June 2008 - Posts

Not for use with the SendMail task!

Published 25 June 8 3:33 PM | dougbert

Hey, someone finally told those Marketing folks that there's something other than coffee mugs and polo shirts! But I wasn't expecting...US postage stamps! Sure enough, now you can mail your bill payments with a SQL Server 2008 stamp... Click the...

Filed under: 2008, off topic

Speaking of writing Office XML...

Published 21 June 8 1:17 PM | dougbert

In my third installment on Excel issues , I proposed writing out Excel XML rather than binary Excel files as one way to avoid both the issues of the Excel driver, and the risks of Excel automation. Recently I came across a DTS custom task that I wrote...

Filed under: DTS, Excel, XML

Excel in Integration Services, Part 3 of 3: Issues and Alternatives

Published 21 June 8 1:5 PM | dougbert

This post is the 3rd and last in a series of 3 planned installments about using Excel data files with Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services. Connections and components Tables and data types Issues and alternatives Introduction Don't expect miracles...

Filed under: known issues, Excel

Where is Excel Part 3?

Published 21 June 8 9:57 AM | dougbert

Coming later today after proofreading. Please don't anticipate miracles - some of the issues with the Excel driver simply don't have solutions or workarounds that are satisfactory in all cases. You forgot something in one of your blog posts Please...

Filed under: off topic

Profiles, Settings, and More Settings

Published 18 June 8 12:26 PM | dougbert

MVP Matthew Roche blogged the other day about the joys of discovering some useful but little-known design-time options for Integration Services in the Options dialog box for Visual Studio/Business Intelligence Development Studio. I suspect that many of...

Filed under: settings, BIDS, options, designer

Excel in Integration Services, Part 2 of 3: Tables and Data Types

Published 18 June 8 11:24 AM | dougbert

This post is the 2nd in a series of 3 planned installments about using Excel data files with Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services. Connections and components Tables and data types Issues and alternatives Tables What's a table in Excel? The source...

Filed under: Excel

Excel in Integration Services, Part 1 of 3: Connections and Components

Published 16 June 8 7:0 AM | dougbert

This post is the 1st in a series of 3 planned installments about using Excel data files with Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services. Connections and components Tables and data types Issues and alternatives The Excel Driver Excel connectivity in SQL...

Filed under: Excel

New docs on SAP with SQL Server Integration Services

Published 12 June 8 9:16 AM | dougbert

Integration Services developer Matt Masson has already blogged about the new connectivity components for SAP BW for SQL Server 2008 Integration Services. This set of components will consist of a connection manager, source, and destination. They will be...

Filed under: SAP

Upgrading Custom Components for SQL Server 2008 Integration Services

Published 11 June 8 7:44 AM | dougbert

The SQL Server 2008 Books Online page in which we describe the steps for upgrading and redistributing custom components is now live: Upgrading Custom Objects for SQL Server 2008 Integration Services This topic is for shops that wrote a custom component...

Filed under: 2008, custom components, upgrade

64-bit Considerations for SQL Server Integration Services

Published 10 June 8 10:31 AM | dougbert

Herewith my best effort to restate the contents of the Books Online topic, 64-bit Considerations for Integration Services , more simply and cleanly. Unfortunately the BOL topic has become quite messy over time, as one bandage is applied over another,...

Filed under: setup, DTS, 64-bit

Using Integration Services with Microsoft CRM

Published 9 June 8 9:33 AM | dougbert

I counted 57 posts (not threads) in the SSIS forum on MSDN about using Integration Services with Microsoft CRM. Thanks to SSIS-with-CRM wiz Catherine Eibner from Australia, I discovered that CRM MVP Darren Liu has covered the subject in detail in a blog...

Filed under: CRM

New product: Data Quality Manager from Australia

Published 8 June 8 2:49 PM | dougbert

Microsoft consultant David Lean from Australia sent us information about a new data quality product from down under named Data Quality Manager . There's a wealth of information about the product on the site. It uses, and integrates with, Integration...

Filed under: third-party products, data quality

New product: EBCDIC Source component from Amino Software

Published 8 June 8 12:16 PM | dougbert

Today Ben Harrell of Amino Software announced their new custom Source component, code-named "Lysine" , for importing mainframe EBCDIC data into the data flow of an Integration Services package. The component also includes an EBCDIC connection...

Filed under: ebcdic, third-party products