I want to transfer SQL query results to a new csv file. This is because I have placed my SQL query inside a loop which will generate export query results to csv file each time. I'm using MS SQL Server 2012. I don't want to take GUI option.
Sql Server is not really designed to import and export files. You can use bulk copy program but I dont think it works in tsql code (looping). You can use openrowset but you need to set a special flag that opens up your surface area of attack which some do not want to do.
The answer is SSIS (or a tool like Talend). It comes with Sql and is designed by MS as the go to tool for import and export from Sql. If you were to right click on the data base, choose tasks and then export the wizard eventually creates and executes an SSIS package.
I recommend you reconsider a GUI option.
ps - Another answer was to use save results as. I have heard of problems using this method including problems with delimiters or text qualified fields.
There are multiple ways to attain this. Either you can export the resultset using BCP or using IMPORT/ EXPORT or using CTRL+SHIFT+S (this will change the resultset to SAVE AS. Hope this may help.
Related
I have worked in SAS for much of my career and always found it easy to write a dataset out to csv using a proc export. I now am working in SQL Server and am not finding any similar functionality. Everything I find on the web refers to copy/paste the data into excel or using an export wizard. I don't like those options as the end goal is to automate this query and have the data output where it can be utilized by other programs. Is there any code based way to achieve this?
Are you using SSMS? CTRL-T then execute your query, you'll get a text (csv) result. Alternatively, Query -> Results to -> Results to Text. Alternatively, you can right click the results grid and select Save Results As
For automation, you can use SQL Server Agent to schedule a job the writes the output of a query to a file.
We want some of our customers to be able to export some data into a file and then we have a job that imports that into a blank copy of a database at our location. Note: a DBA would not be involved. This would be a function within our application.
We can ignore table schema differences - they will match. We have different tables to deal with.
So on the customer side the function would ran somethiug like:
insert into myspecialstoragetable select * from source_table
insert into myspecialstoragetable select * from source_table_2
insert into myspecialstoragetable select * from source_table_3
I then run a select * from myspecialstoragetable and get a .sql file they can then ship to me which we can then use some job/sql script to import into our copy of the db.
I'm thinking we can use XML somehow, but I'm a little lost.
Thanks
Have you looked at the bulk copy utility bcp? You can wrap it with your own program to make it easier for less sophisticated users.
Since it is a function within your application, in what language is the application front-end written ? If it is .NET, you can use Data Transformation Services in SQL Server to do a sample export. In the last step, you could save the steps into a VB/.NET module. If necessary, modify this file to change table names etc. Integrate this DTS module into your application. While doing the sample export, export it to a suitable format such as .CSV, .Excel etc, whichever format from which you will be able to import into a blank database.
Every time the user wants do an export, he will have to click on a button that would invoke the DTS module integrated into your application, that will dump the data to the desired format. He can mail such file to you.
If your application is not written in .NET, in whichever language it is written, it will have options to read data from SQL Server and dump them to a .CSV or text file with delimiters. If it is a primitive language, you may have to do it by concatenating the fields of every record, by looping through the records and writing to a file.
XML would be too far-fetched for this, though it's not impossible. At your end, you should have the ability to parse the XML file and import it into your location. Also, XML is not really suited if the no. of records are too large.
You probably think of a .sql file, as in MySql. In SQL Server, .sql files, that are generated by the 'Generate Scripts' function of SQL Server's interface, are used for table structures/DDL rather than the generation of the insert statements for each of the record's hard values.
We're doing a monthly data dump of our databases using Toad for Oracle's Export function. We've got some SQL queries to create statistics about the data. I'd like to compare the results of the current state with the last few dumps.
I can open the files with the Export File Browser in Toad (v11) and sort/filter the data using the GUI, but that's not powerful enough. Is there a way to query the dump files with SQL without having to take extra steps like creating a new schema and importing it?
By far the best way would be to reimport the data.
Team,
My objective is to data load from Excel to Sql Tables using SSIS. However the excels are quite dynamic i.e. their column count could vary OR the order of existing columns may change. But the destination table will be the same...
So I was contemplating on few options like:
1) Using SQL Command in "Excel Source" - But unfortunately I have to keep "first row as header" setting as false(To resolve the issue of Excel Connection Mngr sensing the datatype as numeric based on first few records). So the querying based on header doesnt work here.
2) The other oprtion in my mind is Script Task and write C# code to read excel based on the columns I know. So in this case the order and insertion/deletion of new columns won't matter.
Suggest me whether Script Task is the only option available for me? Any other simple way to achieve the same in SSIS? Also if possible suggest me a reference for the same.
Thanks,
Justin Samuel.
If you need to automate the process, then I'd definitely go with a script component / OleDbDataAdapter combo (you can't use a streamreader because Excel is a proprietary format). If not, go with the import wizard.
If you try to use a connection manager based solution, it's going to fail when the file layout changes. With the script component / OleDbDataAdapter combo, you can add logic in to interpret the fields and standardize the record layout before loading. You can also create an error buffer and gracefully push error values to it with Try / Catch.
Here's some links on how to use the script component as a source in the data flow task:
http://microsoft-ssis.blogspot.com/2011/02/script-component-as-source-2.html
http://beyondrelational.com/modules/2/blogs/106/posts/11126/ssis-script-component-split-single-row-to-multiple-rows.aspx
This could be done easily using "Import and Export Data" tool available with SQL Server.
Step 1: Specify your Excel as source and your SQL Server DB as destination.
Step 2: Provide necessary mappings.
Step: 3 In the final screen, you can specify to "Save as SSIS Package" and to File System. A relevant dtsx SSIS package would be created for you.
After the SQL Server Import and Export Wizard has created the package and copied the data, you can use the SSIS Designer to open and change the saved package by adding tasks, transformations, and event-driven logic.
(Since it works based on Header, order should not matter. And if a particular column is missing, it should automatically take NULL for that)
Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms140052.aspx
What's the easiest way to export data to excel from SQL Server 2000.
I want to do this from commands I can type into query analyzer.
I want the column names to appear in row 1.
In Query Analyzer, go to the Tools -> Options menu. On the Results tab, choose to send your output to a CSV file and select the "Print column headers" option. The CSV will open in Excel and you can then save it as a .XLS/.XLSX
Manual copy and paste is the only way to do exactly what you're asking. Query Analyzer can include the column names when you copy the results, but I think you may have to enable that somewhere in the options first (it's been a while since I used it).
Other alternatives are:
Write your own script or program to convert a result set into a .CSV or .XLS file
Use a DTS package to export to Excel
Use bcp.exe (but it doesn't include column names, so you have to kludge it)
Use a linked server to a blank Excel sheet and INSERT the data
Generally speaking, you cannot export data from MSSQL to a flat file using pure TSQL, because TSQL cannot manipulate anything outside the database (using a linked server is sort of cheating). So you usually need to use some sort of client application anyway, whether it's bcp.exe, dtswiz.exe or your own program.
And as a final comment, MSSQL 2000 is no longer supported (unless your company has an extended maintenance agreement) so you may want to look into upgrading at some point.