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Import Data from Flat File to SQL Server Using Import and Export Data Wizard

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In SSIS, We have SQL Server Import and Export Data Wizard, which is used to import or export data from various sources to a different destination using Wizard. In this example, we have DimGeo text document and we are going to import the data present in the text file to SQL database table using Import and Export Data Wizard.

Below screenshot will show you the data present in the DimGeo text file.

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How to Import Data from Flat File to SQL Server Using Import and Export Data Wizard

If you are running on Windows 7 then, you can find in start -> All Programs -> Microsoft SQL Server 2014 -> Import and Export Data Wizard).

If you are running on Windows 8 then you can find in Apps

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Double click on SQL Server Import and Export Data tool. It will open SQL Server Import and Export Wizard. The first page is the welcome page.

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If you don’t want to see this page again then Please tick the checkbox “Do not show this starting page again”. For now, click Next

Choose a Data Source Page: This page is used to configure the source information. Our source is text file so we are selecting Flat File source as our Data Source

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Then we have to select the text file from our local drive

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From the above, you can observe that we selected the DimGeo text file.

If your text file includes column name in the first row then, tick the checkbox ‘Column name in the first data row’. If not, uncheck it.

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Click on the columns tab to configure row and column delimiter and Row delimiter (Specify how you column data and row data is separated). Most of the times delimiters are automatically selected. However, it is always a good practice to verify it yourself. We can also see the data as well.

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Click on the Advanced tab to check/Modify data types of the source columns

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Choose a Destination Page: This page is used to configure the Destination information. Our target is SQL database so we are selecting SQL Server Native Client as our Destination and we are using my localhost instance as server name.

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Select the destination database from the list, let us select the SSIS Tutorials here.

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Authentication: Here we are using windows authentication. But in real time, your organization or company will provide the authentication credentials to access the database. In that case, you have to change the radio button to SQL authentication and provide the username and password.

Select Source Tables and Views: This page is used to select the destination table from the SQL database if you have already created. If not click on Edit Mappings button will open the window like below to create a table and also Edit SQL button to customize

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Click on Edit Mappings button

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Click OK

From the above screenshot, you can observe that,

  • Here we can create a new table or we can customize an already existing table by clicking the Edit SQL button.
  • We can drop the existing table and recreate it by selecting Drop and re-create destination table
  • Enable identity insert option will help you to insert values into an identity column

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The preview button is used to see the column data.

Save and Run Package: This page gives us the option to save the package in either SQL server or File system. For the time being, we are selecting a file system

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Click Next button

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  • Name: Change the package name as you wish
  • Description: Write your own description
  • File Name: Select the file name and file location by clicking on the Browse button and navigate to the appropriate location. (This is the place, where the package is going to save).

Click Next

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Click the finish button to complete the Wizard

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From the above you can observe the status: Success and Message of 1000000 rows transferred.

Let’s open the SSMS and check the output data

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