bit ACE Provider that includes the Excel driver, since the 32-bit and 64-bit versions cannot be installed side-by-side. In this detailed post that includes screen shots, Hrvoje Piasevoli from Croatia describes 2 approaches for working with the 64-bit driver from SSIS: Importing data from 64bit Excel in SSIS Since the author's 2 workarounds are (1) the Import and Export Wizard and (2) OPENROWSET, not all users will find them completely...(read more)

Restarting SSIS packages after failure

2010-08-23T20:52:00Z

Last week while I was on vacation, my Microsoft colleague Steve Howard posted another detailed article on an aspect of SSIS that's frequently misunderstood - restarting SSIS packages after a failure . Steve is often asked to explain and demonstrate this feature during visits to customer sites, so he wrote it up on the TechNet Wiki in great detail with screenshots: Automatic Restart of SSIS packages after Failover or Failure He even has a suggestion for the tricky case where you don't want...(read more)

Running multiple SSIS Foreach Loops in parallel

2010-08-11T18:00:00Z

The Parallel Loop Task , recently released in beta by Cozyroc Software , " can execute multiple iterations of the standard Foreach Loop Container concurrently. In tests, a CPU intensive sequential process when executed in parallel on 4-core machine was executed 3 times faster compared to the sequential. " This new task appears in Beta 2 of the Cozyroc package, SSIS+ 1.5. For more information or to try out the Parallel Loop Task ... Read the blog post announcing the new task and the new...(read more)