I am trying to update one of my SQL tables with new columns in my source CSV file. The CSV records in this file are already in this SQL table, but this SQL table is lacking some of the new columns from this CSV file.
I already added the new columns to my SQL table structure via ALTER TABLE. But now I just need to import the data from this CSV file into the new columns. How can I do this? I am trying to use SSIS and SQL Server to accomplish this, but am pretty new to Excel.
This is probably too late to solve salvationishere's problem; though I'm posting this for future readers!
You could just generate the SQL INSERT/UPDATE/etc command by parsing the csv file (a simple python script will do).
You could alternatively use this online parser:
http://www.convertcsv.com/csv-to-sql.htm
(Hoping that it'd still be available when you click!)
to generate your SQL command. The interface is extremely straight forward and it does the entire job in an awesome way.
You have several options:
If you are loading the data into a non-production system where you can edit the target tables, you could load the data into a new table, rename the old table to obsolete, and rename the new table to the old table name.
You can load the data into a staging table and then write a SQL statement to update the target table from the staging table.
You can open the CSV file in Excel and write a formula to generate an update script, drag the formula down across all rows so that you get a separate update statement for each row, and then run the separate update statements in management studio.
You can truncate the target table and update your existing ssis package that imports the file to use the new columns if you have the full history in your CSV file.
There are more options, but any of the above would probably be more than adequate solutions.
Related
How can I import an Excel file containing data from three different tables with foreign keys into a mysql database?
A very simple way to do it is working with Excel itself. In order to help you we need more details about the Tables in the excel and the tables in the database but you will get it:
Make a new column and using formulas with CONCATENATE, do a sample "INSERT INTO" command. Use series for do the INSERT's automatically, copy & paste the column into a .sql file and execute it.
If you need more detail, if you edit your question and I will glade to help you improving this answer.
I have a scenario where my source can be on different versions of our database as a result the in source file I could have different number of columns while my destination have defined number of columns.
now
what we are trying to do is:
load data from source to flat files. move them to central server and
then load that data into central database. but if any column is
missing in flat file i need to add derived column.
what is the best way to do this?? how can i dynamically add derived columns?
You can either do this with BiMLScript as other have suggested in comments, or you can write a script task that reads the file, analyzes the contents, and imports it. Yet another option would be to bulk import the file as is to a staging table (that would have to be dropped and re-created everytime) and write a stored procedure that analyzes the DDL and contents, and imports data to the destination table.
I have a question which I'm sure has been asked before, but I don't know the terminology for this question. (Hence, I have tried searching for an answer to this question on this, but no luck.)
I am on SQL Server Management Studio 2008. I have a table that was created by an import of a flat file. At the beginning of every month, I want to update this table with a new version of the given flat file. The headers on the flat file / table will always stay the same, and no previous records will be lost. Data on previous records may change, and new records will be included.
What is the best way for doing this each month? Right now, my solution is to delete the current table and re-create it with an import of the new flat file. (Or, I could run a truncate, and then re-import.)
One of the faster methods would be to drop all indexes, truncate, re-import, and re-create all indexes. Note that with a flat file you could automate using SSIS, or you could use a BULK INSERT for a job schedule. For instance, if the file is in the same location every month and all the delimiters and details are the same, a procedure or TSQL script that BULK INSERTs the file would work when called by a job once a month on a schedule.
BULK INSERT MonthlyTable
FROM 'C:\MonthlyFileDrop\MonthlyFile.txt'
WITH (
FIELDTERMINATOR = ','
,ROWTERMINATOR = '0x0a'
,FIRSTROW=2
)
Another approach (one that I'm not partial to) would be to insert the data into a stage table, compare what data are not in the existing table from the staging table, populate those data, then re-index the existing table and drop the staging table.
Rather new to SSIS so not sure how to handle this.
I have a flat file which i managed to successfully read from. So right now my data flow consists of just a flat file source.
What i want to do is something like this:
Update SqlTable S
set s.columnA = f.columna
from FlatFile f
where s.columnID = f.columnID
Right now the only way i can see of doing this would be to insert the contents of the flat file into a sql table, then doing my update. This seems wasteful considering i don't need to save the data of the flat file. I just need to update an existing sql table based on the data in the flat file. So is there some way to run the query directly in the SSIS package instead of having to insert a bunch of data into a sql table that i will just wind up dropping?
thanks
Update SqlTable S set s.columnA = f.columna from FlatFile f where s.columnID = f.columnID
That statement above is a SQL statement. You cannot connect a sql table to a flat file. You need to work in SQL to do an update, since that is where the table lives
You have 2 choices:
Use an OLEDB Command component within the data flow. The downside is this calls the statement for each record, so if you have 1,000s of records it is very inefficient.
Push the records to a table using an OLE DB Destination and then you can call your update using an Execute SQL Task. You can then truncate the table if you like
A possible 3rd option is to roll your own OLE DB destination to do an update on record sets vs records.
While this might sound wasteful, to create a table in the database to store update records, it is done very often. You just drop the worktable or truncate when complete.
You could add an OLE DB Command component to the Data Flow that retrieves data from the flat file. The OLE DB Command would do a single row update for each record retrieved from the flat file. This might be okay if there are few rows in the flat file; but, you can imagine how bad performance will be if there are many rows in the flat file.
I think you'll find that sending the flat file rows to a database table and running a single UPDATE is going to be the best performer for lots of data.
I haven't tried this but have you tried sending to a recordset destination and then running the update using that?
The bulk load into a temporary table is the way to go and then do your updates from the temp table. As a previous poster says it is quite a common aproach to stuff data into a staging area prior to doing some more work with the data and then dropping or truncating the table
I wonder if there is a (native) possibility to create a MySQL table from an .xls or .xlsx spreadsheet. Note that I do not want to import a file into an existing table with LOAD DATA INFILE or INSERT INTO, but to create the table from scratch. i.e using the header as columns (with some default field type e.g. INT) and then insert the data in one step.
So far I used a python script to build a create statement and imported the file afterwards, but somehow I feel clumsy with that approach.
There is no native MySQL tool that does this, but the MySQL PROCEDURE ANALYSE might help you suggest the correct column types.
With a VB Script you could do that. At my client we have a script which takes the worksheet name, the heading names and the field formats and generates a SQL script containing a CREATE TABLE and a the INSERT INTO statements. We use Oracle but mySQL is the same principle.
Of course you could do it even more sophisticated by accessing mySQL from Excel by ODBC and post the CREATE TABLE and INSERT INTO statements that way.
I cannot provide you with the script as it is the belonging of my client but I can answer your questions on how to write such a script if you want to write one.