BCP / sqlcmd / osql with encapsulated text fields? - sql

Question

Can any of these command line tools export to .csv like:
"int_field", "varchar_field", "another_int_field"
10, "some text", 10
5, "more text", 1
etc?
i don't want to use a view or stored procedure to hack the double quotes in :)

Answer 1

The built-in tool that does this is SSIS, although I appreciate that it might be a "heavier" solution than you want and it's not fully supported in Express Edition (you haven't mentioned either the version or edition that you're using). You can define a text qualifier in the flat file connection manager in the package.
Alternatively, write a small script in your preferred scripting language.

Answer 2

Somthing that I've quickly done. If you know c# you can add to it, otherwise it probably will be useless. Not my best code, but it is doing the job. All the field types is not added here, so it needs to be done.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.IO;
namespace SQLCSVExport
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
bool trustedConn = false;
string Servername = "";
string Username = "";
string Password = "";
bool quotestring = false;
string fieldterminater = ",";
string tablename = "";
string operation = "";
string datafile = "";
bool includeheadings = false;
if (args.Length < 3)
{
ShowOptions();
return;
}
else
{
tablename = args[0];
operation = args[1];
datafile = args[2];
for (int i = 3; i < args.Length; i++)
{
switch (args[i].Substring(0, 2))
{
case "-Q":
quotestring = true;
break;
case "-T":
trustedConn = true;
break;
case "-S":
Servername = args[i].Substring(2);
break;
case "-U":
Username = args[i].Substring(2);
break;
case "-P":
Password = args[i].Substring(2);
break;
case "-t":
fieldterminater = args[i].Substring(2);
break;
case "-H":
includeheadings = true;
break;
}
}
}
SqlConnection conn;
if(File.Exists(datafile))
{
try
{
File.Delete(datafile);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
ShowOptions();
return;
}
}
if (trustedConn)
conn = new SqlConnection("Integrated Security=True;Initial Catalog=master;Data Source=" + Servername);
else
conn = new SqlConnection("Password=" + Password + ";Persist Security Info=True;User ID=" + Username + ";Initial Catalog=master;Data Source=" + Servername);
try
{
conn.Open();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
ShowOptions();
return;
}
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand();
SqlDataReader read = null;
cmd.Connection = conn;
if (operation == "out")
cmd.CommandText = "Select * from " + tablename;
else
cmd.CommandText = tablename;
try
{
read = cmd.ExecuteReader();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
ShowOptions();
return;
}
string Dummy = "";
if (read.HasRows)
{
if(includeheadings)
{
for (int i = 0; i < read.FieldCount; i++)
{
if (quotestring)
Dummy += "\"" + read.GetName(i) + "\"" + fieldterminater;
else
Dummy += read.GetName(i) + fieldterminater;
}
WriteStrToFile(datafile, Dummy, fieldterminater);
}
while (read.Read())
{
Dummy = "";
for (int i = 0; i < read.FieldCount; i++)
{
switch (read[i].GetType().ToString())
{
case "System.Int32":
Dummy += read[i].ToString() + fieldterminater;
break;
case "System.String":
if (quotestring)
Dummy += "\"" + read[i].ToString() + "\"" + fieldterminater;
else
Dummy += read[i].ToString() + fieldterminater;
break;
case "System.DBNull":
Dummy += fieldterminater;
break;
default:
break;
}
}
WriteStrToFile(datafile, Dummy, fieldterminater);
}
}
}
static void WriteStrToFile(string datafile, string dummy, string fieldterminator)
{
FileStream fs = new FileStream(datafile, FileMode.Append, FileAccess.Write);
StreamWriter sr = new StreamWriter(fs);
if (dummy.Trim().Substring(dummy.Trim().Length - 1) == fieldterminator)
dummy = dummy.Substring(0, dummy.Trim().Length - 1);
sr.WriteLine(dummy);
sr.Close();
fs.Close();
sr.Dispose();
fs.Dispose();
}
static void ShowOptions()
{
Console.WriteLine("usage: SQLCSVExport {dbtable | query} {out | queryout} datafile");
Console.WriteLine("[-q quote string fields] [-S Server Name] [-U User Name]");
Console.WriteLine("[-P Password] [-T Trusted Connection] [-t field terminator]");
Console.WriteLine("[-H Add Headings]");
}
}
}

Answer 3

Looks like this confirms my suspicions that the answer is:
No.
Thanks for the alternative suggestions.