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October 2005 - Posts

• SSIS: Indirect configurations gotcha

  UPDATE: It turns out that in actual fact the workaround isn't nearly as severe as logging off. All you have to do is start a new command window. Thinking about it this kinda makes sense - I'm guessing that the command interpreter (cmd.exe) collects (for Read More... Posted 31 October 2005 23:59 by jamie.thomson | 11 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS, configurations, indirect configurations

• SSIS: Failure to open VSA from SSIS Designer

  I've just come across what looks like a pretty nasty problem in SSIS for which there is actually a simple workaround. It involves trying to open up Visual Studio for Applications (VSA) from the SSIS Designer, specifically from the items that use VSA - Read More... Posted 31 October 2005 13:41 by jamie.thomson | 11 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS: Problems calling SSIS packages from Visual Studio

  Over the past couple of days myself and a colleague, Tim Haines, have been grappling with what seemed like an surmountable problem at times. I say we...its been more Tim - he's done a great job in uncovering some inherent problem in Visual Studio (seemingly). Read More... Posted 27 October 2005 23:18 by jamie.thomson | 3 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS: Connect to Oracle

  Most of the stuff I put up here is to share knowledge around a bit but every so often I use it as a dumping ground for little titbits that I don't want to forget in the future. This is one such occasion. I've been trying to access data in Oracle from Read More... Posted 25 October 2005 11:58 by jamie.thomson | 30 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS, ole db source adapter, Oracle

• SSIS: Expression editor on Expression property of a variable!

  It is coming in SP1 apparently. Thank god - this was a glaring hole in v1. My workaround s to build my expressions on a property of a task and then paste them across. Not good!!! -Jamie Read More... Posted 25 October 2005 07:11 by jamie.thomson | 0 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS, Expressions

• SSIS: Setting variables via the command line

  Remember how I was whinging a couple of weeks ago about how I was having difficulty setting the value of a Datetime variable via dtexec ( http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson/archive/2005/10/11/2261.aspx )? Well it appears my whinging was warranted. Read More... Posted 24 October 2005 22:06 by jamie.thomson | 0 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS: A case study of using LOOKUPs instead of MERGE JOINs

  Recently Mag (surname withheld :) from California contacted me with a few queries around a package that she was building. The package was a straightforward fact table load that required to use the dimensional natural keys in the fact data to get the corresponding Read More... Posted 21 October 2005 07:36 by jamie.thomson | 48 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS: Lessons learned 2

  UPDATE - 22nd Oct 2005 Andrea Fox from the SSIS documentation team has picked up issue #2 below and is running with it. It turns out that you can use an object of type Variables if you're building a custom task but not when building a custom data-flow Read More... Posted 20 October 2005 08:32 by jamie.thomson | 0 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS: Lessons learned

  As I said on a previous post I am now building SSIS packages in anger on a proper project and learning stuff all the time. Here's some important lessons learned from today. 1. Use DTExec. Allan and Darren have already made the point ( http://www.sqlis.com/default.aspx?84 Read More... Posted 17 October 2005 19:11 by jamie.thomson | 1 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS: Script tasks aren't debuggable

  Something I've just found out. You can't use breakpoints in script tasks if you have PrecompileScripIntoBinaryCode=TRUE. This is on Sept CTP. Hopefully it'll be fixed for November!! -Jamie Read More... Posted 15 October 2005 17:25 by jamie.thomson | 1 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS: How to pass DateTime parameters to a package via dtexec

  Update 2nd Nov 2005: I've had a notification from MS today that this has been fixed. Expect the fix to be in SP1. -Jamie DTExec provides us the ability to set any property of any variable or control-flow task via the command-line, therefore overriding Read More... Posted 11 October 2005 13:43 by jamie.thomson | 7 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS: Error message reference on its way!

  Good news. BOL is going to include a list of all the errors that SSIS can produce and it should be with us by RTM in November. That should be a great help in debugging your packages I reckon. Read more here: http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=106107 Read More... Posted 10 October 2005 20:59 by jamie.thomson | 3 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS Nugget: Verify a data source before using it

  As some of you may know I've been writing about SSIS on this blog for a lon-n-n-n-n-g time now. Too long it seems sometimes. In all that time though I've only had one short client engagement using the product which means that my real-world experience Read More... Posted 10 October 2005 20:04 by jamie.thomson | 18 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS, connection manager, Scripting, Nugget

• SSIS: A couple of gotchas

  Here's a couple of things I've noticed over the past few days that it may pay to be aware of. 1. DisableEventHandlers property not available on eventhandler containers I have generally assumed up until recently that eventhandlers do not actually throw Read More... Posted 07 October 2005 10:54 by jamie.thomson | 1 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• Pictures from PASS

  Check out pictures from PASS here: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/sjones/the2005sqlservercentralcomreceptionatthesummit.asp . If you spend time in the SQLServerCentral forums then you'll be able to put a few faces to recognisable names. And Read More... Posted 06 October 2005 08:12 by jamie.thomson | 2 Comments Filed under: Inane Waffle

• SSIS: Execute SQL Task params

  Kirk has made a really useful reference post (here: http://sqljunkies.com/WebLog/knight_reign/archive/2005/10/05/17016.aspx ) that explains the different ways to supply paramaters to your SQL statement in the Execute SQL Task depending on which connection Read More... Posted 05 October 2005 23:09 by jamie.thomson | 1 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS: Disabled tasks don't behave as you would expect!

  Here's a heads up: http://www.sqlis.com/default.aspx?85 Basically it says that a task that follows a disabled task using an OnSuccess prcedence constraint will still execute. This is different behaviour from DTS. I won't go into the rights and wrongs Read More... Posted 05 October 2005 06:59 by jamie.thomson | 4 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS

• SSIS Nugget: Engine Threads

  There is a property of each data-flow task called EngineThreads which dictates, quite simply, the number of threads that run in the data-flow pipeline. But what does that mean exactly and how can it affect your data-flow? Well BOL doesn't have much on Read More... Posted 02 October 2005 16:26 by jamie.thomson | 13 Comments Filed under: SQL Server Integration Services, SSIS, Dataflow Task, EngineThreads, Nugget

• PASS Day 5

  So PASS has finished. Its been a great week. The consensus amongst Jon, Christian and myself was that although we learnt qute alot there needed to be more "deep-dive" type sessions rather than abstract intorductions to technologies. However, we are very Read More... Posted 01 October 2005 19:41 by jamie.thomson | 0 Comments Filed under: Inane Waffle