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Someone emailed me today asking: I have an SSIS package that outputs data that can’t be inserted into destination tables into flat log files [JT: I presume he means that error rows are redirected to a flat file] What is the easiest way to then after processing has completed: A) Check to see whether there has been any data that could not be ...

Someone recently asked me if it was possible to dynamically set the location of a checkpoint file. Happily the answer is yes and in actual fact its something that I do all the time so that my packages can all work in conjunction with my Common Folder Structure. Of course, its all achieved with that most venerable of SSIS features, property ...

Did you know that it is possible to set expressions on components within the dataflow? Expressions on data-flow components was virtually the very last feature that was added to SSIS 2005 prior to RTM. All components CAN support expressions on their custom properties, the component developer decides whether or not it WILL by setting ...

Visitors to the SSIS forum often ask how to construct a date string in the form YYYYMMDDHHMISS (e.g. "20070207123456" for "7th February 2007, 12:34:56") using a SSIS expression. I always give the same answer so I thought I'd post the answer up here so I don't have to keep typing it. Here's the ...

I've noticed a few people on the SSIS forum lately asking about expressions on the Foreach Loop. They are aware that its possible to set expressions on properties of the Foreach container but are flummoxed when it comes to setting expressions on the properties of the enumerators themselves. That's understandable because the properties ...

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I am a big fan of using expressions to achieve results in SSIS. In this post I'm going to show a very simple example of using them. If you are building SSIS packages then you will be (or you should be) using the log providers to keep a history of your package executions. I generally use the ...

I've said on numerous occasions, in slightly different ways, that making the move from DTS to SSIS is not a simply a matter of learning a new technology. Its a new way of thinking as well. I have come across many examples of people coming unstuck in SSIS because they are trying to accomplish something in the same way that they used to ...

Whilst reading posts on the SSIS forum of late it has become evident that people are unaware of the power that expressions can provide within an SSIS package. This is understandable - alot of people are starting to use SSIS now but expressions aren't the most obvious feature. So what are they? Well the most generic explanation is that ...

I thought it would be worth publishing a list of guidelines that I see as SSIS development best practices. These are my own opinions and are based upon my experience of using SSIS over the past 18 months. I am not saying you should take them as gospel but these are generally tried and tested methods and if nothing else should serve as a basis ...

I have extolled the virtues of the expression language in SSIS more times than I care to remember and quite frankly regular readers of this blog must be fed up of me banging on about them. Well I make no excuse for it - property expressions dramatically increase the power of your SSIS packages - turning them into dynamic behemoths rather than ...