Custom Task and Reading Package Configuration

Hello All,

I have searched on this forum for a similar question but couldn't find it so I apologize if this has been asked. If so, I'd greatly appreciate a link to the question. I have created a custom task and am trying to read an xml package configuration file within my custom task. To be more specific, I have added an ADO.Net Connection to my database onto the package and have generated the appropriate tags within my package's configuration xml file. I'm not seeing the classes I should use to access the configuration file of the package I've created. Does anybody have any ideas how I can accomplish this or a link to a document that might cover the material? Thanks!

Jay_G

Jay,

First, let's be sure that what you're trying to do is what you really want to do.

Why do you want to read the configuration? Are you trying to do something with the configuration or do you simply want your custom task to be configured?

|||

Hello Kirk,

Thank you for responding. My custom task will, at times, need to read from a database and I figured the standard database connection string parameters would all be within the configuration file. I initially thought that I would need to use a package connection but the original intent of this custom task is be as easy to use and seemless as possible (meaning drop the task on the designer, set a few properties and be done). The custom task will be used over and over again within many packages. We didn't want to make all of our package developers have to configure a connection for this task but maybe this approach doesn't make sense. Does that make sense or should I be doing it a different way? I'm very new to SSIS and very much open to suggestions. Let me know if you need more clarification. Thanks again.

Jay_G

Custom Primary Key

Not sure where to post this as it may be a form operation but here goes...

I want to generate a custom unique identifier for a table similar to the Northwind Customers database (ie ALFKI, ANTON, etc...) which can be used as a descriptive identifier as well.

For example, I have a Products table and I want to have my keys look like: CHR-0001-05.

"CHR" is my abbreviation for Chairs
"0001" is the auto-incrementing number (in this case the first record of the table)
"05" is the last 2 digits of the year recieved (2005)

Can somebody please point me in the right direction? I'm having problems finding resources on the web relating to this topic (prolly not using the correct keywords for my searches)

Cheers =)

You can use '+' operator to concatinate strings, here is a sample script:

if object_id('tbl_GPK','U') is not null
drop table tbl_GPK
go
Create table tbl_GPK (EName varchar(50),EDate smalldatetime)
go
insert into tbl_GPK select 'Peacock Margaret',GetDate()

if object_id('UDF_Gen_PK','FN') is not null
drop function UDF_Gen_PK
go
create function UDF_Gen_PK (@.S varchar(50))
returns varchar(60)
as
begin
declare @.outstring varchar(60)
declare @.i int
select @.i=1,@.outstring=''
while (@.i<=len(@.S))
begin
select @.outstring=@.outstring+substring(@.S,@.i,1)
set @.i=@.i+5
end
select @.outstring=@.outstring+'-'+convert(varchar(10),count(*)+1)
from tbl_GPK
return @.outstring
end

go
alter table tbl_GPK
add PK as (dbo.UDF_Gen_PK(EName)+'-'+convert(varchar(4),Year(EDate)))
go

select * from tbl_GPK

Custom Order By...Revisited

Hi

I would like to return rows in a custom order, similar to this post. However, in my case I do not have a fixed number of 'sort by' items. The order I would like to have returned from Col2 is:

'A' Numeric Values in numeric order 0-99 All other alpha values

For example:
'A', '0', '1', '3', '65', 'MyValue1', 'MyValue2'

How could I achieve this?

thanks

Richard

Here You Go...

Code Snippet

Create Table #sorttest (

[Col2] Varchar(100)

);

Insert Into #sorttest Values('A');

Insert Into #sorttest Values('12');

Insert Into #sorttest Values('1');

Insert Into #sorttest Values('3');

Insert Into #sorttest Values('5');

Insert Into #sorttest Values('6');

Insert Into #sorttest Values('78');

Insert Into #sorttest Values('100');

Insert Into #sorttest Values('MyValue1');

Insert Into #sorttest Values('MyValue3');

Insert Into #sorttest Values('MyValue2');

Select

*

From

#sorttest

Order By

Case When Col2 Like '[A-Z]' Then 1

When Isnumeric(Col2)=1 Then 2

Else 3 End,

Case When Isnumeric(Col2)=1 Then Convert(float,Col2) End,

Col2

/*

::Output

Col2

-

A

1

3

5

6

12

78

100

MyValue1

MyValue2

MyValue3

*/

|||hi, try this

SELECT MyMixedField
FROM MyTable
WHERE PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', MyMixedField) = 0
UNION ALL
SELECT MyMixedField
FROM MyTable
WHERE ISNUMERIC(MyMixedField) = 1
UNION ALL
SELECT MyMixedField
FROM MyTable
WHERE PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', MyMixedField) > 0
and ISNUMERIC(MyMixedField) <> 1|||i think manivannan's solution is much better,

@.manivannan..

it think its better to use patindex('%[0-9]%', col2) = 0 for alpha valued records

Order By

Case When patindex('%[0-9]%', col2) = 0 Then 1

When Isnumeric(Col2)=1 Then 2

Else 3 End,

Case When Isnumeric(Col2)=1 Then Convert(float,Col2) End,

Col2|||thank you both very much for your quick and accurate responses!

Works perfectly
|||

It seems that manivannan's suggested use of

Like '[A-Z]'

is most likely the best option to sort on single letter alpha. Don't you think that the

patindex('%[0-9]%', col2) = 0

suggestion 'might' include things like an asterisk, period, @. symbol, $ symbol, etc.? (-As well as allowing multi-character alpha entries on the first sort level...)

However, I would caution that using manivannan's suggestion to use isnumeric() 'could' cause problems. For example, the following evaluates to TRUE

SELECT isnumeric( '$' )

But is it a number? Should it sort with the alphas?

|||Hi

Good point, but actually in this case we don't allow non-alphanumeric characters in this field, so it's not really an issue!

thanks everyone for help on this