VBscript hacks for DTS packages

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VBscript hacks for DTS packages

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Posted Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:21 PM

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item VBscript hacks for DTS packages

Post #532126

Posted Friday, July 11, 2008 12:49 AM

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Last Login: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 9:20 AM
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Hello!

Still working with VBScript in 2008 year?

Something about .NET it could be very, very interesting.

Regards.

Post #532165

Christian Buettner-167247

Posted Friday, July 11, 2008 1:26 AM

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.NET will not work with DTS...

But very good article. I have had similar "problems" in the past but used different strategies:

When executing other packages within a package I usually use the ExecuteProcess task and build the command line with the parameters in VBScript.

Function fn_BuildArgument(astrType, astrArg1, astrArg2, astrArg3) ' As String
Dim lstrSQLServerName ' As String
Dim lstrCommand ' As String
Dim lstrArgument ' As String

lstrSQLServerName = DTSGlobalVariables("gstrSQLServerName")

' If the parameters are supplied through the command line, neither the percent sign nor the equality sign can be used and therefore must be substituted.
astrArg2 = Replace(astrArg2,"=","decodeequals")
astrArg2 = Replace(astrArg2,"%","decodepercent")
astrArg3 = Replace(astrArg3,"=","decodeequals")
astrArg3 = Replace(astrArg3,"%","decodepercent")

lstrCommand = """C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\DTSRun.exe"" "
lstrArgument = "/S " & lstrSQLServerName & " " ' The server where the package is located
lstrArgument = lstrArgument & " /E /N""The Package Name " & astrType & """" ' The Package to be executed
lstrArgument = lstrArgument & " /A gstrArg1:8=""" & astrArg1 & """" ' Argument 1
lstrArgument = lstrArgument & " /A gstrArg2:8=""" & astrArg2 & """" ' Argument 2
lstrArgument = lstrArgument & " /A gstrArg3:8=""" & astrArg3 & """" ' Argument 3
fn_BuildArgument = lstrCommand & lstrArgument
End Function

Of course this only can be used to submit variables to the called package since they are passed by value and not by ref.

The template method is being used a little differently as well.
I created the template and used special strings (that would never appear in code) as place holders.
During run time, a simple Replace(lstrTemplate,'specialstring', gstrVarName) generates the required SQL String.

For both strategies, it is important to note that these were used by system processes that do not get any user input.

Best Regards,
Chris Büttner

Post #532187

SuperDBA-207096

Posted Friday, July 11, 2008 4:18 AM

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Well done!

I thought the article was very informative..

Post #532260

Alan Robbins-417146

Posted Friday, July 11, 2008 7:20 AM

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This is a good article although it would help folks if the typo "bidding parameters" got fixed to "binding parameters" as that threw me at first.

Given how flexible the XML parser is, and what with CROSS APPLY and CTE queries, what we do is setup parameters in the database in a table dedicated to that purpose. Might not work for everybody...

Post #532411

Posted Friday, July 11, 2008 8:47 AM

SSCrazy Eights

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Last Login: Tuesday, April 09, 2013 12:53 PM
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First off I will say it was a nice article and offers so good alternatives. However I will point out two things.

First, in part one there is a " missing in your build of the function right in front of Scripting.Dictionary in the line that reads

sCode = sCode & "Set dictionary = CreateObject(" & chr(34)_ 
  & Scripting.Dictionary" & chr(34) & ")" & vbCRLF
 For Each sKey in aEntries.Keys()

This is minimal but for those who cannot figure out why this isn't working it should read

sCode = sCode & "Set dictionary = CreateObject(" & chr(34)_ 
  & "Scripting.Dictionary" & chr(34) & ")" & vbCRLF
 For Each sKey in aEntries.Keys()

In addition I am not sure I would consider it helpfull to hide the parameters with this method as you really don't save a lot (and even on a large number of variables you have to resolve somehow the errors). Your statement that you can change variables also does not work as you will have to resolve any issues you get.

Second, I completely disagree with part two, at least based on the example, as I think many people just have not figure out how to manage the things the parameter button cannot parse.

I have worked with DTS for a while now and found this limitation a pain and then discovered via code and ultimately directly how to get around.

For you example just insert the standard parameterized code into the ExcuteSQL task like so

SELECT
	MAX(SALES_ORG) AS SALES_ORG,
	MAX(DISTR_CHANNEL) AS DISTR_CHANNEL,
	DATEADD( hh, ?, MIN( START_DT ) ) AS START_DATE,
	DATEADD( hh, ?, MIN( START_DT ) ) AS EFFECTIVE_START_DATE,
	PRODUCT_NAME AS PLI_PROD_NAME,
	MAX( RATE_ZPMC ) AS MAX_PRICE,
	VENDR_NAME,
	VENDR_LOC,
	VENDR_BU,
	DATEADD( hh, ?, MAX( END_DT ) ) AS END_DATE,
	DATEADD( hh, ?, MAX( END_DT ) ) AS EFFECTIVE_END_DATE
FROM 
	TMP_PRI_LST
WHERE 
	ROW_STATUS = 'FOR_IMPORT'
	AND ERROR_MSG IS NULL
GROUP BY
	PRODUCT_NAME, 
	VENDR_NAME, 
	VENDR_LOC, 
	VENDR_BU

Now of course if you hit the "Parameters" button you get the error message

"An error occurred while parsing the SQL Statement for parameters. Please ..."

but this is only the parsing code for the button that fails.

To get around this you just need open "Disconnected Edit" (right click on any whitespace of the design area or under Package menu). Once open then expand Tasks and pick the correct item with a name similar to "DTSTask_DTSExecuteSQLTask_" it will have the same description as what you just set if you bothered changing it. Anyway, there you will find an entry titled "InputGlobalVariableNames", edit this item and enter your variable input value like so

"fix_utcdatetime"

and since you have multiple values you have to enter it multiple times and in order like so

"fix_utcdatetime";"fix_utcdatetime";"fix_utcdatetime";"fix_utcdatetime"

The ; is the seperator and the variables are replaced in order. So if you had different values you place in orderinal fashion compared to the ? variable in our query. This works in every case, at least every case I ever tried, where you need it and the button wouldn't work.

Post #532520

Posted Sunday, July 13, 2008 7:18 AM

SSCarpal Tunnel

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I also thought VBScript now, but after going through the article I found very interesting and nice. It is a informative article.

Post #533133

Christian Buettner-167247

Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 12:59 AM

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Hello Antares,

Regarding your suggestion on the second example (disconnected edit for parameter declaration): It would be very interesting, but I cannot seem to get it to work with Oracle. Do you have any information on this? I have tried various parameter declarations and they all throw errors.

With SQL Server Parameters I have had no issues so far, I was always able to use the Parameter Button for them.

Thanks!

Best Regards,
Chris Büttner

Post #533289

Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 7:11 AM

SSCrazy Eights

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Yeah, just PM the details of how you are doing you oracle pulls and not what objects you use. Also include the message as I found instances where I had to manipulate formats on dates otherwise it still failed. I usually use Data Drive Query Tasks and there is a completely different way of dealing with them.

Post #533465

Christian Buettner-167247

Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 11:46 AM

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Last Login: 2 days ago @ 6:12 AM
Points: 2,526, Visits: 3,620

Hm, i tried to get the error message from a new package, but it actually ran successfully this time. Both the oracle and the oledb parameter syntax returned the correct results.

When I tried the same this morning with an existing package I got an error that contained somthing like "Invalid Library" or so. But I cannot reproduce this anymore, so I guess I just had a typo somewhere or something missing.

Thanks for your awesome tip!

Best Regards,
Chris Büttner

Post #533778

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