bcp and int>ASCII code conversion [modified]

[devvvy]

hello I'm trying to bcp in matrix of integers into SQL using SQL Server bcp.exe 1,2,3 3,4,5 6,7,8 And bcp command as follows: bcp.exe DEV.dbo.SomeIntData in C:\BcpTest\bcp\output\output_int_pc.txt -S SomeServerName -f int.fmt -T In my formatting file: 9.0 3 1 SQLBIGINT 0 25 "," 1 Col1 "" 2 SQLBIGINT 0 25 "," 2 Col2 "" 3 SQLBIGINT 0 25 "\n" 3 Col3 "" My simple test table: CREATE TABLE [SomeIntData]( [Col1] [int] NULL, [Col2] [int] NULL, [Col3] [int] NULL ) Problem is, integer value of "1" when inserted (by bcp.exe) into database became "49" (ASCII value/code of "1") - Any suggestion?! Thanks! http://www.asciitable.com/[^] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191479.aspx[^] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189110.aspx[^]

dev

modified on Monday, July 12, 2010 2:37 AM

[Mycroft Holmes]

Just an observation We found that the BCP.exe in SQL 2008 was a lot more unstable than earlier versions. Apparently MS tightened up some of the formatting rules and it basically broke BCP. If you can make it behave then it is still the fastest load method. We do not do any tansformation during the load, shove everything into varchar fields in a staging table. We then use stored procs to do the transforms. This gives us a number of advantages: No errors in the load Easier to manage the errors in the data when it is right there in front of you. Dramatically faster - I mean hugely faster than either SSIS or Biztalk.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

[devvvy]

nooeee.... I have no time to play around or experiment - and how do you implement "Stored procs to do transforms"? Thanks

dev

[Mycroft Holmes]

You know what the data looks like and you know what/where it needs to be. So the staging tables have the original data, simply write an insert statement with the transformations and lookups (joins) to move it to your final format.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

[devvvy]

hey, I got it working - problem with bcp format file if you follow MSDN advice and mark a field SQLINT (corresponds to database table col type), you'd end up having this int to ASCII conversion problem. Just mark the damn field as SQLCHAR, and let db do conversion and all good.

dev

[Mycroft Holmes]

devvvy wrote:

Just mark the damn field as SQLCHAR

Basically what I suggested in the first place, get the data in as char and deal with the crap after you have the data.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

[devvvy]

Thanks and sorry

dev

[devvvy]

Can we skip format file (-f switch) at all? I got it working by indicating column tye SQLVAR instead of SQLINT and let SQL do conversion herself - however it's still ridiculous having (mandatory) to specify format file...? Thanks

dev

[devvvy]

Is it possible to skip -f switch (i.e. not supply format file) and let bcp to do this job herself (i.e. infer field type auto like old days?) C:\somedir\bcp.exe DEV.dbo.SomeMixedData in C:\somedir\output\output_abc_mixed.txt -n -S SomeSErver -T Starting copy... 0 rows copied. << Just can't get it working without format file. Network packet size (bytes): 4096 Clock Time (ms.) Total : 1 When open with Notepad my sample file resembles: 20100701,1.110000e+000,2.220000e+000 20100702,3.330000e+000,4.440000e+000 20100703,5.550000e+000,6.660000e+000 And my simple table: CREATE TABLE [dbo].[SomeData]( [Col1] [varchar](255) NULL, [Col2] [varchar](255) NULL, [Col3] [varchar](255) NULL )

dev

modified on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 7:02 AM