I have generated and excel from SSIS package successfully.
But every column is having extra ' (quote) mark why is it so?
My source sql table is like below
Name price address
ashu 123 pune
jkl 34 UK
In my sql table i took all column as varchar(50) datatype.
In Excel Manager when it is going to create table
Excel Destination took all column as same varchar(50) datatype.
And in Data Flow I have used Data Conversion transformation to prevent unicode conversion error.
Please advice where i need to change to get the clear columns in excel file.
You could create a template Excel file in which you have specified all the column types (change to Text from General) and headers you will need. Store it in a /Template directory and have copy it over to where you will need it from within the SSIS package.
In your SSIS package:
Use Script Component to copy Excel Template file into directory of choice.
Programatically change its name and store the whole filepath in a variable that will be used in your corresponding Data Flow Task.
Use Expression Builder for your Excel Connection Manager. Set the ExcelFilePath to be retrieved from your variable.
the single quote or apostrophe is a way of entering any data (in Excel) and ensure it is treated as text so numbers with leading zeros or fractions are not interpreted by Excel as numeric or dates.
a NJ zip code for instance 07456 would be interpreted as 7456 but by entering it as '07456 it keeps its leading zero (please note that numbers in your example are left aligned, like text is)
I guess SSIS is adding the quotes because your data is of VARCHAR type
First, define the field types for your excel destination in SSIS, any non-text fields will format properly without the '. Then, add a derived column transformation between your source and destination, and use a replace statement for any text columns.
Should be:
(REPLACE(Column1, "'","")
This caused me major problems! So I completed the following:
You can change the excel version to 'Microsoft Excel 4.0' within the excel connection manager in your SSIS package.
Then within excel follow Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > File Block Settings > Untick the 'Open' checkbox for 'Excel 4 workbooks' and 'sheets'.
It is a particular problem when using the Excel destination, at least with older versions of SSIS anyway. To answer the why question, there is this in the Microsoft documentation:
The following behaviors of the Jet provider that is included with the Excel driver can lead to unexpected results when saving data to an Excel destination.
Saving text data. When the Excel driver saves text data values to an Excel destination, the driver precedes the text in each cell with the single quote character (') to ensure that the saved values will be interpreted as text values. If you have or develop other applications that read or process the saved data, you may need to include special handling for the single quote character that precedes each text value.
Taken from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/sql/sql-server-2008-r2/ms137643(v=sql.105)
Related
I've tried finding a solution for my issue but alas the problem continues. I've got an Excel Data Destination which I am trying to map in to SSIS [Please note I am saying the issue with the way SSIS identifies the Data Type of the Excel input. The scenario is OLE DB Source > Data Conversion > Excel Destination, please don't tell me to do a Data Conversion or use the Input and Output Properties method because it doesn't work, it just converts back to what SSIS "thinks" it's meant to be the instant I click out of the operations window]. I'm trying to create a new Excel Document through SSIS by mapping out the template to my data source from OLE DB Source.
Now when I do it with example data in the Excel Destination, it works fine because SSIS registers that the value in the workbook is a NTEXT [which is what I want]. However, the instant I apply the expression to use a blank template [with just headers no example data] it converts the Data Type in my Template to NVARCHAR(255) which is wrong and my package fails when I execute it, due to incompatible Data Type.
I've tried converting the Data Type within the Excel workbook to a TEXT format but it doesn't matter because when you pull it in to the Data Flow SSIS overwrites it and identifies that Column as a NVARCHAR(255). Even when I give up and comply and change the Input Data to NVARCHAR(255) because I'm just so annoyed, it still doesn't work because it fails my package and gives me an error message that it truncates my column field [-_-"]. I can't win.
I'll probably try and use a SQL Command to force it to identify the column as a NTEXT in the Excel Destination Editor or just rewrite some form of Forced SSIS to identify the Column as NTEXT but is there another way I am not aware of? I feel this is quite a known issue and there should be a plausible solution. Any assistance will be appreciated. Thank you.
Initial situation:
I'm stuck in a simple task (in my opinion it should be simple...)
I have a collection of data which should be exported weekly to Excel.
This export contains 104 columns, from which 57 are nvarchar(max) and contains item descriptions and other information in different languages for our sales guys.
The report will have something around 2000 to 8000 rows.
I use a SQL Server 2017 CU 16
My intention:
I intended to do an SSI Job with an Excel template where the columns are predefined (width, data type and so on).
This job would have something like those steps:
Delete existing Excel file
copy Excel template as a new Excel file
DataFlowTask using SQL Server as the source and Excel destination as the target
What I already tried:
If I use the excel template with only headers, I get the following error for each of the nvarchar(max) columns:
[Excel Destination [2]] Error: An error occurred while setting up a
binding for the "ColumnName" column. The binding status was
"DT_NTEXT".
When I prepare the template having it prefilled with one row. This row has a long text (more than 255 characters) for the columns where nvarchar(max) is in the source, everything runs fine but, this dummy line is still existing.
Another try I did was dropping the sheet using an "Execute SQL Task" to the Excel File Connection and recreating the sheet using a create table statement in another "Execute SQL Task" to the same Excel file connection, I get the same error as above. Although I'm using NTEXT as the datatype for the relevant columns.
Question:
How can I export data seamlessly into a preformatted excel file which contains NTEXT?
Thank you very much in advance for any assistance.
I have to export a table from a SQL Server, the table contains a column that has a large text content with the maximum length of the text going up to 100,000 characters.
When I use Excel as an export destination, I find out that the length of this text is capped and truncated to 32,765.
Is there an export format that preserves the length?
Note:
I will eventually be importing this data into another SQL Server
The destination SQL Server is in another network, so linked servers and other local options are not feasible
I don't have access to the actual server, so generating back up is difficult
As is documented in the Excel specifications and limits the maximum characters that can be stored in a single Excel cell is 32,767 characters; hence why your data is being truncated.
You might be better off exporting to a CSV, however, note that Quote Identified CSV files aren't supported within bcp/BULK INSERT until SQL Server 2019 (currently in preview). You can use a characters like || to denote a field delimited, however, if you have any line breaks you'll need to choose a different row delimitor too. SSIS, and other ETL tools, however, do support quote identified CSV files; so you can use something like that.
Otherwise, if you need to export such long values and want to use Excel as much as you can (which I actually personally don't recommend due to those awful ACE drivers), I would suggest exporting the (n)varchar(MAX) values to something else, like a text file, and naming each file with the value of your Primary Key included. Then, when you import the data back you can retrieve the (n)varchar(MAX) value again from each individual file.
The .sql is the best format for sql table. Is the native format for sql table, with that, you haven't to concert the export.
First, a grumble: MS builds SQL Server Studio AND Excel, but can't make one save in the standard format of the other?
OK, I'm a data analyst, but not allowed to change/mod either the data or structures directly. So full READ, but no WRITE.
I'm trying to do a dump so I can do some of this analysis offline, as I have no remote access either.
So one VARCHAR2 column in this table is for comments on the purchase of the asset being described/tracked. Of course, there are commas. The only export types built into SQL Server Studio are .csv and .txt, and .csv just turns into a mess when 'comma' is included as a delimiter.
So after an hour or so of screwing around with this, (including reading a thread on methods for excluding the one column from a SELECT while still exporting the other 221 columns in the table, without having to write them all out manually (fun reading, impressive, but means I'd have to figure out which of them actually works, and then still export the one column separately and insert it in the Excel separately)) I am throwing this problem on the pile at StackOverflow.
Someone else must have worked around this frustration of the .csv format as export VS the commas embedded in 'comment' text.
Any help would be appreciated.
Why don't you simply select all data in ssms result window, then copy and then paste in a blank excel file?
It should copy paste all data in correct format including comma valued fields in single column.
Try that.
So If you replace the ' to some special character you can export it.
Select
Replace(columnName,'''','`')
from Table
Other solution if you use the manager studio
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/integration-services/import-export-data/start-the-sql-server-import-and-export-wizard
My Source File is (|) Pipe Delimited text file(.txt). I am trying load the file into SQL Server 2012 using SSIS(SQL Server Data Tools 2012). I have three columns. Below is the example for how data in file looks like.
I am hoping my package should fail as this is pipe(|) delimited instead my package is a success and the last row in the third column with multiple Pipes into last column.
My Question is Why is't the package failing? I believe it has corrupt data because it has more number of columns if we go by delimiter?
If I want to fail the package what are my options,If number of delimiters are more than the number columns?
You can tell what is happening if you look at the advanced page of the flat file connection manager. For all but the last field the delimiter is '|', for the last field it is CRLF.
So by design all data after the last defined pipe and the end of the line (CRLF) is imported into your last field.
What I would do is add another column to the connection manager and your staging table. Map the new 'TestColumn' in the destination. When the import is complete you want to ensure that this column is null in every row. If not then throw an error.
You could use a script task but this way you will not need to code in c# and you will not have to process the file twice. If you are comfortable coding a script task and / or you can not use a staging table with extra column then that will be the only other route I could think of.
A suggestion for checking for null would be to use an execute sql task with single row result set to integer. If the value is > 0 then fail the package.
The query would be Select Count(*) NotNullCount From Table Where TestColumn Is Not Null.
You can write a script task that reads the file, counts the pipes, and raises an error if the number of pipes is not what you want.