I think the retain NULLs option is to prevent column defaults being applied on the destination table during import, not for converting empty strings to dates within the pipeline.

Here's a similar one I use which uses a neat trick (credit to Adam Machanic) that returns the statement as xml so it can be clicked and opened in a...

I've been through a similar evaluation process on a recent project and I think it's important to employ each of the tools/technologies you use in the role for which they...

You can expand the example to add another level grouping in the same way the level2 grouping is created. If you're still struggling by all means post the table...

James,

I suspect you're right that it requires the use of XML EXPLICIT for SQL 2000. Can you post a sample table containing the data that will be used to...

Although it was originally intended for use in replication the tablediff utility is specifically designed for the problem you're trying to solve. Easy to use, very quick and generates...

Great idea for a series of articles, and a good teaser to set them up.

I must admit I love these "tests" for new starters. A place I used to work used a couple which had us in stitches for a while.

Firstly...

Check out the custom DateTime format strings if you want to shorten the code e.g. DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddhhmmss")

A possible alternative is

SELECTQuestionID,

COUNT(*) AS CountRows,

(CAST(COUNT(*) AS float) / (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM dbo.Answers)) * 100 AS PercentRows

FROMdbo.Answers

GROUP BY

QuestionID

I've come across this one quite a bit at one contract I had as a third-party vendor insisted that the performance of a binary collation was much quicker than a...

Nice article. I've written something similar as a windows script file. One thing I noticed though was that the layout of the package is not preserved when using...

I'm not sure whether you can do it with the new 2005 XML PATH/ROOT features but it's certainly possible using the more complicated (but more powerful) XML EXPLICIT as follows:

SELECT...

This link has a pretty good explanation/example.

Tarun,

Creating a windows service in .Net is very straight forward. Simply use a FileSystemWatcher to monitor a particular directory and code similar to that at the link above to...