How Do I Import A Varying Column Width Flat File Into A Table Using SSIS?
Apr 24, 2008
How do i import a Varying Column Width Flat file into a Table using SSIS?
I have a flat file that has 4 columns with varying width
Like I should read the file as
Col 1 - (1 to 10 Characters)
Col 2 - (12 to 21 Characters)
Col 3 - (22 to 35 Characters)
Col 4 - (36 to 38 Characters)
At the end of the record is a "LF"
I think "Fixed Width" Columns allow me to define a standard column length for all the columns.. Right?
I am transferring data from an OLEDB source to a Flat File Destination and I want the column width for all of the output columns to 30 (max width amongst the columns selected), but that is not refected in the Fixed Width Flat File that got created. The outputcolumnwidth seems to be the same as the inputcolumnwidth. Is there any other setting that I am possibly missing or is this a possible defect?
I am trying to create a program that transfers tables to flat files. At this point in time, I have suceeded in created one that creates delimited files.
However, I am now trying to create fixed-width files as you can do with the SSIS designer, but programatically.
Is there a way to programatically determine the width of a column from the source table? I can not seem to find any kind of function or member that stores this information or allows me to retrieve it.
I know what I need to change in order to set a width for a column, but I just don't know how to find the width without just asking the user to provide one.
I have a flat file. It's fixed-with with CRLF record delimiters (a.k.a. Ragged Right format).
Some fields are null, and represented by the text NULL.
I'm trying to import the file into SQL via an OLE DB connection. The target table is a SQL 2000 data table. Two of the fields in the target database are of type smallint.
When I run PREVIEW on the data source (Flat File), everything looks good & correct. I added the convert columns task to convert my strings to smallint. This is where things go haywire.
After linking everything up, the conversion gives me a "Cannot convert because of a possible loss of data." All of my numbers are < 50, so I know this isn't the case. Another SSIS bogus error
My first instinct is the SSIS doesn't understand that NULL means null. I edited the file and replaced all instances of NULL with 4 emtpy string chars. Still no good. It seems to be having a hard time parsing the file now.
I dropped the convert task and tried editing the data source, and set the two smallint fields to smallint instead of string (SSIS formats). I get the same conversion error.
Changing the NULL values to 0 fixed the problem, but they're not 0. They're null.
Short of creating another script that converts all zeros to NULL using the aforementioned hack, I'm out of ideas.
I'm I missing something or is SSIS just incapable of handling nulls in fixed-width flat file formats?
I build my SSIS package based on the above file.But now i receive files with different columns order let say
lastName,FirstNamr,Address l1,f1,a1 L2,f2,a2 or Address,FirstName,LastName a1,f1,l1 a2,f2,l2
every time i receive multiple files in different order and i have to remap all my mappings. These are just a few columns and i have like 20 columns and the order can potentially change any time. so every time i have build new packages remap them etc.
through normal c# code it pretty easy. I tried to add script here but the script also needs a source and mapping so there is also a mapping issue. Is there a better way to do this.
I am sorry, I am posting this message again, since I did not get anyreply.I want to export a table into a "fixed width" file using SQL 2005import export wizard.This is the version I have:SQL Server 2005 - 9.00.2047.00For some reason it joins all the rows together. For EX: if the tableis like this:Create table Mytable (col1 varchar(50) null, col2 varchar(60) null,col3 varchar (100) Null)Insert into MyTable values ("abcdef", "12345", "8900")Insert into MyTable values ("xxxxxxx", "11111111", "22222222")Insert into MyTable values ("yyyyyyyyy", "5555555555555555","6666666666")Insert into MyTable values ("abcdef", "12345", "8900")Insert into MyTable values ("xxxxxxx", "11111111", "22222222")Insert into MyTable values ("yyyyyyyyy", "5555555555555555","6666666666")It is not exporting every row in a single line. Actually if I open itin "Ultra Edit", it is all in one line.I used to do this regularly with SQL 2000 import export wizard and itexported every row in one line.I looked at the setting:The header row delimiter has {CR}{LF}Code page has 1252 Ansi-Latin.In the Advanced tab:String:dt_str.I tried changing the header row delimiter to just {CR} or just {LF}.Also I tried changing the string to dt_text and nothing seems to help.Please help.Thank you
I have a simple enough task to complete that I can€™t seem to find the answer to.
The task is this €“
Select table x from the database and write it to a flat file complete with that tables column headings.
Now I€™ve managed to set up an ole db datasource and selected the table and I€™ve also linked it to the flat file output. So now I can generate a flat file from the database. However no column headings appear in the flat file.
I can€™t seem to find anywhere (like a checkbox) that will also output the column headings to the flat file.
Now I can add in Headings manually in the properties of the Flat File Destination object but the columns that appear in the flat file don€™t appear to be in the order that I requested them in the SQL.
So the question is how do I automatically have the column headings appear for flat file output (ideally without me having to manually add them in).
If it can€™t be done and I have to use a vb.net script instead then would anyone have an example script of how to do it?
Thanks in advance for anyone who manages to answer this.
I am trying to import a flat file into SQL Server 2005 using SSIS. I have never used it before and I am getting confused by the error I am receiving.
I have a link to a flat file, that gets sent through a Derived Column flow where dates in YYYYMMDD are changed to MM/DD/YYYY format. Then the string MM/DD/YYYY is converted to a date in a Data Conversion flow. And finally the data is put into a SQL Server table (currently with no rows).
The problem I am having is with a text field with the email address in it. The error I am getting is:
[Import Allstate Auto Club [1]] Error: Data conversion failed. The data conversion for column "email_source" returned status value 4 and status text "Text was truncated or one or more characters had no match in the target code page.".
The problem is I can't see where in the flow the problem is. The field length is 20 wherever I look and the codepage is 1252 wherever I look. Does anyone have an insight? Keep in mind, I have never used SSIS before and I consider myself an amateur with SQL Server. It could easily be a data type conflict or something easy. Any help will be appreciated.
I have a fixed width flat file I'm trying to insert into an SQL 2005 table using SSIS -- it's a recurring task. One of the columns in the flat file has to go to a column of type Numeric. No matter what I try : a data conversion, defining the field as DT_NUMERIC in the connection,... I always get "The conversion returned status value 2 and status text :The value could not be converted because of a potential loss of data". It is driving me bonkers, up to the point that I find myself wishing for the 'good old' DTS days of SQL 2000. And I dread to think what will happen when I try to port some serious, much more complex DTS packages on my SQL 2000 to SQL 2005.
The data in question represents longitudes and latitudes so quite often there is a leading white space in the data : ex. : " 95.15". Surely that cannot be the cause ?
I've spent hours doing the RTFM-thing and searching the newsgroups, fora...you name it. Apart from ending up running in circles in the MS documentation, the only thing I've really learned so far is that I'm aparently not the only one driven to dispair by the new SSIS thing.
I can think of a number of ways to hack my way around this thing, but that's not the kind of 'progress' I had in mind when I started the move to SQL 2005.
I receive several TXT files daily that need to update information in SQL Server databases. The process requires that all TXT files be appended to a master file and also update individual files' information based on the TXT file name. For example:
File TABLE1_x_ddmmyy.TXT (ddmmyy = date, x = "O" or "B") is to be appended to the master file and also update SQL table "TABLE1" by setting a flag for those records in the table that match a unique key that is provided in the TABLE1.TXT file.
In VFP, I had the following process in place: a) open the TXT file. b) read its file name and open the corresponding VFP file c) update the VFP file based on the key provided in TXT d) append the key to the master file. e) repeat c-d for next record in TXT f) repeat c-e for next TXT file
Using the same process with ADO takes a considerable time since I am processing one line at a time.
Is there any way to do this using a DTS package of some sort? How can I read the TXT file names in SQL Server?
Firstly, I hope this question isn't asked too frequently but I found no existing reference to this situation....
I had a bunch of stored procedures in SQL 2k which imported and exported data to and from flat files using TEXTPTR, READTEXT, UPDATETEXT etc... The flat files were continuously changing so the filepath was a parameter for the sp.
The reason I used the pointer to flat files is because I didn't want to load the files in memory before commiting them ie. with TEXTPTR and UPDATETEXT I can import a 1Gb binary file 80000 bytes at a time and keep (precious) memory usage down.
I was accessing this procs from a C# application.
Since these methods are going to be phased out by the guys at MS what is the best way of importing/exporting very large binary files in SQL 2005?
As far as I can tell SSIS requires a Flat File Source Manager object which needs a static filepath - not good.
We have a csv file which contains a date field. The data in the field contains "0" as well as "dd/mm/yyyy". Is it possible to update all "0" to "01/01/1900" on import using SSIS.
Basically when we import the flat file now it falls over due to the destination table data type being datetime.
If this is not clear please let me know and i'll try and explain more?
I have a a flat file that consists of 2 Columns of data that need to overwrite an existing Table that has 3 Columns of data. The Import fails because the 3rd column on the table is a Date stamp column with the Data Type of "smalldatetime" and does not allow Null data. If I were to delete this 3rd column from the table the import works great but I lose the DateTime column. How can I use the Import Wizard to import the first 2 columns from a text file and update the 3rd column with the date and time? The wizard does not seem to let me update a column unless the data for this column comes from the flat file. Please assist, thanx.
I finally put together a SSIS package that takes a Text File and successfully imports its data into the right table. My question is, where in the package's properties can I find the option to Delete all rows from Destination Columns prior to Importing. I have looked everywhere in the Package Explorer for this setting. Thanx in advance.
I have a data record as below from teh comma delimeted text file.
660,"CAMPO DE GOLF ""LA FINC ALOGORFA,",7941
SQL 2000 DTS loads this data fine whree the second column is loaded as
ABC ""DAT DESC,",
But Unable to load the record using SQL 2005 SSIS.It considers "CAMPO DE GOLF ""LA FINC ALOGORFA as one column and " as column 2. Is there any options to load this type of data using SSIS.
I'm trying to do a simple flat file import of a .csv file. The task keeps failing on me and I get the following error
Error: 0xC0047021 at Data Flow Task, DTS.Pipeline: Thread "WorkThread0" has exited with error code 0xC0047039
I looked up the error codes and the only information I can find is that a thread is failing. What would cause this and how can I fix it? I can open the same file in Excel without any problems. I'd really appreciate any insight that anyone has to offer.
I get error reports in simple text files like the one below in relatively the same format. The only thing that varies is the number error reasons as there can be any number of error reasons for a file. Usually there is only one but there can be a handful. What is the best way to capture the error description and count of errors no matter how many there are? I want to take these items and update a table I have in sql server 2008r.
Original File Name: some.file.YYYYMMDD.d.incr.02of02.1.dat Source File ID: file02YYYYMMDD File Receipt Date: 10/17/2014 Total records received: 1331136 Total records loaded: 1329987
ERROR REASONS Error code: EBBW002 Error desc: Duplicate Record Total records: 1146 Error code: EABC001 Error desc: Invalid Length Record Total records: 1 Error code: ERRCM10 Error desc: Missing First Name Total records: 2
Total number of Errors encountered during the ODS update processing: 1149 ************************************************** *****
I have a flat file which have some record data ex.
id name team 1 "A"my" "Bl"ue"s" 2 "Bob" "Reds" 3 "Chuck" "Blues" 4 "Dick" "Blues"
in above example first record contain invalid data so complete flat file will not import due to one invalid row or record in flat file. so is there any way to check invalid row from flat file and ignore it(write log about invalid record) and process importing flat file.
Currently we're working on an SSIS package to extract data from a SQL Server database to several fixed width flat files.
Some of the data needs to be formatted/converted in a certain way DateTimes need to be formatted in ISO8601Booleans need to be 0/1 instead of False/True...Has anybody any idea what the preferred approach (best practice) would be to do these conversions?Convert everything in the select query? What about readability of your query? Do it somewhere in the package? If so, how?....
I need to import data to a MSSql table from massive (read: a million and a half rows, every single day) logs that come in .txt format separated in tabs with a ";" symbol and then have some stored procedures analyze that data to generate some reports in an excel file with that info. The text files include the column headers in the first row and the data starts on the second one.
The challenge is that the text files differ in column order and count every single day.
The analysis that I need to do only needs about 15 columns from the nearly 90-120 that those files include, and those columns sadly happen to be in a different order in those files.
Hi, There's a lot of information on importing data from text files, but not a lot on exporting data to text files... I've checked but found no info on this.
I'm trying to export data from SQL Server to a fixed-width flat file and wondering if I'm doing it the right way.
I use a view as source (using a OLEDB connection manager) and I can see the data without problem.
I defined a Flat File Destination (using a flat file connection manager). When setting up the flat file connection manager, I am asked for a file... Does this mean one should create manually a template file with the desired output format? So I used a production file as template since we're replacing an existing process.
After having set up everything, I run the SSIS only to see all the data on the same row. There are no CRLF...
When I create the file connection manager, there's no way to mention the row delimiter. In the properties I see a "Row Delimiter" field and when I try with "{CR}{LF}" it makes no difference. Interesting to note that, contrary to the HeaderRowDelimiter field, the RowDelimiter field has no drop-down control to give choices.
So I had to return the CRLF as the last field of the source view (SELECT .... ,'CRLF' = CHAR(13) + CHAR(10) FROM ...) to make it work.
hi - I am totally new to SSIS etc and SQL 2005. I have a dts task to recreate in SSIS. I have done most of them and muddled my way through, but this basic problem has got me stuck. When mapping columns from my file to my ole db output table, I want to map one input column onto two output columns, but it will only seem to let me select one destination column for each input? I have tried shift/alt/ctrl etc to try to get it to map to both columns but it wont have it. How do I do it?
Also, somehow my Dataflow Sources tab has gone from the toolbox, and I can't seem to get it back any way - I switched on everything I could see and all components etc, but it is not in there as an option. How do I get it back in the toolbox?
We're having issues exporting a set of data from SQL to a fixed width flat text file by just doing a right click on the DB, then choosing Tasks > Export Data. You can not specify a row delimiter when you choose a Fixed Width format. The only way around this that we've found is to specificy char(13) and char(10) at the end of the SQL select statement. Without row delimiters you end up with 1 giant record rather than 20,000 regular sized records. Is there any other way around this that we're missing?
Using Ragged Right is not an option either since the record lengths will be inconsistent if the last field doesn't contain a consistent length to the data.
I have a text file that is comma delimited and im pulling it in with a flatfile connection manager. I want to read some of the data, then output another flat file but in a fixed column width. What settings do I made to the connection manager of the output flatfile ?
True story. Thanks. Dont think that fixed or ragged is going to work for me though. File does not seem to be structured.
I have what appears to be a fixed length file that I would like to import using SSIS. However it does not look loike the spacing between fields is constant. Is there a way to say from character 1 to 10 is X, and 11 to 15 is Y, etc etc? Below is a couple of rows that all pertain to the same record.
01000000225672101242253 55232101242253 5TKTT / 0101 FFVV 5235MCYSNR/CE MUSSETT/BRIAN.A.MR 20071017U7700002277000022 U00000000ZAJNB JNB ZA 00000000 00000000 00000000 SITII Y06 405 02000000235672101242253 55232101242253 5ICE 20071017 1407000017OCT 17OCT 03000000245672101242253 55232101242253 5 PLZPLZ ZAR 1000 ZAR 72ZAZAR 140ZVZAR 562XTZAR 1774 ADT PENALTY APPLIES 04000000255672101242253 55232101242253 50000017740000000100000ZAR200000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000ZA 00000007200ZV 00000014000EV 00000001600YR 00000054600 00000000000 00000000000 00000000000 00000000000 00000000000 05000000265672101242253 55232101242253 51 OPLZ DUR CE CE 0633 0633 K K 18OCT18OCT18OCT1625 1740 OK KOW 2 DUR PLZ CE CE 0602 0602 B B 20OCT20OCT20OCT1000 1115 OK BOW 07000000275672101242253 55232101242253 5CCIK5221 000001774005221591015192982 0308M067781 00000000000 00000000000 00000000000 08000000285672101242253 55232101242253 509PLZ CE DUR550CE PLZ450ZAR1000 END CE XT16EV546YR 1 2 3 4
What do you reckon is the best option? SUBSTRING in a Dervied Column? Below is an example of the text.
I have a simple SSIS package that runs a query on the db and outputs a fixed width flat file. I have all my column widths defined and in the connection manager i can preview the output. Everything looks great. All the fields fall where they should and each record is on it's own line.
When i run the SSIS program and then go open my text file with a text editor the ouput is all on the same line. I have tried changing my file format from fixed width to ragging right and adding a row delimiter but that doesn't work either. I feel like i'm missing something small here. It could even be an issue w/ my text editor (although i've tried to open the text file in multiple editors). In the flat file connection manager I have my file defined to be 187 characters long, So figure every 187 characters it should output a new line (it should add the carraige return right?).
Hi-I have a sql database (2005) that I need to extract a report from that looks somehintg like SELECT * From Empl_Hours WHERE some_flag <> 'true' .The thing works fine, but the problem is this: I need to insert a record in the 1st row that looks like "Static_text"+row_count() +"more_static_text"where row_count is the actual # of rows that were retrieved. Thanks in advance for any help.DAn
I can't use DTS nor DTSwizard as I need to put it in a .sql and run it through a command line via .bat file (it's more for the users).
Each row ends with an EOL character, the fields are all fixed width, but I have a little problem here, some rows are empty but just with a EOL character.
