Koen Verbeeck (12/18/2014)
Since you don't want to change the registry setting (it is not exactly a hack)...
You're right. I shouldn't have used that terminology. Part of my concern with changing the registry is that if it somehow gets reset down the road (maybe through a re-install or an upgrade), the application will start acting up again and no one will know why.
I'm not 100% sure, but can't you also force the data type of the column in the advanced editor of the Excel source component?
I don't think you can force the external column definition. However, I am far from being an expert on this, so I might have overlooked something.