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 ?
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?).
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 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.
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?....
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.
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?
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 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?
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.
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 attempting to import a fixed width file into a SS2005 table and am having problems when importing a date that has no value in it. The table will allow nulls.
The date is in dd/mm/yyyy foramt and when there is no date then there are 10 spaces. When transforming the data I TRIM the data down using a derive transform script so all there is, is an empty string. When the file attempts to load I get the following message:
[OLE DB Destination [2238]] Error: There was an error with input column "paid_date" (2306) on input "OLE DB Destination Input" (2251). The column status returned was: "The value could not be converted because of a potential loss of data.".
How can it potentially lose data when there is nothing to lose?
I need some way of converting the empty string into a null. Has anyone got any ideas for me?
Is there a better way to handle fixed width flat files than the built-in SSIS capability? I have a fixed width file with over 400 columns and it looks like I need to manually click lines where each column starts/ends (quite tedious and prone to error). I have an excel version of the spec with start position, length, and data type for each column. So far it looks like the only way to automate this task is to somehow automatically generate the package XML from the spec and paste it into the dtsx file. Anyone know of a better way?
Export to Fixed width text file I am trying to export a table to a fixed lenght text file, there is only flat file option and that does not put LF/CR at the end of row, is there any solution?
I was trying to import a fixed-width file to a sql 2005 table. The total record lenght is 1500. I was trying to import it to a single column.
The strange thing that's happening is: SSIS is inserting only the first 32 chars of the record and the remaining are gone. I tried using nvarchar(max) and varchar(max) but of no use. I think something somewhere is going wrong but I was unable to figure it out. Earlier I was able to load a similar file into a single column table.
My Header row delimiter is {CR}{LF} The preview pane shows the complete record but when it transfers to the table, I'm getting 32 chars only.
Export to Fixed width text file I am trying to export a table to a fixed lenght text file, there is only flat file option and that does not put LF/CR at the end of row, is there any solution?
I have a series of fixed width files, all with the same schema. I need to import the data into a SQL Server table. Each record in the flat file begins with 'D1'. The length of each record (string) is 380. There are cases where the record ends after position 193, and a new record appears in the current string beginning at position 194. So at position 194 'D' appears, and '1' appears at position 195.
In the flat file, I need to insert a line break after position 193 if position 194 = 'D' and if position 195 = '1'. I'm guessing I would do this with a Script Component Transformation. Once the file is edited, then I can bring the data into the table.
What might the script look like? If you have any suggestions, samples, or know of examples on the web you can point me to, please share.
What is the easiest way to get a large fixed width text file (200 columns) defintion into SSIS? To have to define each column with the ruler would be very cumbersome.
I'm using SSIS to do bulk inserts from fixed width files to about 20 tables in my SQL database.
The problem I'm running into is in creating Format Files for the bulk insert task to use. I've gotten the bcp command to create format files that will read csv files, but I can't seem to figure out how to get it to create one for fixed-width.
I know it can be done: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191234.aspx At the bottom (Section F) it shows an XML format file for reading a fixed-width file. When I manually create one of these to match one of my tables, the bulk insert worked fine.
Closest I've come is with this ( [] bracketed items are correct values, just censored here): C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL Server90ToolsBinn>bcp [database].[owner].[table] format nul -c -f C:TableFMT.xml -x -S[Server] -U[Username] -P[Password]
My question is, what is the bcp command to create this sort of XML format file?
I wasn't sure where to put this topic so I put it here since I figured it is a question that would apply to virtually any version even though I am using SQL Server 2005.
We have a vendor that sends us a fixed width text file every day that needs to be imported to our database in 3 different tables. I am trying to import all of the data to a staging table and then plan on merging/inserting select data from the staging table to the 3 tables. The file has 77 columns of data and 20,000+ records. I created an XML format file which I sampled below:
The data file is a fixed width file with no column delimiters or row delimiters that I can tell. When I run the following insert statement I get the error below it.
BULK INSERT myStagingTable FROM '.........myDataSource.txt' WITH ( FORMATFILE = '.........myFormatFile.xml', ERRORFILE = '.........errorlog.log' );
Here is the error:
Msg 4832, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 Bulk load: An unexpected end of file was encountered in the data file.
Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 The OLE DB provider "BULK" for linked server "(null)" reported an error. The provider did not give any information about the error.
Msg 7330, Level 16, State 2, Line 1 Cannot fetch a row from OLE DB provider "BULK" for linked server "(null)".
I am trying to export data from a query in SQL Server 2005 SSIS to a flat file destination. Everything works fine except the rows returned from my query are written to the flat file in one long string (i.e., without line breaks). I have tried appending a new line character to the rows returned from the query but that only throws an error when the package is executed. My rows returned from the query are 133 characters wide (essentially only one column per row) so I have set the properties accordingly for a fixed width file format with 133 character wide rows.
Any suggestions or ideas on how to correct this would be greatly appreciated.
I want to make a very simple package: Export all rows in a table to a flat file. This package I can create pretty much by only using the wizards. Now to my problems:
H is a header post, in this case with date and time following. D is a details post, that is all the rows that was exported. E is and end post, containing only the number of rows in the file, including H and E posts.
2) I need to set the file name dynamically, preferably using date and time to name the file.
I´ve done this very same thing in T-SQL, like so:
Code Snippet USE AVK GO SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SNAPSHOT; GO SELECT * FROM tempProducts GO CREATE VIEW EXPORT_ORDERS AS SELECT 1 AS ROW_ORDER, 'H' + REPLACE(CONVERT(char(8), GETDATE(), 112) + CONVERT(char(8), GETDATE(), 108), ':', '') AS Data_Line UNION ALL SELECT 2 AS ROW_ORDER, 'D' + COALESCE (CONVERT(char(10), LBTyp), '') + COALESCE (CONVERT(char(50), Description), '') + COALESCE (CONVERT(char(5), Volume), '') AS Data_Line FROM dbo.tempProducts UNION ALL SELECT 3 AS ROW_ORDER, 'E' + RIGHT('0000000000' + RTRIM(CONVERT(char(13), COUNT(*) + 2)), 11) AS Data_Line FROM dbo.tempProducts AS tempProducts_1 GO IF @@ROWCOUNT > 0 BEGIN BEGIN TRANSACTION SELECT * FROM tempProducts DECLARE @date char(8) DECLARE @time char(8) DECLARE @sql VARCHAR(150) SELECT @date = CONVERT(char(8), getdate(),112) SELECT @time = CONVERT(char(8), getdate(),108) SELECT @time = REPLACE(@time,':','')
DECLARE @dt char(14) SELECT @dt = @date + '_' + @time SELECT @sql = 'bcp "SELECT Data_Line FROM avk..EXPORT_ORDERS ORDER BY ROW_ORDER" queryout "c:AVK_' + @dt + '.txt" -c -t -U sa -P dalla' EXEC master..xp_cmdshell @sql
--WAITFOR DELAY '0:00:10'; DELETE FROM tempProducts
COMMIT TRANSACTION END DROP VIEW EXPORT_ORDERS GO
But I´m sure it can be done in SSIS aswell, giving me some nice options for i.e. error handling aswell. Pointers please
I'm trying to read in a flat file (which, admittedly, has one very wide column), and it keeps breaking because of truncation when it tries to read in the file.
I have a SSIS package that dumps data from an internal table to a flat file output using standard data flow tasks. The entire table is output - no special SQL. Most of the time the records are placed in the output file in the same order as the internal DB table, but occasionally the order appears to be more random. When that happens, the record order in the internal table is correct - it is just the output.
I can find no properties that seem to affect this. I would appreciate any hints and advice that anyone can give me. Has anyone else encountered this same problem?
I have a request from a vendor to export data out of my SQL Server 2K database view to a 'flat fixed file'.
What kind of file is this exactly, not a .csv ? Does EM have the capabilities through the DTS wizard, by choosing the output to a text file and fixed width ?
