Custom Task w/ runtime user interaction

I've been playing around with building custom components for SSIS. I've been doing workflow for years (using Java and Oracle). The company I worked for had a framework for publishing data that allowed for user interaction. That's something I'd love to be able to do in SSIS.

Is it possible to create a custom task that interacts with the user at runtime? So, the user starts the SSIS package. At some point, the process pops up a dialog (Windows Form) that asks the user to set a date using a calendar control.

Any thoughts?

Is it possible? Yes. Is it recommended? No. SSIS is really designed for batch, non-interactive applications. It would be much better to write a custom app that gathers all the user input in the beginning, and then launches the SSIS package, setting any necessary variables based on the user input at that point.|||

That sounds like a great plan...only I cannot figure out a way to do that which does not require writing an entire program, figuring out a way to store the variable in a file, or somehow PASS it to the SQL SSIS Package, and I have NO IDEA how to do that.

I have the EXACT same need as the person who asked you the question, and I'd be happy with manually entering the date one character at a time. The SSIS Package I am writing pulls special information from a database and places it in a text file with fixed widths. I have everythign on this working perfectly. The problem is that Every three Months - I have to write it again from scratch because the starting date changes.

i just want the simplest way to enter a NEW Starting Date (even if that means storing it somewhere on a file server), and run the Agent using the SSIS Package to make it work.

My Perfect Solution would be a THREE STEP Agent, with Step One getting the variable and passing it to step 2, Step 2 being the query I have now importing the date it got from step one, and step three being the notify portion when it is done.

I can find NO USEDUL INFORMATION on how to do this...or maybe I just don't get it.

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For that, I would define a variable in the Package to hold the start date. Then use DTEXEC with the /SET switch, which allows you to set a variable's value from the command line. Agent can run DTEXEC, passing it the /SET value.

Another option would be to store the date in a table on your database, and read it into the package using an Execute SQL task.

Since you are running this from Agent, you really don't want a UI, since no user will be there to respond to it.