Instead of running a lookup for each line in your text file, you'd be much more efficient to use DTS to bring the file into a table, then use SQL...

Bill,

I disagree with your statement that "DTS is best guided by the skilled hand of a DBA". DTS is for developers. There isn't much, if anything, that can...

I don't think you'll be able to get the value from the SP into the global variable. Unless... Thinking here... You execute the dts package from within a stored procedure....

This may be overstating the obvious, but, while SQL Server can handle very large databases, you are still limited by the available physical disk space. How big is your...

You're kidding, right?

Yuck! Are you sure you need to do this?

Ok... You need a function where, say where you pass in a SQL statement and it will return a...

If you're executing the DTS package from VB, you can also access the global variables from the object model.

yup, that's the ticket. Install Internet Explorer on the box running the job and you should be good to go.

When you execute the package from your worksstation, it's using the...

Don't you hate when security issues get in the way of getting the job done?

SA doesn't have the necessary permissions to the fox files directory. Use a trusted connection, and...

As much as I try, there are still some things you just can't do with SQL or vbScript. If anyone knows how to do this with VBScript and SQL,...

Snitz's layout is excellent IMHO. It's great to be able to see the discussion in this format.

Don't the two security holes the latest version is supposed to fix concern...

I'd be interested in a Stored Procedure version of Snitz. Did y'all go that route or use it as is?

I'm not sure how you'd tackle Example 1, but it gives me something to play with this afternoon, thanks!

Example two, I can help with. To left zero pad a number...

This function might come in handy in conjunction with isdate(). IsDate(1999) will return 1. With the NumericOnly function, you can say something like:

case

when isdate(dbo.numericonly(myfield)) = 0 then...

Andy,

Have you opened the offending file in Notepad to see what's going on?

I've had a similar issue with Rhumba 2000's data file transfer. This program brings data down daily into...