I am creating a SSIS package in which i have to move data from Excel to a table in SQL server. Excel file is like Source Assistant in data flow task.
Number columns in Excel file won't change but column names will change. So i have to find all the columns names in Excel file before inserting data.
Could you please help me on this?
Solution overview
Exclude column names in first row in excel connection, use sql command as data access mode
Alias column names in output column as matching your destination
Add a script task before the data flow task that import the data
You have to use the script task to open the excel file and get the Worksheet name and the header row
Build the Query and store it in a variable
in the second Data Flow task you have to use the query stored above as source (Note that you have to set Delay Validation property to true)
Detailed Solution
You can follow my answer at Importing excel files having variable headers it is solving a very similar case.
Related
Excel to SQL (SSIS) - Importing more then 1 file, ever file has more then 1 sheet and the data from excel starts from the 3rd row.
How would you build this the best way?
I know how to do each 1 separate but together I got into a pickle.
Please help me as I haven't found Videos or sites regarding this.
Just to clarify -
The tables (in excel) have the same design (each in different sheet).
Some excel files have 4 sheets some have only 3.
Many thanks,
Eyal
Assuming that all of the Excel files to be imported are located in the same folder, you will first create a For-Each loop in your control flow. Here you will create a user variable that will be assigned the full path and file name of the Excel file being read (you'll need to define the .xls or .xlsx extension in the loop in order to limit it to reading only Excel files). The following link shows how to set up the first part.
How to read data from multiple Excel files with SQL Server Integration Services
Within this loop you will then create a another For-Each loop that will loop through all of the Worksheets in that current Excel file being read. Apply the following link to perform that task of reading the rows and columns from each worksheet into the database table.
Use SSIS to import all of the worksheets from an Excel file
The outer loop will pick up the Excel file and the inner loop will read each worksheet, regardless of the number. They key is that the format of each worksheet must be the same. Also, using the Excel data flow task, you can define from which line of each worksheet to begin reading. The process will continue until all of the Excel files have been read.
For good tracking and auditing purposes, it is a good idea to include counters in the automated process to track the number of files and worksheets for each that were read. I also like to first import all of the records into staging tables where any issues and cleaning can be performed for efficiently using SQL before populating the results to the final production tables.
Hope this all helps.
I have multiple Excel files that have the same format. I need to import them into SQL Server.
The issue I currently have is that there are two text columns that I need to ignore completely as they are free text and the character length for some rows exceeds what the server allows me to import which results in a truncation error.
Because I don't need these columns for my analysis, the table I'm importing to doesn't include these columns but for some reason the SSIS packages still picks up those columns and cuts the import job halfway through.
I tried using max character length for those columns which still results in the truncation error.
I need to create an SSIS package that ignores the two columns completely without deleting the columns from Excel.
You can specify which columns you need to ignore from the Edit Mappings dialog.
I have added the image for your reference:
If you just create the SSIS package in SSDT the Excel file can be queried to return only the required columns. In the package, create an Excel Connection Manager using the Excel file. Then on the Control Flow of the package add a Data Flow Task that has an Excel Source component in it. On this source, change the data access mode to SQL command and the file can then be queried similar to SQL. In the following example TabName is the name of the Excel tab containing the data that will be returned. If either the tab or any column names contain spaces they will need to be enclosed in square brackets, i.e. TabName would be [Tab Name].
Import/Export Wizard
Since you mentioned in the comments that you are using SQL Server Import/Export Wizard. You can solve that if you have a fixed columns (range) that you are looking to import (example: first 10 columns).
In Import/Export wizard, after selecting destination options you will be asked if you want to read from tables or query:
Select the query option, then use a simple select query and specify the columns range after the sheet name. As example:
SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$A:C]
The query above will read from the first 3 columns in Sheet1 since A:C represent the range between first column A and third column C.
Now, you can check the columns from the Edit Mappings dialog:
SSIS
You can use the same logic within SSIS package, just write the same SQL command in the Excel Source after changing the Access Mode to SQL Command.
The solution is simple. I needed to write a query that will exclude the columns. So instead of selecting "Copy data from one or more tables" you select "write a query" and exclude the columns you don't need. This one worked 100%
Good day to you, Experts.
I'm stuck on a problem I'm having with an Excel 97-02 .xls file.
When adding it as a source in SSIS, I'm getting an External Columns Datatype of DT_IMAGE .
The column represents an ID and is numeric only. I can't extract and work with the data because of the DT_IMAGE datatype.
Setting IMEX=1 didn't help.
Thank you in advance.
Reading Excel files in SSIS is done using OLEDB provider which may not detect the appropriate Excel column type.
There are many other questions mentioning similar issues such as:
SSIS Excel Import Forcing Incorrect Column Type
SSIS Excel Data Source - Is it possible to override column data types?
SSIS keeps force changing excel source string to float
As you mentioned in the question, if you added ;Extended Properties="IMEX=1" to the connectionstring with no luck then i think there is 4 things you can try:
Sorting column data inside Excel
Change the entire column formatting manually
Go to the advanced editor on the Excel source >> into the output column list and set the type for each of the columns.
Adding IMEX=1; MAXROWSTOSCAN=0 to the connectionstring
If nothing of the above steps worked then you should save the Excel sheet as a text file and then you use Flat File Connection manager
I keep running into issues creating a SSIS project that does the following:
inspects folder for .csv files -> for each csv file -> insert into [db].[each .csv files' name]
each csv and corresponding table in the database have their own unique columns
i've tried the foreach loop found in many write ups but the issue comes down to the flat file connection. it seems to expect each csv file has the same columns as the file before it and errors out when not presented with this column names.
anyone aware of a work around for this?
Every flat file format would have to have it's own connection because the connection is what tells SSIS how to interpret the data set contained within the file. If it didn't exist it would be the same as telling SQL server you want data out of a database but not specifying a table or its columns.
I guess the thing you have to consider is how are you going to tell a data flow task what column in a source component is going to map to a destination component? Will it always be the same column name? Without a Connection Manager there is no way to map the columns unless you do it dynamically.
There are still a few ways you can do what you want and you just need to search around because I know there are answers on this subject.
You could create a Script Task and do the import in .Net
You could create a SQL Script Task and use BULK INSERT or OPENROWSET into a temporary stagging table and then use dynamic sql to map and import the final table.
Try to keep a mapping table with below columns
FileLocation
FileName
TableName
Add all the details in the table.
Create user variables for all the columns names & one for result set.
Read the data from table using Execute SQL task & keep it in single result set variable.
In For each loop container variable mappings map all the columns to user variables.
Create two Connection Managers one for Excel & other for csv file.
Pass CSV file connection string as #[User::FileLocation]+#[User::FileName]
Inside for each loop conatiner use bulk insert & assign the source & destination connections as well as table name as User::TableName parameter.
if you need any details please post i will try to help you if it is useful.
You could look into BiML Script, which dynamically creates and executes a package, based on available meta data.
I got 2 options for you here.
1) Scrip component, to dynamically create table structures in sql server.
2) With for each loop container, use EXECUTE SQL TASK with OPENROWSET clause.
i am trying to create a ForEachLoop container that extracts excel files within a source folder.
i have created an execute sql task within a ForEachLoop container that stores my excel files full paths in an sql server table
and now i can't figure how to make it go through that list and extract each file into an ole db destination table
ps: the excel files have different types of data, columns change almost from one file to another (28 files)
can you please help me ? thank you in advance.
It won't work within a for each loop because your destination for each spreadsheet has to be a table that matches the columns coming in. If it was 25 different spreadsheets with the same columns types and number of columns you could insert all the rows into one table but it sounds like you need to create separate data flows for each one. You can then combine the datasource--> transform--> Ole Destination onto one data flow (which could run in parallel) and you would have (for 26 imports) three steps for each spreadsheet.