Learning Visual basic and Visual C sharp only for SSIS ETL

  • In a previous post, most people suggested that I choose VC# instead of VB, mainly because I know java quite well. So, that part seems to be figured out.

    I have never touched VB or VC# before. I want to know if there is a book/tutorial which covers only those things which are necessary for a SSIS ETL developer. For example, such a book could tell me things like - advanced GUI may not be necessary for ETL, but simple message boxes can be useful.

    If there is no such book/tutorial, then which things (in VB or VC#) should I focus on from an ETL perspective ?

    Should I just pick up a book like visual studio (year) step by step and start coding the examples in the book which might be mostly unrelated to SSIS ?

    I need your advice to figure this out.

    Thanks.

  • There's a book, but it's about scripting in SSIS 2005, so it is all Visual Basic.

    The Rational Guide to Extending SSIS 2005 with Script

    Need an answer? No, you need a question
    My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
    MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP

  • Koen Verbeeck (10/3/2013)


    There's a book, but it's about scripting in SSIS 2005, so it is all Visual Basic.

    The Rational Guide to Extending SSIS 2005 with Script

    Thank you for suggesting the book. Does one need to go through a full fledged VB (or VC#) book to be ready for SSIS scripting or is this book good enough ?

    Also, will the language features shown in this book be enough for most ETL scenarios ? If not, then I will have no choice but to go through a full-fledged VB or VC# book.

  • I went through a full fledged C# book, and it was useless.

    In SSIS, 95% of the time you really need basic scripting:

    * handling files/directories

    * read/ write to a file

    * regular expressions

    * string/date manipulation

    * basic calculations on rows (script component)

    * dealing with SQL Server

    If might get a bit more difficult if you use the script component as a source/destination, but a C# book won't teach you that.

    If you want to design your own SSIS components, that's something else. A good C# foundation can be useful in that case.

    But for simple script tasks you don't need boxing/unboxing, object based development, polymorphism, lync, heaps/stacks et cetera.

    Regarding the book: I never got around reading it. I just know it exists 🙂

    It is written by Donald Farmer though, who was on the SSIS team when they launched SSIS 2005, so I have no doubt about it's excellence.

    The book is dedicated to SSIS scripting, so you'll learn more about ETL scenarios than in a regular C# book.

    Other good books:

    * SSIS Design Patterns (not only scripting, but some general good practices about SSIS)

    * SSIS Problem Design Solution (one of my favorites. Doesn't talk about SSIS works, but what you can do with it)

    Need an answer? No, you need a question
    My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
    MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP

  • Thanks. Somebody, please...

  • Koen Verbeeck (10/3/2013)


    There's a book, but it's about scripting in SSIS 2005, so it is all Visual Basic.

    The Rational Guide to Extending SSIS 2005 with Script

    Okay, so will this book be useful if I don't know a thing about VB ? I do know object oriented programming (Java) quite well though.

  • etl.laptop (10/3/2013)


    Koen Verbeeck (10/3/2013)


    There's a book, but it's about scripting in SSIS 2005, so it is all Visual Basic.

    The Rational Guide to Extending SSIS 2005 with Script

    Okay, so will this book be useful if I don't know a thing about VB ? I do know object oriented programming (Java) quite well though.

    VB is easy, you'll pick it up quick enough to understand the book.

    Need an answer? No, you need a question
    My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
    MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP

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