Converting multiple tables to CSV

  • I am new to SSIS and I need to query a list of tables from a table. Then from that list create a CSV file from each table in the list.

    So far I was able to do this for only one table by creating a Data Flow Task, then an OLE DB source with data access mode Table or View and a certain table selected, then going to a Flat File destination. But I need to be able to query the table that contains all the tables and feed that into the OLE DB source (or maybe some other type of source) somehow I think.

    So the query I would use to pull the list of tables would be:

    select ApplianceTypeTableName from appsystem.ApplianceTypes

    Any help from here would be very much appreciated.

  • It looks like you are going to have to write a for-each loop that loops through a recordset.

    you can populate this recordet by querying your table that contains the table names and assign the table name to a variable.

    Then you should be able to use this varaible to dynamically generate your source SQL query for each table within the loop

  • Unless all the tables have the same structure, you'll probably be better off doing this dynamically. SSIS loads the column mappings for the export, and if they're changing, it will fail.

    Wayne
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
    Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes


    If you can't explain to another person how the code that you're copying from the internet works, then DON'T USE IT on a production system! After all, you will be the one supporting it!
    Links:
    For better assistance in answering your questions
    Performance Problems
    Common date/time routines
    Understanding and Using APPLY Part 1 & Part 2

  • All of the tables do have a different structure.

  • I had a similar problem, where I needed to output a number of reports as tab-separated text files; each was based on a view, and I wrote a script task to output them all. (BTW I prefer TSV to CSV as you don't have to worry about commas within your text).

    Here is the function I use to output each report; it will work with table names as well as view names.

    ' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- '

    Function OutputReport(ByVal ReportView As String, ByVal DataPath As String) As Boolean ' Returns TRUE if it runs OK

    ' Output the view or table as a tab-separated text file in DataPath. The file name is based on the view name.

    ' The first row in the output file contains the field header names

    Dim RecordCount As Integer = 0

    OutputReport = False ' Return false if function fails

    Try

    If Connection Is Nothing Then Connection = New SqlConnection(ConnectionString)

    If Connection.State = ConnectionState.Closed Then Connection.Open()

    ' Check Output directory

    If Dir(DataPath, FileAttribute.Directory) = "" Then MkDir(DataPath) ' Ensure DataPath exists

    ' Open the file - ensuring any spaces in the view name are replaced by _

    Dim File As String = String.Format("{0}\{1}.txt", DataPath, ReportView.Replace(" ", "_"))

    Dim Writer As New IO.StreamWriter(File)

    ' Run the query

    Dim SQL As String = String.Format("SELECT * FROM MyDB.dbo.[{0}];", ReportView)

    Dim SqlCmd = New SqlCommand(SQL, Connection)

    SqlCmd.CommandTimeout = 360 ' Ensure enought time to output the report!

    Using Reader As SqlDataReader = SqlCmd.ExecuteReader()

    Dim Fields(Reader.FieldCount - 1) As String

    ' Output header row containing the field names

    For i = 0 To Reader.FieldCount - 1

    Fields(i) = Reader.GetName(i).Replace("_", " ")

    Next i

    Writer.WriteLine(Join(Fields, vbTab))' Or use "," if you want CSV

    ' Now output the Data

    While Reader.Read()

    For i = 0 To Reader.FieldCount - 1

    Fields(i) = Reader(i).ToString

    Next i

    Writer.WriteLine(Join(Fields, vbTab))

    RecordCount += 1

    End While

    Reader.Close()

    Writer.Close()

    MsgBox(String.Format("{0} records written to {1}", RecordCount, IO.Path.GetFileName(File)))

    End Using

    Return True

    Catch

    MsgBox(String.Format("OutputReport for {0} row {1}; Error: {2}", ReportView, RecordCount, Err.Description))

    End Try

    End Function

    ' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- '

    You could write something that gets the list of the tables you want to output, and calls the above function from a ' For Each Report In ...' loop.

  • Thanks SSC Rookie. I ended up solving my own problem with this. I wrote a script in SQL Server to output to CSV using BCP. The only problem was the BCP does not put the column header info as the first row in the CSV file so I had to write this routine to do it. It can be used generically by others who want to export all or some of their tables to CSV.

    set NOCOUNT ON

    set ANSI_NULLS ON

    set QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON

    DECLARE @TableID int, @TableName varchar(500), @ColumnName varchar(500)

    DECLARE @TempTableColumnList varchar(max), @InsertColumnList varchar(max)

    DECLARE @SelectColumnList varchar(max), @HeaderColumnList varchar(max)

    DECLARE @BCP_Command nvarchar(4000), @TableCreate nvarchar(4000), @InsertCommand nvarchar(4000)

    DECLARE Tables_CURSOR CURSOR FOR

    SELECT Name [TableName],[ID]

    FROM dbo.sysobjects

    WHERE xtype = 'U'

    ORDER BY Name

    OPEN Tables_CURSOR

    FETCH NEXT FROM Tables_CURSOR INTO @TableName, @TableID

    WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0

    BEGIN

    -- Table creation string

    SET @TableCreate = 'CREATE TABLE ##Temp ( '

    -- Create Cursor to pull Columns

    DECLARE Columns_Cursor CURSOR FOR

    SELECT Name [ColumnName] FROM dbo.syscolumns

    WHERE [id] = @TableID

    ORDER BY [colid]

    OPEN Columns_CURSOR

    FETCH NEXT FROM Columns_CURSOR INTO @ColumnName

    -- Initialize List variables

    SET @TempTableColumnList = ''

    SET @InsertColumnList = ''

    SET @HeaderColumnList = ''

    SET @SelectColumnList = ''

    -- Build List variables

    WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0

    BEGIN

    SET @TempTableColumnList = @TempTableColumnList + @ColumnName + ' VARCHAR(5000)'

    SET @InsertColumnList = @InsertColumnList + @ColumnName

    SET @HeaderColumnList = @HeaderColumnList + '''' + @ColumnName + ''''

    SET @SelectColumnList = @SelectColumnList + 'CONVERT( varchar,' + @ColumnName + ')'

    FETCH NEXT FROM Columns_CURSOR INTO @ColumnName

    IF @@FETCH_STATUS = 0

    BEGIN

    SET @TempTableColumnList = @TempTableColumnList + ', '

    SET @InsertColumnList = @InsertColumnList + ', '

    SET @HeaderColumnList = @HeaderColumnList + ', '

    SET @SelectColumnList = @SelectColumnList + ', '

    END

    END

    -- Create the temp table

    SET @TableCreate = @TableCreate + @TempTableColumnList + ' )'

    EXEC sp_executesql @Tablecreate

    -- Build INSERT Command for header

    SET @InsertCommand = 'INSERT INTO ##Temp ( ' + @InsertColumnList + ') '

    SET @InsertCommand = @InsertCommand + 'VALUES ( ' + @HeaderColumnList + ')'

    EXEC sp_executesql @InsertCommand

    -- Build INSERT Command for all other CSV data

    SET @InsertCommand = 'INSERT INTO ##Temp ( ' + @InsertColumnList + ') '

    SET @InsertCommand = @InsertCommand + 'SELECT ' + @SelectColumnList + ' FROM AppLookUp.' + @TableName

    EXEC sp_executesql @InsertCommand

    -- Create Output CSV file using BCP

    SET @BCP_Command = 'BCP ##Temp OUT C:\ApplianceCSV\' + @TableName + '.CSV -o c:\ofile.txt -c -t, -T -S' + @@servername

    exec master..xp_cmdshell @BCP_Command

    DROP TABLE ##Temp

    CLOSE Columns_CURSOR

    DEALLOCATE Columns_CURSOR

    FETCH NEXT FROM Tables_CURSOR INTO @TableName, @TableID

    END

    CLOSE Tables_CURSOR

    DEALLOCATE Tables_CURSOR

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