SSIS BIML Derived Column syntax for expressions - ssis

Question

I am defining a Derived Column transformation in BIML but I am having trouble referencing the output from the previous Excel Source in my Derived Column transformation.
I receive the error upon opening the package after successfully generating the SSIS package and it suggests that it the Derived Transformation cannot find the output from the Excel Source.
Error 2 Error loading AFR_ShareTableBIML.dtsx: The object
"/DTS:Executable/DTS:Executables/DTS:Executable/DTS:ObjectData/pipeline/components/component/inputs/input/inputColumns/inputColumn/properties/property"
references ID "#{Package\Data Flow {Import Share Table CSV}\Source
{Flat File Share Table}.Outputs[Output].Columns[Div c per share]}",
but no object in the package has this ID.
Here is a code snippet:
<Biml xmlns="http://schemas.varigence.com/biml.xsd">
<FileFormats>
<FlatFileFormat Name="FFF_AFRShareTable" ColumnNamesInFirstDataRow="true"
FlatFileType="Delimited" IsUnicode="false" TextQualifer="None" HeaderRowsToSkip="6">
<Columns>
<Column Name="Quote Buy" ColumnType="Delimited" DataType="AnsiString" Length ="50" Delimiter=","></Column>
<Column Name="Quote Sell" ColumnType="Delimited" DataType="AnsiString" Length ="50" Delimiter=","></Column>
<Column Name="Div c per share" ColumnType="Delimited" DataType="AnsiString" Length ="50" Delimiter=","></Column>
</Columns>
</FlatFileFormat>
</FileFormats>
<Connections>
<FlatFileConnection Name="FF_AFRShareTable" FileFormat="FFF_AFRShareTable"
FilePath="C:\Temp\Stocks.csv"></FlatFileConnection>
<OleDbConnection Name="CMD DB"
ConnectionString="Data Source=Localhost;Initial Catalog=DB;Provider=SQLNCLI11.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;" CreateInProject="true">
</OleDbConnection>
</Connections>
<Packages>
<Package Name="AFR_ShareTableBIML" ConstraintMode="Linear" ProtectionLevel="DontSaveSensitive">
<Tasks>
<ExecuteSQL Name="SQLTask {OLE_DB} Truncate Security Share Table" ConnectionName="CMD DB">
<DirectInput>truncate table Staging.SecurityShareTable</DirectInput>
</ExecuteSQL>
<Dataflow Name="Data Flow {Import Share Table CSV}">
<Transformations>
<FlatFileSource Name="Source {Flat File Share Table}" ConnectionName="FF_AFRShareTable"></FlatFileSource>
<DerivedColumns Name="DER_NullifyColumns">
<Columns>
<Column Name ="DER_DPS" DataType = "Decimal" Precision="4">
[Div c per share] == "-" ? NULL(DT_DECIMAL, 4) : (DT_DECIMAL, 4)[Div c per share]
</Column>
</Columns>
</DerivedColumns>
</Transformations>
</Dataflow>
</Tasks>
</Package>
</Packages>
I have already defined the column name via the FlatFileFormat and I have confirmed that the expression in the DER_DPS column is is syntactically correct. I found that through replacing the square brackets "[" and "]" with double apostrophes, the SSIS package can be opened. For example:
"Div c per share" == "-" ? NULL(DT_DECIMAL, 4) : (DT_DECIMAL, 4) "Div c per share"
However there are derived column transformation errors on incorrect syntax. Are square brackets special characters in BIML that I need to escape?

Answer 1

That was ... interesting.
It appears that your use of curly braces in your component names causes the Biml expansion to go haywire.
<Biml xmlns="http://schemas.varigence.com/biml.xsd">
<FileFormats>
<FlatFileFormat Name="FFF_AFRShareTable" ColumnNamesInFirstDataRow="true"
FlatFileType="Delimited" IsUnicode="false" TextQualifer="None" HeaderRowsToSkip="6">
<Columns>
<Column Name="Quote Buy" ColumnType="Delimited" DataType="AnsiString" Length ="50" Delimiter=","></Column>
<Column Name="Quote Sell" ColumnType="Delimited" DataType="AnsiString" Length ="50" Delimiter=","></Column>
<!-- Change -->
<Column Name="Div c per share" ColumnType="Delimited" DataType="AnsiString" Length ="50" Delimiter="CRLF"></Column>
</Columns>
</FlatFileFormat>
</FileFormats>
<Connections>
<FlatFileConnection Name="FF_AFRShareTable" FileFormat="FFF_AFRShareTable"
FilePath="C:\ssisdata\so\input\Stocks.csv"></FlatFileConnection>
<OleDbConnection Name="CMD DB"
ConnectionString="Data Source=Localhost\dev2014;Initial Catalog=tempdb;Provider=SQLNCLI11.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;"
CreateInProject="false">
</OleDbConnection>
</Connections>
<Packages>
<Package Name="so_37641290_AFR_ShareTableBIML" ConstraintMode="Linear" ProtectionLevel="DontSaveSensitive">
<Tasks>
<ExecuteSQL Name="SQLTask OLE_DB Truncate Security Share Table" ConnectionName="CMD DB">
<DirectInput>truncate table Staging.SecurityShareTable</DirectInput>
</ExecuteSQL>
<Dataflow Name="Data Flow Import Share Table CSV">
<Transformations>
<FlatFileSource Name="Source Flat File Share Table" ConnectionName="FF_AFRShareTable"></FlatFileSource>
<DerivedColumns Name="DER_NullifyColumns">
<Columns>
<Column Name="DER_DPS" DataType="Decimal" Precision="4"><![CDATA[[Div c per share] == "-" ? NULL(DT_DECIMAL, 4) : (DT_DECIMAL, 4)[Div c per share]]]></Column>
</Columns>
</DerivedColumns>
</Transformations>
</Dataflow>
</Tasks>
</Package>
</Packages>
</Biml>
The above biml works for me. Changes I made:
removed { and } from the tasks and component names
updated the last Column definition within your FlatFileFormat Columns collection to have a delimiter of CRLF instead of ,
I used the CDATA tag for the expression. Not needed here but if you had a > or < in there, then you'd need to escape them as either < or the CDATA approach as I used.
I also cleaned up the Derived Column's entity assignments. There were spaces around the equals and I don't believe those are supposed to be there.
Path updates for flat file + OLE DB to work with my setup.
Source data
0
1
2
3
4
5
Quote Buy,Quote Sell,Div c per share
1,1,1
2,2,2
3,3,-
Results